BLACK WORKERS CONFERENCE 2023 BEING A BLACK UNION WORKPLACE

By Richard Sudan

THE COST of living crisis is skyrocketing, disproportionately devastating Black communities across the country. Our rights remain fragile after decades of structural racism and austerity, while soaring prices and inflation have increased the burden on Black households immensely.

This cold reality necessitates that black workers collectivise, organise and unionise like never before.

We now have some - but not enough - Black people in senior positions, even leading unions, like Daniel Kebede newly elected as General Secretary of the NEU, only the fourth black union leader.

He follows Dr Patrick Roach of the NASUWT, Maheta Molango of the PFA, and famously the trailblazer Bill Morris, who led the TGWU (now Unite) before retiring and being made a peer.

One of the positions key to a greater Black presence at the top is the role of workplace union representatives, otherwise known as ‘reps’ or shop stewards.

Workplace reps arguably play the most essential function of all, acting as a bridge between unions and the workers on the ground they represent.

Comfortable

Crucially, they stand up for their members in their places of work, safe in the knowledge that their demands are backed by all the members they represent.

Glen Hart, currently an officer at transport union RMT, and a former union rep, outlined the value union reps bring to the table.

“They are my eyes and ears on the ground in the workplace; I can’t do my job without them.

“In the majority of workplaces where we organise, Black and minority communities are quite over repre- sented. People feel more comfortable talking to someone who can understand their experience.

“If they need to talk about being discriminated against, they don’t want to have to explain why it is discrimination. They want to speak to someone who might have an understanding of their experience.”

Unions have a long way to go before they truly reflect modern Britain. But, says Hart, the tide is finally shifting. New generations though, need to take up the charge.

“When I first started out, it was quite often the case that if someone had a case of racism, they would go to a branch meeting to sort it out, but everyone there was usually all white men.

“They would just roll their eyes and didn’t want to hear it. But things are changing now. People are becoming more understanding of the issues and it’s because now we have more reps with that shared experience.”

Hart, who has been active in trade unions for 25 years, and worked on London Underground, elaborated on the kind of battles that can be fought - and won - as a union rep, supporting workers taking on employerseven giants like TfL.

“Managers had been harassing a member. To actually get the managers on the spot in a tribunal - making them justify their actions - was actually vindication itself.

“And then to actually get the win where the company had to pay out money quite substantial for injury to feeling. It’s not about shaming companies. It’s about our members. When they’ve got aggressive management, they are left feeling very vulnerable. They’ve been gaslit.

“Some of my Black reps now, are some of the best. But now I’ve got an opportunity to get others in. I don’t want to be doing this role just by myself. I want more people to join me as much as possible.”

Abena Louisa St BartholomewBrown Morgan is a rep for the Film Artistes Association, a subdivision of BECTU, a union for people working in the entertainment sector.

She worked for decades as an artist, singer, actress, commercial model and held administrative positions in a wide range of organisations while campaigning for period dignity and equality in the workplace, and against institutional racism throughout her life.

With vast experience in the field