Produced by the Benwell Law Project with the assistance of Swing Bridge Video a film about the experiences of women from Tyne and Wear in part-time employment. Each of the women featured explains why they work part-time, what sort of work they do, what problems they have, their idea and experiences of trade unions and the inadequacy of existing legal protections for part-timers. Title: Part Time Work Various part-time job advertisements in newspapers circled with red pen changes to show...

Produced by the Benwell Law Project with the assistance of Swing Bridge Video a film about the experiences of women from Tyne and Wear in part-time employment. Each of the women featured explains why they work part-time, what sort of work they do, what problems they have, their idea and experiences of trade unions and the inadequacy of existing legal protections for part-timers. Title: Part Time Work Various part-time job advertisements in newspapers circled with red pen changes to show mainly still image of women at work in factories, in telecommunication, in the service sector and in offices and banking. Title: Who are the part-time workers? A montage of women who are to be interviewed as part of the film changes to seven of them explaining their individual circumstances. Some are single parents and need the money to bring up their children, to pay for the necessities such as heating, food and clothing for their children. Other because their husbands either are in low paying jobs or because the husband is to ill to work and so they need to supplement the family income. There is a myth that women in part-time work are doing it for ‘pin money’ to buy luxury items. Title: Why work part-time? In a staff canteen women work behind the counter serving customers while another works a cash register. Two women explain that due to their children they can only work part-time, they are too young to be left on their own. Outside a school mothers collects their children; a woman explains the issue with there being no arrangements with employers should a child be ill. Women are expected to take time off to deal with their child, but not men. This is unfair she thinks it should be shared. She talks about union representation of this ‘silent majority’, they should push not only for better conditions, but also getting time off for children and shopping. A poster for ‘Work and Play in Benwell’ and an interview with a female representative of the Nursery Action Group/CDP who runs the facility. She talks about the women she has met who want to work but can’t because of the lack of suitable childcare facilities. She has issues with workplace nurseries due to the small numbers of them meaning women may be stuck in the job as there are no other realistic choices. The current government gives lip-service to childcare and is a low priority often with nurseries first to go during public spending cuts. She finishes by saying parents shouldn’t blame themselves for lack of nursery provision. Title: What’s in it for employers? Still images of factories and women at work are used to illustrate the fact that 27,000 full time jobs have been lost, but part time work has risen 53,000 mainly women working in the service sector. Interview with two male union representatives who provide details on this trend especially within the pubic and service sectors. They talk about how employers see part time workers as being more amenable to difficult shift patterns and being women, they traditionally are paid less than men. A woman explains that employers see women in part-time work as someone who won’t agitate, that they somehow are grateful to have a job. Even though she provides a full technical service in her part time job she is still seen as less than those who work full time. Title: What is a part-time job? More still images of women at work in a canteen and hospital where, typically part-time work is for low pay, poor conditions, and irregular hours. Employers can take the pick when a woman can work and for how much. In a school canteen, women at work preparing and serving meals to children followed by them cleaning and washing down tables. Interview with one woman who states that men aren’t interested in work in social services or kitchens, they see it as an extension of the home. Women in part-time work also work harder than most men in order in order to finish what needs doing, men in full-time work wouldn’t stand for it as they would have more rights. Interview with one woman who works in a local laundrette, there are three women all part-time and it isn’t enough to do all the work. She must declare her earning to the Social Security and she feels exploited, that she has no rights. In another room two women who both work in a supermarket stacking shelve for £1.33 an hour. This rate isn’t enough as it is heavy work, and they don’t get ‘unsociable hours’ rates as other working similar time do. One of the women also states that they don’t have a first-aider working should there be an accident. Women continue to work in a school kitchen, another woman states that part-time school meal workers don’t get full pay during the summer holidays unlike all the other positions in the school, only half-pay which isn’t right. The woman seen previous who works as a technician says that being part-time, she doesn’t have a permanent contract, it is renewed every two years. This means she loses certain rights such as redundancy. She is even made to sign paperwork to state she is happy with these condition before the start of her new contract which isn’t right. She believes part timers should have the same rights as full timer’s pro rata as we are providing the same service. Title: How can part-time workers get a better deal? In a hospital a woman works to buff a floor, in an office women sit at their desks typing while in a canteen women serve meals. Working less than 16 hours a week means that are excluded from many legal protections relating to either pay or unfair dismissal. Interview with one of the male union representatives seen earlier who states that part-time works have been neglected. He talks about a survey his union has conducted relating to Wage Council Orders for a minimum statutory rate of pay which found that 25% of those employers looked were paying less. He also states that in Sunderland, which has high unemployment, the rates were more than 33% meaning there is a link between unemployment and low rates of pay. A poster for the Trade Unions Congress (TUC) and a list of rights for part-time workers. Several women are interviewed about union representation, which they all agree is a good thing. However, due to the hours they work and their commitments to family it is hard for union representatives to meet with many women and to deal with their issues or for women to become actively involved in union work. The male union representative seen earlier speaking of the Wage Council also admits that there is a bias in unions towards male workers as seen as the ‘breadwinner’. This bias in confirmed by some of the women stating that they weren’t encouraged to become a union member as it was not seen as being worth their while. A series of posters and leaflets from the Transport and General Workers Union show advances have been made in the public sector to promote the interests of part-time workers. In the final interviews of the film three women talk about how being part of union has not only allowed some women to help themselves but also others in similar situation. They also see a growing interest in the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) with part-time workers. Credit: Produced by Benwell Law Project Title: With North East Trade Union Studies and Information Unit, School of Occupational Studies, Newcastle Polytechnic Title: Thanks to the participants of Members and Officers of the following unions. NUPE, USDAW, ASTMS, CSV, TGWU, GMBATU,NALGO and the Nursery Action Group Title: Thanks to the co-operation of Newcastle City Council, North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council Credit: Interviews recorded by the staff and resources of PETRAS. Other material produced by Hugh Kelly and John Falkenstein Additional Photography by Sarah McCarthy Commentary read by Eileen Flisher Editing facilities Amber Films Editor Hugh Kelly End title: © Benwell Law Project 1983