Henrietta Hamilton Stephen

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(9 December 1925 to 21 May 2020), known as Rita, was a trade unionist who fought for the rights of working women and equal pay in the 1960s and 1970s.

Early life

Stephen was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

to James Stephen and Mary Stephen (née Morton). She went to

Queen's Park Secondary School Queen's Park Secondary School was a secondary school in Glasgow, Scotland. History Queen's Park School was built in 1873 for the ''Cathcart Parish School Board'' and opened officially in 1876, with the original building located on Grange Road in ...

Early trade union activity

Leaving school Stephen worked at the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

for 17 years. Stephen became a shop steward for the

Union of Post Office Workers The Union of Communication Workers (UCW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom for workers in the post office and telecommunications industries. History The union was founded in 1919 as the Union of Post Office Workers (UPW) by the merger ...

. In 1957 her trade union activity was rewarded with a one-year trade union scholarship to the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

(LSE). While at LSE she led a campaign for shower facilities for students living off site. Stephen then went onto study at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

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, Canada.

Campaigning for equal rights

As a National Official of the Clerical and Administrative Workers' Union, Stephen was responsible for negotiating conditions for office workers, clerk and secretaries, whose members were mostly women. She specialised in trade union education and equal rights. After the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

government brought in the Equal Pay Act of 1970, the slow implementation of the legislation prompted Stephen and her trade union colleagues to encourage local officers to submit equal pay claims to employers. Stephen was involved in creating TUC policies for equal pay and education. In June 1973 Stephen was appointed

for 'For services to the Food Standards Committee'.

Committee membership

Along with membership of Trade Unions Stephen represented the trade union movement on many committees. Before 1957 -

- Shop Steward 1960 - 1965 - Clerical and Administrative Workers’ Union - London Area Organiser 1965 - 1971 - Clerical and Administrative Workers’ Union - Editor of The Clerk, the monthly journal 1965 - 1989 - Clerical and Administrative Workers’ Union - National Official 1965 - 2000s - Mary Macarthur Educational Trust - Secretary 1968 - 1980 - Food Standards Committee - Member 1972 - 1989 -

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- National Official 1973 - 1989 -

British Wool Marketing Board The British Wool Marketing Board (also now known as British Wool) operates the central marketing system for UK fleece wool. A farmer-run organisation, British Wool was established in 1950 with the aim of achieving the best possible net return f ...

- Member 1989 - 1991 -

National Union of General and Municipal Workers The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 460,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (N ...

- National Officer 1973 - 1983 -

Monopolies and Mergers Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under UK competition law, competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competiti ...

- Member 1976 - 2005 - London School of Economics - Governor

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephen, Rita 1925 births 2020 deaths Members of the Order of the British Empire British trade unionists