MOTIONS ON PROSTITUTION PUT TO THE 9^TH COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS UNION WOMEN’S CONFERENCE, 23RD FEBRUARY 2008

Motion 13 from Coventry branch instructed the Women’s Advisory Committee (WAC) to liaise with the National Executive Committee in

order to campaign for the elimination of the conditions, which force women into the sex industry, and for the implementation of measures, which could provide an exit route. These to include: - A decent minimum wage to end poverty; Restoration of the student grants and the abolition of tuition fees; For Decent Childcare; Investment in alternative training and jobs; For increased spending and investment in resources for women who have experienced abuse; For more resources for drug rehabilitation; For Safe Houses and Refuges for those who have been trafficked into the Industry.

The speaker talked about the growth in sexist imagery and the sex industry reinforces and that it perpetuates the wider discrimination which women face within society and that it has the affect of undermining women’s’ struggles for equality in the workplace and society itself. This was carried.

Motion 14 moved by London Regional Women’s Committee instructing the WAC, and all other relevant bodies, to add their voices by calling on the NEC to actively pursue the policy passed at last year's General Conference calling for the NEC to work with the Labour Party and the TUC in pursuit of a policy of decriminalising prostitution to give women rights and protection they currently do not have under existing UK law by working with groups such as the English Collective of Prostitutes and look at schemes adopted by countries like New Zealand which recognise that prostitution in itself should not be a crime. This was seconded by West London and was carried.

Gary Williams

Equality Officer

Solent Branch