The Strike demanded a change of all social and economic priorities for women and therefore for men: pay equity internationally; wages for all caring work; paid maternity leave, breastfeeding breaks and other benefits; protection and asylum from all violence and persecution; accessible healthcare, housing, transport, literacy and information; abolition of "Third World debt"; accessible clean water, non-polluting energy and technology; and freedom of movement.

· In Catalunya, Spain, trade unions (UGT, USOC, CCOO), women's and municipal organisations and all political parties agreed to a noon stoppage. · In Philadelphia, the Wages for Housework Campaign (WFH), backed by trade unions, launched a petition to the US government which has blocked pay equity in all international treaties. · The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) issued a statement supporting the Strike demands.

The Strike was first called by women in Ireland who are demanding an annual paid day off in recognition of their enormous contribution to society, most of which is unwaged. It was made global by WFH to protest the $800 billion a year spent on military budgets world-wide, while $80 billion would provide the essentials of life -- water, sanitation, basic health, nutrition, education and a minimum income.

Women related the demands to their specific needs and ongoing campaigns -- for land reform, welfare benefits, pensions. · In India, thousands of village women struck against housework and fieldwork, demanding wages for every work as well as land. · The Housewives Union in Santa Fe, Argentina, demanded "Pensions without contributions for workers without wages". · In Burkina Faso, rural women struck "to exist": demanding money for birth certificates and identity cards. · Here in the UK, sex workers launched the Strike by with a march through Soho, London, demanding justice against eviction from their homes. A number of union branches passed resolutions supporting the Strike.

The Strike is an opportunity for women in trade unions who generally carry the double workload of unwaged caring on top of almost always underpaid work, to advance their own autonomous demands as workers outside the home and inside.

Union members are planning to take whatever time off they can get to support the Strike. Last year office workers in London used lunch hour to tell the government, via e-mail, how overworked and undervalued they are.

Unions are again taking up the call: get your union to support the Strike; support the Pay Equity Now! Petition; add your demands to the Strike demands; raise with your employer questions on unwaged work which rarely fit into negotiations, like travelling time to and from the job -- essential for him that we get to work, but why doesn’t he pay for our time and travel costs?

Model resolution to support the Global Women’s Strike

This Branch/Region/Women’s Committee resolves to:

• support the right of members to participate in the Women’s Global Strike in any way that is appropriate, and assist in organising the strike, including by sending delegates (women whenever possible) to Women’s Global Strike meetings.
• circulate information and news about the Women’s Global Strike to members and to the women’s officers/sections of the union.
• include Women’s Global Strike information in Newsletters, and link the Union Website to the Women’s Global Strike Webpage: http://womenstrike8m.server101.com
• encourage members who want to support the Strike to donate one hour’s pay.
• call on the Regional and the National Executives to support the Global Women’s Strike both with a financial contribution and circulation of information.
• donate at least £50 to the Women’s Strike Fund.

For more information, model resolutions, Pay Equity Now! petition, please contact :

International Wages for Housework Campaign
Crossroads Women’s Centre
230a Kentish Town Rd (cnr Caversham Rd) London NW5 2AB
Tel: 0207 482 2496, Fax: 0207 209 4761 e-mail: womenstrike8m@server101.com
website: http://womenstrike8m.server101.com