Black Workers’ Conference
The TUC uses the term ‘Black workers’ to indicate people of colour with a shared history. ‘Black’ is used in a broad political and inclusive sense to describe people in the UK who have suffered colonialism and enslavement in the past and continue to experience racism and diminished opportunities
Please note that this conference is not open to members of the public. All delegates to this conference must be nominated members of one of the TUC’s affiliated unions.
If you are interested in attending this event, please contact your union to request more information.
- Information for your union’s delegates, visitors, and conference observers
Delegation leads
If you are the delegation lead then please make sure we have your mobile phone number. This will only be used by TUC staff during conference, for conference business, and will be deleted immediately following the end of conference.
Key dates for delegates
If your union has nominated you to be a delegate at the 2027 TUC Black Workers’ Conference, here is what you can expect from the TUC:
14 January 2027: Deadline for your nomination
w/c 25 January 2027: The TUC will email you a link to register. If you do not receive this, please email your union for further information.
26 February 2027: Your deadline to submit your individual registration. Please note that this is a two-stage process. You will be sent a monitoring form first, at the end of which is a link to the final registration form.
w/c 5 April 2027: You will receive a link to the final conference documents, including the agenda, nominees to the Race Relations Committee and the conference guide.If you have any queries about the conference, please email your union contact in the first instance. The TUC provides all the essential information to unions, who are then responsible for keeping delegates informed.
Visitors
Visitors' tickets will be issued via affiliated unions before conference.
The TUC prioritises safety of all guests at our events. Visitor tickets are not transferrable and will be issued to named visitors only who will need to provide their name and address information. You will need to bring id that matches your visitor pass information.
Visitors will be asked to submit their individual registration by 4pm on 26 February 2027.
Any attendees not registered to attend in advance will be denied entry.
Accessibility
The TUC is keen to ensure that we provide equal access for all delegates, especially disabled delegates.
Please inform us if you have access requirements by 4pm on 26 February 2027. Please include this information when completing your registration.
Please note that your union is responsible for providing hard copies of all documents. If you require documents in a specific format, please include this in your reasonable adjustments so we can pass this on to your union.
The TUC will meet all access needs where reasonably practicable and if notified by the deadline.
Childcare facilities
The TUC is committed to ensuring that no delegate is prevented from playing a full part in Conference because of childcare.
Please notify delegates that crèche facilities will be provided for those with children under 5 (not yet school age) during conference hours, free of charge, provided the TUC receives requests for more than 5 children, by the closing date for delegate registration, 26 February 2027.
The TUC provides a creche if we have over 5 children requiring this service; we make other arrangements with the parent if there are fewer than 5 children requiring the service.
Please note that unions may be liable for the cost of any ‘no-shows’ or late cancellations.
Out of hours childcare arrangements, to allow delegates with childcare responsibilities to attend fringe events can also be arranged up to 8pm.
Delegates that are breast feeding are welcome to bring their children into the conference hall with them.
Monitoring
In line with the TUC commitment to equality, delegations will be asked to complete an online equality monitoring form as part of their individual registrations.
Scrutineers and tellers
We need a small number of scrutineers to count the ballots for the Race Relations Committee and the motion to Congress. The TUC will approach the delegation leaders for volunteers from amongst their delegates.
- Information for union officers and staff
Key dates
The provisional date for the TUC Black Workers' Conference is 16-18 April 2027. The venue is TBC.
- Motions and nominations must be received by 4pm on 14 January 2027
- Unions must submit the names of conference delegates by 4pm on 14 January 2027
- Amendments to motions must be received by 4pm on 18 February 2027
- Attendees must complete their individual registrations by 26 February 2027
- Fringe and delegation meeting requests must be received by 4pm on 19 February 2027
- Emergency Motions must be received by 4pm on 13 April 2027
Conference forms
Motions
Nominations
Delegate registration
Visitor registration
Fringe and Delegation meeting requests
AmendmentsProvisional conference sessions times
Conference sessions will be as follows:
Friday 16 April 2pm - 5.30pm
Saturday 17 April 9.30am - 5.30pm
Sunday 18 April 9.30am - 3pm
Motions, amendments, and emergency motions
Download the guide to writing motions
Motions
Please use this form to submit motions by 4pm on 14 January 2027.
Unions can submit one motion of no more than 200 words each. Motions exceeding 200 words will be ruled out of order. Unions should also make sure the content of motions directly relates to Black workers and the issues they face and make the relevance to Black members explicit in the wording.
Please note that each motion should cover one subject only. Any motion covering more than one subject may be ruled out of order.
Motions must be approved by the General Secretary.
Composite motions
The Race Relations Committee will consult unions about compositing motions where appropriate.
Amendments
Please use this form for submitting your union’s amendments
Unions can submit one amendment of not more than 60 words.
Amendments must be submitted by 4pm on 18 February 2027.
Speaking times
The time limit is five minutes for the mover of the motion, and three minutes for any subsequent speaker.
Emergency motions
Emergency motions, of a maximum of 200 words, must deal with issues that have arisen since the closing date for ordinary motions and amendments. They must be received by the TUC office at equalities@tuc.org.uk and titled EMERGENCY MOTION, by 4pm on 13 April 2027 by email as a signed PDF and a Word version.
Emergency motions must be signed by the union General Secretary.
Delegations and registration arrangements
Delegate Registration
Unions must submit the names of conference delegates by 4pm on 14 January 2027 using this form and must include any access and/or childcare requests. We are keen that the conference gives voice to groups of workers that under- represented in our movement and our structure therefore encourage unions to register their Black* members as delegates. Of course, allies are welcome, and we encourage unions to register allies as observers and visitors.
Any attendees not registered to attend in advance will be denied entry.
All affiliated unions are entitled to be represented by a minimum of two delegates, providing that the organisation has paid the fee prescribed in Rule 3 of the Rules and Standing Orders. For affiliates with 10,000 or more members, the following entitlements also apply:
Organisations with between 10,000 and 20,000 members: up to 5 delegates.
Organisations with between 20,001 and 50,000 members: up to 10 delegates.
Organisations with between 50,001 and 100,000 members: up to 15 delegates.
Organisations with between 100,001 and 500,000 members: up to 20 delegates.
Organisations with between 500,001 and 1,000,000 members: up to 25 delegates.
Organisations with over 1,000,001 members: up to 30 delegates.The General Council are especially keen to encourage delegations from those unions who do not usually go to conference. Delegates will be asked to submit their individual registrations by 26 February 2027.
*The TUC uses the term ‘Black workers’ to indicate people of colour with a shared history. ‘Black’ is used in a broad political and inclusive sense to describe people in the UK who have suffered colonialism and enslavement in the past and continue to experience racism and diminished opportunities.
Visitors’ tickets and documentation
Please use this form to submit your visitor names including any access and/or childcare requests by 4pm on 14 January 2027. The cost per visitor is £15 inclusive of VAT.
Visitors will be asked to submit their individual registrations by 26 February.
Visitors’ tickets (maximum 10 per union) will be issued via affiliated unions before conference. The TUC prioritises safety of all guests at our events. Visitor tickets are not transferrable and will be issued to named visitors only who will need to provide their name and address information.
Any attendees not registered to attend in advance will be denied entry.
Nominations
Please use this form to submit your union’s nominations to the Race Relations Committee no later than 4pm on 14 January 2027. Nominees must be registered as delegates by this date.
The Race Relations Committee is elected at the conference. The elected component of the Race Relations Committee consists of 20 representatives nominated by affiliated unions. Of these twenty seats, four are set aside for Black women, one for a disabled member and one for a LGBT+ member.
You are therefore invited to nominate up to four members from your union, who must be delegates to the 2027 Black Workers Conference, to serve on the Race Relations Committee for the year 2027/2028. One for the fourteen elected places (known as Section A), one for the four seats set aside for Black women (known as Section B), one for the seat set aside for a disabled member (known as Section C), one for the seat set aside for a LGBT+ member (known as Section D), and one set aside for a young member (known as Section E).
Where more than fourteen nominations are received for Section A, more than four nominations for Section B, or more than one nomination for Section C, D or E, a ballot will be held at the Conference. Unions are encouraged to nominate women to both Sections A and B.
Nominees (not the nominating union) should provide a supporting statement on the nominating form, for circulation to delegates before conference. The statement should contain biographical details and relevant details of work carried out in the trade union movement but should not be in any way an election address. The General Secretary of the relevant union should endorse the statement, which must be no more than 150 words.
Please see the guide to writing nomination statements. Please note that statements that do not follow these criteria may be ruled out of order and not published in the list of nominations.
Fringes and delegation meetings
If you would like to book a fringe or a delegation meeting room, please use this form. The form must be received by 19 February. Unions will have to cover the cost of rooms and refreshments.
Unions will need to liaise directly with the conference venue to arrange refreshments.
If your union is running a fringe event, it is your responsibility to provide reasonable adjustments to attendees.
Monitoring
In line with the TUC commitment to equality, delegations will be asked to complete an online equality monitoring form as part of their individual registrations.
Scrutineers and tellers
We need a small number of scrutineers to count the ballots for the Race Relations Committee and the motion to Congress. The TUC will approach delegation leaders for nominations from amongst their delegates.
TUC Contacts
If you have questions or queries in relation to any aspect of the 2027 TUC Black Workers’ Conference, please email: equalities@tuc.org.uk.