MAY 2023 THE VOICE |27
BLACK WORKERS CONFERENCE 2023
Putting race back on the agenda Kate Bell, Deputy General Secretary of the TUC, says the union movement is committed to anti-racism
T
equality workplace by workplace.
EXEMPLARY
Second: we will organise for race equality – moving into new sectors where Black workers are overrepresented, and recruiting and training a new generation of Black reps and leaders. Third, we will get our own house in order – making sure that unions are exemplary em-
PHOTO CREDIT: Jess Hurd
HE UNION movement is rightly proud of its record of winning for Black workers – but at times we have fallen short of our own high standards. To build a fighting antiracist trade union movement - and a truly inclusive trade union movement - unions need to change. Those are the findings of the TUC’s Anti-Racism Task Force, chaired by Dr Patrick Roach, which reported to our last Congress. In the trade union movement, we know that organising together in workplaces is the greatest force for change at work there has ever been. It’s how we have beaten back bad bosses and won new rights and freedoms over and over again – and led the way for progressive legislation that expanded rights for every worker in every workplace. But both the trade union movement and individual unions still have some way to go to represent Black workers fully - and no union is exempt from institutional racism.
PROGRESS
ORGANISING
So, over the coming five years, we will implement our antiracism manifesto and action plan. These set out what trade unions, and the movement as a whole, will do to secure economic and social justice for Black workers. They discuss how we will reboot the movement’s campaigning, organising and bargaining work – and what we need to do to tackle racial inequalities in our workplaces and beyond. All our commitments have been created alongside Black trade unionists and based on in-depth research in Black working lives. The actions are realistic and achievable – and we will meet them in the next five years. First: we will put race on the agenda in our collective bargaining – and make sure more Black workers are represented in negotiations. That will help us root out racism and deliver
movement – want to hear concrete plans to end the ethnicity pay gap and the concentration of Black workers in insecure low paid work. After all, Black women are twice as likely to be on zero-hours contracts as white men – and 2 in 5 Black workers have experienced racism at work in the last five years. Labour’s New Deal for Working People promises a ban on zero hour contracts and other pledges that would put more money in the pockets of tens of thousands of BME workers overnight and end work insecurity. Unions will be pushing to make sure the New Deal is front and centre in the manifesto. But we’re yet to see the details of Labour’s long-promised Race Equality Act.
We still have some way to go to represent Black workers fully ployers able to speak with credibility about the wider changes we need at work. And finally, we will demand change from politicians, campaigning hard to end systemic racism and take down barriers for Black workers. As we head towards the next general election, Black workers - and the whole trade union
Conservative ministers should stop their culture war agenda and recognise that all decent people believe in equality and respect at work. They must leave behind their complacency about the UK’s progress towards being an antiracist society: it’s time they acknowledged structural racism at work, and set out plans to end it. They must also drop their immoral Illegal Immigration Bill and create safe and legal routes for refugees. Regardless of who is in government, unions will keep fighting for decent wages, fair treatment and an end to exploitation for all working people – knowing this will disproportionately benefit Black workers. Whatever our background, race or religion, we all have the right to a decent job and respect at work. Racists try to divide working-class people from one another. But we know this: Black and white workers united in our unions will always prevail.
