TUC Equality Audit 2024
Labour’s victory in the general election gives real hope to working people. Its New Deal has the potential to improve employment rights for all and create a more positive climate for winning equality.
It’s over 20 years since we published our first equality audit in 2003. Over the last two decades, the audit has shown the difference that unions make to millions of people and our collective struggle for equality.
The 2024 audit looks at equality bargaining and covers a difficult yet inspiring time for our movement. It comes after the Covid-19 pandemic which exposed structural disadvantage and discrimination in our society and a cost-of-living crisis that disproportionately impacted Black workers, disabled workers and women. We’ve also had hostile attacks from the Conservative government on migrants, disabled people, trans people and other marginalised groups to deflect from the economic chaos they caused.
Our movement has fought back. We’ve protected jobs, lives and livelihoods during the pandemic and won pay rise after pay rise in both the public and private sector. And we’ve defended our brothers, sisters and siblings across the movement including establishing our Anti-Racism Task Force and launching our Trade Union Alliance for Trans and Non-Binary Rights.
It’s evident from the audit that this external environment has created challenges for collective bargaining. Four in ten reps told us it had got more difficult to get employers to address equality issues in the last couple of years. But despite all of this, there are still examples of unions advancing equality at work. We’re winning recognition rights for equality reps, improved parental leave and pay, and support for those who experience miscarriage. We’re securing changes to discriminatory redundancy processes alongside improved bullying and harassment policies, so people are treated with dignity and respect at work.
It’s also encouraging to see that several unions are offering new and updated training on sexual harassment. With three in five women having experienced harassment at work, ending the scourge of sexual harassment must be a key priority for our movement.
For the first time in this audit, we asked specific questions to track the progress our movement is making following our Anti-Racism Task Force. Unions told us about wins that impact Black workers from the insourcing of low-paid outsourced workers to fairer pay structures that don’t discriminate.
When I became general secretary in 2023, I said I wanted to build a stronger, more inclusive, more diverse movement. To achieve this, we must ensure equality is at the heart of collective bargaining. This audit is full of examples of this, and I hope it inspires and supports all affiliates to build on these wins.
Paul Nowak, TUC General Secretary
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