Local Government Service Group Conference 13-14 June 2010

Redress the imbalance in absence monitoring

Margaret Ferris

Absence management schemes disproportionately affect women, especially those experiencing serious menstrual or menopausal problems which need short monthly absences.

The Service Group Executive will provide a range of negotiating tools for branches, including advice on equality impact assessments, to enable negotiators to redress this imbalance.

Moving the motion on behalf of the National Women's Committee, Scotland's Margaret Ferris told conference that absence management systems which penalise short-term absences have an adverse affect on disabled members as well as women.

She spoke of her own experience of supporting women with absence management issues . "It never failed to amaze me the number of managers who had achieved a medical degree overnight. It was like sitting with Florence Nightingale on one side and Dr Josef Mengele on the other," she said, to laughter and applause.

She called for stewards and negotiators to put themselves into women's shoes and to take action to ensure that absence management systems were fair for all.

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