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Midlands TUC Equalities Conference

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The first Midlands TUC Equalities Conference was held on Saturday 31st in Birmingham and was attended by just over 100 delegates and Chaired by Kate Hudson, CWU Regional Secretary and Vice-Chair of the Midlands TUC.

In welcoming remarks, Lee Barron, Midlands TUC Regional Secretary said that “Equalities is at the heart of the movement and that it is the first place where employers look for cutbacks. We will put equalities on our agenda.” He went on to say that in many instances the trade union was the first place where people have felt safe talking about their particular issues.

The recently elected MP for Yardley, Jess Phillips, addressed the conference about the issues facing women in politics. Jess pointed out that 36% of MPs are women and that there are more men in the House of Commons today than there have ever been female MPs in history. ‘It isn’t easy being a woman in politics, the barriers women face are structural’ she said. Beyond the House of Commons, the levels of female involvement at all levels in the political world are underrepresented with just 11% of local authority leaders being female.

Jess Phillips MP

Jess went on to refer to tax credits and illustrated the impact that it will have on the 24,000 children in her constituency that will lose out and how this compares to the benefits felt by the four wealthiest members of her constituency that have benefited from an inheritance tax cut. She dismissed the government’s argument that tax credits stop ambition by pointing out that she and two other female MPs had lived on tax credits and that it didn’t stop them having ambition and insisted that ‘it is important to have women from all walks of life represented in Parliament.’.

The conference heard that she had recently been the victim of vile online abuse for her recent suggestion that there wasn’t a need for a specific International Men’s Day debate in the House of Commons due to the present male representation in Parliament. However, on a more positive note, Jess said that it had been a privilege to take part in the ‘Tampon Tax’ to push for the abolition of the 5% VAT levy on female sanitary products.

Gethin Roberts from Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) insisted that this year’s Birmingham Pride, with a huge trade union block, has provided the template for future Pride events. Speaking about his involvement with LGSM Gethin insisted that the LGBT community had always been a part of the union movement and have always played a leading role.

Gethin Roberts

Referring to the hit film, Pride, that was inspired by LGSM Gethin referred to the famous comment that “the worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too”. And that the campaign for LGBT rights should be linked to campaign for greater equality and for social justice for all working people. Indeed, over the last 12 months LGSM had been making links with LGBT activists involved in both the Ritzy Living Wage campaign and the National Gallery dispute. He went onto comment that it was the values of social justice that inspired the LGSM to form in 1984/85, the same values that drove the group to reform in 2014 and is the driving force behind a whole new generation of young activist getting engaged.  

Wilf Sullivan, the TUC’s Race Equality Officer insisted that the Trade Union Bill was an equalities issue, because the Bill will make it far more difficult for working people to address discrimination issues in the workplace. He went onto highlight the high levels of black youth unemployment and warned that ‘there should be a big red light flashing in government about the fact that so many young black men are unemployed…if you push people against a wall against a wall they will have no where else to go and will fight back.’

Wilf Sullivan

Furthermore, if the government abolish the the Public Sector Equality Duty this will reduce ability of unions to tackle discrimination in the workplace. On immigration Wilf suggested that the language surrounding the topic shows how easily we are slipping into measures that undermine the civil rights of all. In concluding, Wilf urged that issues of equality are collective not individual and that we should be putting equalities at the heart of collective bargaining.

Rob Smith and Balbir Bird from Thompsons Solicitors provided an Equality Law briefing and suggested that 2010 was the ‘high tide’ in terms of equalities and that we have been on a ‘tricky road’ ever since. Measures such as the change to two year qualifying periods for unfair dismissal, the repeal of third party harassment and the introduction of tribunal fees have had a detrimental impact.  Indeed, the introduction of tribunal fees has seen tribunal claims fall through the floorm with a 52% fall in claims in 2013/14 and with further declines since.

Balbir Bird

The University of Birmingham lecturer, Andy Hodder addressed the conference about the need to prioritise young worker organising initiatives to counter the fact that just 7% of 16-24yr olds are presently in a union. He also said that it was ‘wrong to prioritise young workers to build the unions for tomorrow, young workers are workers today.’

Andy Hodder

He went on to state that whilst young workers have distinct issues they cut across all equality issues and therefore unions should seek to all costs to pigeon hole young workers. To build stronger unions young people need to be involved directly in organising and building all campaigns. It is ‘rubbish’ that young people are not interested in politics, but we have to remember that young people are not a homogenous group and that unions to need to be smart and strategic with campaigns.

Sarah Worth from the Midlands TUC Young Workers network then went onto outline how the network has been reimagined over the last six months. In recognising the fundamental challenge facing unions in organising young workers, the network has sought to bring together young activists and members to discuss how unions can better reach out to young workers, make themselves more relevant and welcoming and ensure that young workers are at the heart of union structures.


Sarah Worth

As a result of fundraising undertaken by the Midlands LGBT and Disability networks on World Aids Day a cheque for £1325 was presented to Trade Sexual Health by Alex DeWinter and Lee Barron to help support their work in providing support to people with HIV and in challenging the stigma that surrounds HIV

Alex DeWinter

Sandra Durkin then addressed the conference about the Touchstone publication 'young against old?' She said that ‘my generation may be last to do better than my parents generation’  which poses a real challenge for young people. However ‘there is inequality across all generations, it’s not a battle between generations.’

Sandra Durkin

Rather than fanning the flames of generational hostility the focus should be on improving investment in skills, increasing the National Minimum Wage, extending pay bargaining, introducing decent job guarantee schemes, reduce student debt & improve access to housing.

Councillor Judy Foster outlined how Dudley Council is now promoting facility time through equalities. Judy insisted that ‘trade unions are a force for good. An effective council is when we have management and well resourced unions working together’ and the ‘facility time for trade union reps an investment to tackle discrimination.’


Judy Foster

A question and answer session was then held with a panel of representatives from all the Midlands TUC equality groups where they outlined their future priorities and campaigns.

The conference concluded with a presentation about the Dying to Work campaign. The campaign is pressing for additional employment protection for terminally ill workers who need greater protection from employers who utilise a loophole in the law to dismiss the dying due to their illness. For more information about the campaign visit www.dyingtowork.co.uk

Dying to work

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