Unionisation to combat abuse?

Louise Nousratpour
Sunday March 15, 2009
The Morning Star

THE liveliest debate by far at this year's TUC women's conference was on prostitution.

Should the sex industry be decriminalised and "sex workers" unionised like staff in any other sector or should we recognise that prostitution constitutes violence against women and act accordingly?

The debate in Scarborough on Thursday polarised delegates, with a number of unions abstaining from voting on the two opposing motions on how best to reform prostitution laws.

In the end, those who argued that decriminalisation would legitimise the abuse that is inherent in prostitution and turn pimps into "a newly respectable class of sex businessmen" won the day.

Moving the motion against decriminalisation, University and College Union delegate Mary Davis made clear that "this is not a moral issue, but a women's rights issue."

She argued that to label prostitution as "work" would legitimise "the commodification of sex and the objectification of women's bodies. Decriminalisation would condone violence and abuse without addressing the underlying problems of poverty and organised crime.

"We must expose the social causes of prostitution and fight for higher wages and improved benefits to ensure no-one is desperate enough to turn to the sex industry."

The motion, titled the commodification of sex, called for Britain to adopt the approach pioneered by Sweden, which criminalises men who buy sex and decriminalises prostitutes and offers them social support to leave the industry.

Official figures show that prostitution numbers have dropped from 2,500 before the 1999 legislation to around 1,000 today.

Also, the number of people trafficked in Sweden is now between 400 to 600 a year, compared to 4,000 in neighbouring Denmark and Norway.

In Britain, some 85 per cent of an estimated 80,000 prostitutes are thought to be victims of trafficking.

But CWU delegate Tricia Clarke, who moved the motion on decriminalisation, rejected the Swedish model on the basis that it would drive prostitution underground and put women's safety at risk.

She urged conference to support the GMB union's campaign to unionise the sex industry as the best way to protect women.

"In a socialist society, where poverty and inequality are eliminated, women will not look to prostitution. But in the meantime, we must fight for sex workers' trade union rights and ensure that they can report sexual violence without fear of imprisonment or a criminal record," she added.

However, Unite delegate Tricia Lawton questioned the argument that unionisation would protect prostitutes from violence and abuse.

"How can unions protect women prostitutes from sexual abuse when it is part and parcel of their work?" she asked, adding: "Prostitutes need human rights, not union rights."

She also refuted the notion that decriminalisation was about respecting a woman's right to "choose" and would empower prostitutes.

"The industry is run by men for men and the pimps who make huge profits from this exploitation are the only ones truly in control," she said.