Brendan Barber speech to the 2008 TUC black workers conference
BLACK WORKERS CONFERENCE - 18 APRIL 2008
Thanks Zita [Holburne]
And thanks for your hard work with PCS and on our Race Relations Committee. It's great to be here today.
This conference has become one of the key fixtures in the trade union calendar.
A chance to reflect on the progress we've made - and, of course, to focus on the challenges that remain.
And for all sorts of reasons, 2008 is shaping up to be a pivotal year.
A year when the debate on migration looks set to dominate the political agenda.
A year when we must respond to overblown rhetoric about 'Britishness' and 'British jobs for British workers'.
And - on a more positive note - a year when we could see the election of the first black President in America's history.
In a country scarred by slavery, by the Ku Klux Klan, and by the appalling legacy of a thousand lynchings, that would represent a shift of truly seismic proportions.
A message of hope not just to America - but to the wider world.
But let none of us lose sight of one of the key challenges we face right across Britain.
Keeping our towns and cities free from the poison of the BNP.
This year, May Day has an added resonance for us.
Across the country, the BNP is looking to add to its tally of 49 councillors, while just five per cent of the vote in London could hand the Far Right a seat on the Assembly.
There is no room for complacency. Last year, the BNP fielded a record number of candidates and secured 300,000 votes - a 100-fold increase since the beginning of the decade.
It is our responsibility to face down this menace, to stand up to the politics of hate.
For us, there can be no higher calling than fighting the evils of fascism.
That's why we must mobilise millions of trade unionists to use their vote on May 1st, making sure everyone who is eligible to vote is actually registered to vote.
That's why we must step up our campaigning in workplaces, raising awareness among colleagues of the threat posed by the BNP.
And that's why we must get active in our communities, taking our message beyond the factory gate and office door.
Sadly, the alarming rise in support for the BNP has not happened in a vacuum.
It is symptomatic, of course, of the wider discrimination, prejudice and racism that continues to disfigure British life.
One of the biggest problems we face is institutional racism.
Ahead of the tenth anniversary of the MacPherson Report - and fifteen years on from the murder of Stephen Lawrence - this is perhaps an appropriate time to review the progress made in this area.
Or rather the lack of progress - because there is little or no evidence to suggest that institutional racism is being tackled consistently.
It goes without saying that we welcomed the Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force set up by the Labour government - a landmark strategy for addressing race discrimination in our labour market.
But there are serious questions about its effectiveness - and Ministers' commitment to it.
And think too about the limitations of the Race Relations Amendment Act.
Legislation that only applies to the public sector - and whose implementation is best described as patchy.
With the focus of public policy shifting towards community cohesion, the Government itself seems to have taken its eye of the ball in recent years.
Let us be clear about this: tackling institutional racism is not an optional extra.
The report we are publishing to coincide with this conference - on the position of black workers in the labour market over the past 10 years - lays bare the scale of the challenge we still face.
Yes, it shows the employment rate for black and ethnic minority workers has gone up since Labour came to power.
But the children of black workers are still much more likely to be poor than the children of white familes.
And since 2001, the pay gap with white workers has actually increased - with workers from Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities the most disadvantaged of all.
That's why the TUC is calling on the Government not just to do more to meet the recommendations of MacPherson, but to tackle the wider labour market inequalities that disproportionately impact on black workers, especially in the private sector.
Next month we will be publishing the final report of our groundbreaking Commission on Vulnerable Employment.
In it we will be setting out the action that needs to be taken to eradicate the exploitation experienced by around one in five of the workforce, notably migrant workers, agency workers and ethnic minority workers.
We hope the Government finds the courage to respond accordingly.
And we are also pressing Ministers for a fundamental change of policy in another key area: to give asylum seekers the right to work.
For us, the right to work - to earn a living, to provide for yourself and your family - is no more and no less than a fundamental human right.
It is, quite simply, the most elemental trade union principle.
Yet since 2002 this right has been denied to some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
People who want to use their skills, to make a contribution to our communities, to pay their way in our economy - but who are being forced to live in poverty and isolation, their physical and mental health deteriorating as a result.
Like Aisha from Ethiopia, who worked as a primary school teacher for eight years before she came to the UK.
She can speak six languages, and desperately wants to work as an interpreter and support worker in our schools.
But she is currently restricted to voluntary work with Amnesty International and other organisations.
Or think about Kabwe, who fled the brutal war in the Congo.
An accountant by trade, he has spent the last two years learning english, doing voluntary work and taking an Access to Health and Welfare course.
He wants to work in a care home or do a job that involves helping people - but is being denied the opportunity at a time of staff shortages in his chosen line of work.
And says he is struggling with depression as a result.
Conference, cases like these - and there are many - are not just a human tragedy, they are a terrible waste of talent.
That's why the TUC has joined forces with the Refugee Council to educate our members, raise awareness of the issues facing asylum seekers, and get the government to change its draconian policy.
Let me put it bluntly.
If the Thatcher government allowed those seeking asylum to work, then there is absolutely no reason why a Labour government about to enter its twelfth year cannot do likewise.
Conference, this is a hugely important agenda.
Securing the right to work for asylum seekers, tackling institutional racism, and fighting the Far Right - these are among the most important challenges facing trade unionism today.
And they are not just worthy goals - they are noble causes.
This agenda goes right to the heart of what our movement is about.
Equality, dignity and decency for all - regardless of race, religion or colour.
So together let us keep fighting for what we believe in.
And together, let us make a difference where it is needed most.
Thank you.
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