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ITF Women's Network Guidelines PDF format (247kb PDF)
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What is a Network?
A good question! A network is an informal linking of different individuals and groups. Networks are used by people from different organisations but with similar interests — health and safety enthusiasts in the labour movement have linked up with those working for voluntary organisations, academics and professional safety experts, for example. Principally, networking means contacting each other on a regular basis and sharing information.
So how can networking help ITF Women?
Using this idea, ITF women in your unions will be able contact each other. The ITF will supply details of women in your industry in the country or countries you are interested in. In the future, we intend to produce a Network handbook which will list the special interests of each union, along with the name of the Union Contact-People.
A Proposed Structure
“Union Contact-People”, who are they?
The ITF Network will probably work best informally, through cross-links between women in transport unions. But we do need a way to make sure we are channelling our resources properly, and to check that the right information is getting through to the right people. Women union members need to know where they can get materials, help and advice — or where to direct their demands. So, in addition to informal networking, ITF women will have a structure to refer to.
Each ITF union has been asked to nominate a “Contact-Person” for the Network. Depending on the size and the structure of the union, we envisage this person being the union women’s officer, or in a smaller union it might be an activist interested in women’s issues. The Contact-Person should monitor women's membership in her union, and report back on trends, problems and successes both to the Country Coordinator, and where appropriate, to the ITF Women’s Department or regional office. The ITF Women’s Department will also get in touch with Contact-People directly, for feedback and to offer support.
What do Contact-People do?
If your union’s level of activities for women is low, a first step for your Contact-Person could be to identify where women members are in the union. Women members should be aware of their own trade union policy (both generally and in relation to women’s issues), of the ITF’s existence and of the important role women’s membership can play in trade unions. Contact-people should, of course, work for the formation and success of women’s structures, for women's recruitment and to retain women union members.
We need to know not only what the problems of the women members are, but also what kind of support, and which materials, the ITF could provide to help you and your members. Union Contact-People have an important job as they are best qualified to tell us whether the work we are doing is useful to you. We expect that Contact-People will be able to recognise areas of need and see trends, and their role could extend to making proposals for ITF policy and recommendations for the Secretariat.
“Country Coordinators” — what’s their role?
The information flow for women members in each country needs to be coordinated — this is where Country Coordinators come in. We envisage one Coordinator per country, who should ideally be nominated by the Contact-People in each country, and is most likely to be one of them.
Country Coordinators will be facilitators, gathering information about women transport workers in their country, and informing the ITF, as well as keeping in touch with Contact-People, in the unions, ensuring they know about ITF activities.
Together with Contact-People, Country Coordinators will have an practical role in organising meetings of women affiliates in their country (where possible, in conjunction with the national ITF Coordinating Committee). The ITF Women’s Department will also get in touch with Country Coordinators directly, both for feedback and to offer backup or support.
Coordinators within the regional structure
Both union Contact-People and Country Coordinators within particular regions might come together to share and allocate responsibilities for broader regional or subregional matters amongst themselves. This should be done in association with the Secretariat and the regional representatives of the Women's Committee. This can make the job more manageable for all concerned.
For example, in Africa, five subregional Contact-People have been nominated. They have a big responsibility because they have to ensure that the Network in their region works.
So how WILL it work?
If we imagine that everything explained here has been followed so far, then:
— each union in each country has nominated a Network contact person,
— all the Network contact people in each country have met, and at their meeting, nominated a country coordinator,
— in some cases there will also be regional functions divided amongst Country Coordinators.
It’s the Contact-People's and Coordinators' role to report progress to the regional office and/or the ITF Women’s Department. Their ideas on how ITF women’s activities can be furthered in their country or region, are vital.
What is the Women's Committee?
Members of the ITF Women’s Committee have regional and sectional responsibilities. And, they should ideally be Union Contact-People and Country Coordinators — this depends very much on the people concerned ensuring they stand for election.
And finally, don’t forget, any ITF woman can always pick up the telephone, or write a postcard, to the ITF Women’s Department or to a contact- person — and she's already be networking.
For a directory of women's contacts in the ITF, please contact the Women's Department at women@itf.org.uk
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