Women’s Strike 2019: Political and Industrial Strategies for Childcare

This year on 8th March, over five hundred parents, grandparents and carers attended free stay-and-play sessions across London, drawing attention to the unpaid, undervalued care work that props up our economy. Our demands, written in sharpie on dirty laundry, included universal free provision of childcare, the unionisation of nursery workers, feminist education about ‘women’s work’ and a massive shift from commercial to collectivised care. One of the reasons that mum’s went on strike is that Britain’s childcare services and nurseries have been the victims of neoliberalism. In this workshop we will discuss how to push forward with the ideas and demands from 8 March Mums on Strike events. There will be short presentations followed by break out groups to begin to build a feminist political and industrial strategy for the care of children and labour rights of childcare workers.