Jane Doolan: ‘We wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for the trade union movement and action of women’

THE long male-dominated trade union movement is changing, and women are at the forefront of it.

This is the view of Jane Doolan, the secretary of Islington’s Unison branch – a position she has held for the last 24 years.

“When I first ran for branch secretary, one or two men said to me ‘you won’t get elected so don’t worry about it,’’ and I said ‘watch me,’ … and I was the first woman elected as branch secretary,” said Ms Doolan, who was born in Archway and is now 65.

“The first year or so was quite difficult. Some managers were OK because I’d known them before as a branch officer, but I’d be in a meeting and I’d ask a question, and my colleagues would look at one of the men in the room when they were answering me.

“And that still happens in some places. Sometimes, I’ll be in a meeting and they’re supposed to be having a conversation with me, but they’ll be looking at my male colleagues,” said Ms Doolan, who has been involved in the trade union movement since 1981.

Ms Doolan says that women are the backbone of the trade union movement, acting as prominent leaders in the movement like Christina McAnea, Sharon Graham and Pat Cullen.

“I would encourage other women to get involved. In our core officer group, our branch chair is a woman, our vice chair is a woman, our assistant branch secretary is a woman and our school convenor is a woman, and about 80 per cent of our members are women.

“It is very, very, much women that are taking the fight back [to employers],” she says.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for the trade union movement and the action of women. In 1985, I was on the trade union side of meetings with Islington Council when we brought in maternity policy that was the best in the country at the time. It allowed women to be able to have children and get decent maternity pay, terms and conditions were that they could take a career break if they needed it and they would have a guaranteed job if they came back […] and now those issues are taken more seriously by both employers and trade unionists.”

Ms Doolan feels that the rest of the world still has to come around to the idea that women are at the root of the movement.

“The press are always referring to ‘trade union barons’ or ‘masters,’ but there are so many women on the ground leading the movement, leading the local fight – and that’s where this is all going to be fought out. There were very few women branch secretaries when I was elected, but I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”