It's been 24 years since I took to the podium at the TUC Congress in Blackpool. It was five years before this I lost my son Stephen Lawrence. I still remember when the authorities came to my house on the very first day. They treated us like criminals when we tried to find out exactly what happened to my child. I couldn’t believe it. I decided then that I was not going to have any of this.
I remember meeting a group of trade unionists near Vauxhall Bridge. The small group told me they were going to help. And they did. The action and support of Black workers and groups in trade unions immensely helped pull the national focus on our campaign. They helped in financially sustaining it.
Today, I can proudly say that trade unionists were critical in pushing the campaign seeking justice for Stephen Lawrence – through their unions, workplaces and communities. However, the challenges haven’t gone away; neither has our resistance to them.
I am honoured to be the patron of the TUC’s Anti-Racism Task Force. To be part of the trade union movement’s ongoing commitment to racial justice.
The launch of this report signals a new phase for trade unionism. One which unequivocally champions anti-racism to its core. I believe the campaign for justice for my son could not have been achieved without the collective action and support of so many. Coming together as Black and white people, we must join together and rise to combat the scourge of racism.
In memory of our son, our struggles and success. Now is the time to stand up for what we believe in and when we come together and fight together – we win together.
Dr Neville Lawrence, patron of the TUC Anti-Racism Task Force
The TUC uses the term Black throughout this report. The TUC Race Relations committee uses Black as an umbrella term to bring together people with a shared history. ‘Black’ is used in a broad political and inclusive sense to describe people in the UK who have suffered from colonialism and enslavement in the past and continue to experience racism and diminished opportunities in today’s society.
“The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racial stereotyping.”
Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, 1999
These are tough times for working people. The worst cost-of-living crisis for half a century and the prospect of a deep economic recession make our fight against racism even more important as we campaign for a better deal for all workers. Workers are witnessing their pay and living standards in freefall, and facing the prospect of insecure employment, unfair pay systems, fire and rehire practices, outsourcing, unsafe working practices and harassment and abuse at work. A lack of effective regulatory enforcement has left workers even more exposed to abuse and exploitation at work. And let us be clear, the hostile of environment for workers has been spurred on by a government that for more than a decade has deliberately weakened and attacked the framework of rights for workers.
The coronavirus pandemic highlighted the damaging impact of racial segregation at work, with Black workers up to four times more likely to die from Covid-19. The widening race pay gap has seen Black workers earning up to 25 per cent less than their white colleagues, and evidence points to Black workers being at least twice as likely to be employed in insecure jobs. Black workers are also more than twice as likely to be unemployed than white workers – and the gap is increasing. This is not the world of work that we want to see.
Despite five decades of race discrimination legislation, our Anti-Racism Task Force has shown how the UK labour market remains stacked against Black workers. Two years ago, we started the work of the Anti-Racism Task Force against the backdrop of the murder of George Floyd, global Black Lives Matter protests and growing concerns over the disproportionate deaths of Black workers linked to the Coronavirus. We demanded action from government, but instead Black communities faced criticism and blame from a government that should have been there to protect them. Nevertheless, our trade unions were determined to step up and confront the big issues head on.
The Anti-Racism Task Force said that we wanted action, not words, because it’s not enough for us to simply denounce racism. Our trade union movement has a duty to take the lead ourselves in rooting out racism wherever it exists - in the workplace, on the streets, by the government and in our unions. So, this report focuses on the actions we are taking to ensure we see more of our Black members leading the work of our unions, and as we challenge employers and win better deals for our members at work.
We said that we would seek to hold the government to account, stepping up our demands for racial justice through the Covid-19 Public Inquiry which our movement campaigned for and won. Through that Inquiry we will be continuing our work to deliver justice for all of our members who were impacted by the failure of the government to keep them safe.
The Task Force has been determined that our unions should be exemplary employers, too. Black employees in our unions are a proud and vital part of our trade union movement and they deserve to be listened to, respected, valued and supported. No longer should Black workers face the prospect of victimisation or being driven out if they speak up or speak out. Unless we are seen to be practising what we preach, we won’t secure the trust or create the conditions needed to deliver positive and lasting change. Through our Anti-Racism Manifesto, we are providing a beacon to guide the leadership across affiliated unions.
For centuries, racism has thrived on injustice and inequality. But, fighting injustice – by any means necessary - is what must continue to drive our movement. Our unions and our members know that the politics of hatred and division do not serve the interests of working people. It is our progressive trade union agenda that is best placed to deliver good jobs, fair pay, respect for rights at work, and safe and secure workplaces. And, through our work to date, and our plans for the next phase of our work, we are demonstrating that our movement is on the side of Black workers – by winning improvements with employers, by campaigning in workplaces and on the streets, and by transforming our organisations to be inclusive for our members.
And, as our work over the last two years has confirmed, we must also confront our own shortcomings. At the height of the pandemic, when Black workers needed us most, too many did not have the confidence to turn to us for support. That is not the movement we aspire to be. Our movement must always be a safe haven for all working people. We need to earn the trust of Black workers who are union members, and those who are not, and show that we stand united in fighting for fairness and justice at work and in our communities.
The conclusion of the work we started two years ago is not the end of the road. We now enter the next stage in our journey with an Anti-Racism Action Plan that sets out a compelling programme that we will take forward. It commits us to making progress and to be accountable for our actions. The success of our Action Plan will depend on the leadership and commitment by all affiliates in taking forward this agenda – and our new Anti-Racism Manifesto commits every union to always speak out and take action wherever and whenever racial injustice exists.
The nature of the change we seek means that the work we are asking unions to do is not going to be easy or comfortable. Nor should it be. It will challenge all of us. But it remains necessary as we reaffirm our shared determination never to stand by whilst racism and other forms of injustice exist or when those in power peddle hatred and division.
We know that divided we fall, but united we stand strong in our shared ambition to change the world of work for good, and in the certain knowledge that when Black workers rise, we all rise.
Dr Patrick Roach, chair of the Anti-Racism Task Force
“Whatever our background, race or religion, everyone deserves a decent job and respect at work. Racists try to divide working class people and that makes us all weaker. But when Black and white workers unite through our unions, we are unstoppable.”
For our unions to thrive, recruiting Black members and addressing racism at work has to be at the core of our work. This will grow our movement, make it diverse and truly representative of the working class of modern-day Britain.
We must recognise that every one of our unions has its unique challenge when addressing racial equality and justice – from the diversity of recruitment, organising, sector demographics and the priorities placed by their executives.
This set of actions are a key outcome of the ARTF during its two-year tenure. This work has been informed by centring the voice of Black workers through research, conversations, events, roundtable events, activist forums and feedback from officials throughout our trade union movement.
This list of actions and the Anti-Racism Manifesto, produce a robust roadmap for trade unions to take on the path to racial justice, equality and diversity.
Understanding racism: Trade unions should have mandatory anti-racism training for staff. Their education programmes for reps and activists should include anti-racist education.
Race and the law: Trade unions should develop a learning programme to take legal officers and reps through the mechanics of building a case, including identifying and dealing with racial discrimination in the workplace.
Strategic litigation: Trade unions need to train caseworkers to understand how strategic litigation is used to advance racial justice in the workplace. This includes integrating anti-racism principles into litigation and casework, and ensuring all staff follow an agreed litigation and campaign strategy for actively challenging racism.
Organising: Trade unions must develop a programme of work to identify Black activists, recruit new Black reps and engage them in a programme of work that builds a network of Black activists to help build membership. A key factor of this work should be to remove barriers to Black workers participation in their unions. Trade unions should create organising strategies in sectors and industries where Black workers are more likely to be employed.
Black leadership: Trade unions must establish their Black leadership programmes including developing modular based training that equips black activists to deal with the specific problems they experience whilst undertaking their duties.
Fighting racism: Trade unions must build campaigns that tackle racism in the labour market and create better working conditions for Black workers, who are more likely to face insecure contracts and unfair pay. This includes campaigning on casualisation, outsourcing, fire and rehire, mass redundancies, the hostile environment and holding the government to account through the Covid public inquiry.
Representation: Trade unions should listen to their Black members to identify key bargaining issues and take steps to ensure that Black workers are represented at the negotiating table.
Monitoring in the workplace: Trade unions must tackle racism in the workplace by seeking workplace agreements to monitor and review their recruitment, retention and employment practices, and press for action by employers to tackle under-representation, outsourcing/two-tier employment and eliminate ethnicity pay gaps.
Decent work for all: Trade unions must campaign for the introduction of race equality requirements into public sector contracts for the supply of goods and services, in order to incentivise employers to improve their race equality policies and practices and to tackle the abuse of zero-hours and temporary and agency contracts and promote decent work for all. And campaign to demand that racial justice is an essential criterion for companies awarded a public contract.
Anti-Racism Network: Unions should participate with the TUC Anti-Racism Network. The network convenes a bi-annual programme of meetings with organisations working on race related policy.
Acknowledge experiences: Unions should engage with their staff on the findings from the ARTF unions as employers workstream. They should also acknowledge the experiences of their Black staff and officers.
Robust reporting: Unions should put together a robust mechanism for reporting racist incidents in the workplace. Incidents must be dealt with adequately and in a timely manner.
Promoting transparency: Unions must promote greater transparency and consistency in their HR practices, especially in hiring and promotion of staff. They should put together race action plans that monitor their progress on a regular basis. The plans should be reviewed, annually, and progress should be measured.
Supporting Black groups: Trade unions should support and resource Black staff affinity groups and regularly engage and consult with them to shift the culture of their respective organisations
Developing leaders: As employers, trade unions should create Black leadership programmes to support the progress and development of Black staff. They need to work to eliminate institutional barriers and blockages that have resulted in the lack of diversity in their unions at all levels.
On 22 April 1993, Stephen Lawrence, aged 18, was racially attacked and murdered by a group of white men. His attackers were initially arrested but never charged. The handling of the case by the Met Police was riddled with racism. Four years after the murder, the then Home Secretary, Jack Straw, launched a public inquiry into his death that found the Metropolitan Police to be institutionally racist, and that this had obstructed the arrest and conviction of Stephen’s murderers.1
This is what led the TUC to establish its first anti-racism task group – the Stephen Lawrence Task Group – to oversee the work of trade unions to tackle institutional racism. The focus of the work was to stimulate wider activity amongst affiliates and mainstream initiatives against institutional racism across the whole of the TUC.
The TUC hosted a star-studded launch of a ‘Root Out Racism’ hotline to report racist abuse at work; provided publications for affiliates on how to deal with racist 'banter' and racist workplace culture; and provided training for reps in race discrimination cases in employment tribunals. TUC Education ran training for union officers and reps at a regional and local level. In addition, a network of TUC Trade Union Studies centres was set up in FE colleges; and there was a certificate in management tailored to progress
Black and Asian staff into senior positions in unions. A TUC ‘tackling racism’ handbook for reps was also published.
The Task Group report noted that parts of the private sector were pressing ahead with diversity policies and that tackling racism is easy when it is happening somewhere else, but more difficult and painful within your own organisation.
A composite resolution passed at Congress 2000, highlighted the need for trade unions to examine their own practices and procedures. Presentations by Task Group members to union executive committees sought to encourage unions to review practices and to develop action plans.
The Task Group also established a union personnel network to review practices in this field and to share good practice amongst affiliates. The aim of this initiative was to increase the numbers of Black union officers and staff.
However, progress is never a straight path and the battle against racism was far from over. Major moments in the recent history of the country tilted the way racism was moving in Britain, especially in wider society.
The events of 9/11 and the London 7/7 bombings which led to the so-called ‘War on Terror’ bolstered draconian domestic anti-terror legislation, targeting Muslim communities and reconfiguring racism to widespread Islamophobia.
The 2011 London riots were sparked by the death of Mark Duggan who was shot by police in Tottenham Hale. It saw thousands of people protesting across English towns and cities.
Immediately after the EU referendum vote, Black communities experienced a huge increase in racial crimes on the streets of England.
Black workers’ experiences of racism don’t stop at the workplace door. Racism permeates the workplace and wider society.
At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, we immediately saw the impact the virus was having on Black people. The high level of deaths of Black workers shone a spotlight on multiple areas of systemic disadvantage and discrimination.2
Policing in the pandemic harshly impacted Black communities, who were more likely to be stopped, questioned and falsely accused of rule-breaking by the police.3
Racially motivated crimes massively increased during the pandemic against the East and South -East Asian communities.4
We have seen countless inquiries with many recommendations come to the fore, that, if implemented, would improve Black people’s lives. Yet the progress has been very little.
Black communities have lost faith in the UK government taking this issue seriously or taking any meaningful action to protect Black lives. The two inquiries led by people who have publicly rejected the existence of institutional racism and systemic inequality has done nothing to restore the confidence of Black communities that the government is committed to transformative change.
The death of Mohamud Mohammed Hassan in Cardiff hours after his release from police custody; of Belly Mujinga, a transport worker who died from Covid-19 after allegedly being spat and coughed at; and Sabina Nessa, a young teacher viciously murdered in a park; all illustrate the fact that violence and exploitation of Black workers is all too prevalent in modern-day Britain.
The brutal murders of George Floyd, Breoanna Taylor and Tony McDade at the hands of US police sparked a global uprising demanding an end to police brutality and racism in the name of Black Lives Matter.
A new era of race relations was being set before us, and yet the question remained: How much has changed in the last twenty years, when it comes to racism?
Racism had never gone away. It spreads like wildfire, especially if no attention is given to fighting it head on.
Against this backdrop, the TUC General Council launched the TUC Anti-Racism Task Force (ARTF) in September 2020 with the aim renewing the trade union movement’s commitment to economic and social justice for Black workers, members and union staff.
The ARTF set out to refresh, renew and reboot our campaigning, organising and bargaining work and set out how we tackle racial inequalities in our workplaces and communities. Ultimately the ARTF seeks to define the framework for our movement’s long-term work on race.
The ARTF set out with the aim of leading the trade union movement’s renewed campaign against racism at work. It has engaged with Black workers across the UK to hear about their experiences, and to provide a framework for affiliates on tackling structural racism in the UK, in workplaces and in unions themselves.
The ARTF focussed on the implementation of concreate actions from a devised programme of work, that will pave the way to make a positive difference for Black workers, members and staff in unions.
The ARTF established workstreams on collective bargaining, organising, public policy and unions as employers to undertake its work.
Central to the work of the ARTF was the aim to set a direction for the trade union movement in a way that transforms the effectiveness of the movement's work on anti-racism.
Workstream 1, collective bargaining goals – aimed to put race on the agenda as a priority. Bringing unions and employers together to work for change that will make workplaces safer, more inclusive and fairer. Harnessing and building on the tools and strategies that our unions have already demonstrated are most effective in winning progress on racial justice in the workplace.
Workstream 2, organising goals – diversity is our strength and this workstream aimed to renew our unions, building and strengthening Black union leaders and activists through a new TUC-led programme to train Black activists and workplace reps, working together with our affiliates across sectors and regions.
Workstream 3, public policy goals – calling out the government on its commitment to racial justice. This workstream aimed to build on our movement’s call for an independent public inquiry into the government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Giving voice to the experiences of Black workers during the pandemic and demanding that lessons are learned. And putting forward an agenda that will deliver protections for Black workers, including calling for stronger regulation and legislation to ban the use of zero-hours contracts.
Workstream 4, unions as employers’ goals – this workstream aimed to invite all of our unions to not only talk the talk but also to demonstrate our capacity to lead by example, putting racial justice front and centre of our work as employers. The ARTF will be supporting unions to drive the change to build inclusive and safe working environments for trade union employees.
Membership to the ARTF was decided by our General Council. It is made up of General Council members, TUC Race Relations Committee members and members from civil society and academia.
Chair of the ARTF
Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary, NASUWT
Patron
Dr Neville Lawrence OBE
Membership
Gloria Mills, chair, TUC Race Relations Committee
Roger McKenzie, assistant general secretary, UNISON (Year 1)
Steve Turner, assistant general secretary, Unite
Rehana Azam, national secretary, GMB
Mary Bousted, general secretary, NEU
Paddy Lillis, general secretary, Usdaw
Dave Ward, general secretary, CWU
Mark Serwotka, general secretary, PCS
Mike Clancy, general secretary, Prospect
Ian Lawrence, general secretary, Napo
Debbie Weekes-Bernard, deputy mayor, London Assembly
Gary Younge, journalist (Year 1)
Halima Begum, director, Runnymede Trust (Year 1)
Yvette Williams, Justice4Grenfell
Zubaida Haque, Independent SAGE, (Year 1)
Davena Rankin, TUC Race Relations Committee (Year 1)
Michelle Codrington-Rogers, TUC Race Relations Committee
Susan Matthews; TUC Race Relations Committee (Year 1)
Frances O’Grady, general secretary, TUC
Paul Nowak, deputy general secretary, TUC
Workstreams membership
Collective bargaining
Chair: Steve Turner, Unite
Mike Clancy, Prospect
Christine Danniell, TUC Race Relations Committee
Gloria Mills, TUC Race Relations Committee
Michelle Codrington-Rogers, TUC Race Relations Committee
Zita Holbourne, TUC Race Relations Committee
Yvette Williams, Justice4Grenfell
Organising
Chair: Dave Ward, CWU
Paddy Lillis, Usdaw
Ruth Cross, Usdaw (Year 2)
Cecile Wright, University of Nottingham
Glen Hart, TUC Race Relations Committee (Year 1)
Taranjit Chana, TUC Race Relations Committee
Shavana Taj, Wales TUC
Public policy
Chair: Rehana Azam, GMB
Jennifer Moses, NASUWT
Ian Lawrence, Napo
Mark Anthony Bastiani, TUC Race Relations Committee
Ali Moosa, TUC Race Relations Committee
Debbie Weekes-Bernard, London Assembly
Unions as employers
Chair: Mary Bousted, NEU
Karen Chouhan, NEU (Year 2)
Mark Serwotka, PCS
Natalie Arnett, NAHT
Carol Sewell, TUC Race Relations Committee
Maureen Loxley, TUC Race Relations Committee
Michelle Codrington-Rogers, TUC Race Relations Committee
Jenny Dixon, TUC
The ARTF, as agreed by Congress 2020 and 2021, set out an ambitious programme of work which included a rapid review of progress on race equality across the trade union movement since the previous TUC Stephen Lawrence Task Force, including synthesis of findings from the TUC's Equality Audit, evidence from Black officers and reps (including representatives of the TUC Race Relations Committee) and new evidence from unions.
The vision of the ARTF was to work with the TUC Race Relations Committee members and TUC General Council and Executive Committee members to take this work forward.
The workstreams have acted as consultative bodies to the outputs for each of the four ARTF areas.
The full TUC General Council statements for 2020 and 2021 can be found here: https://www.tuc.org.uk/general-council-statements-anti-racism
Collective bargaining is the process by which trade unions negotiate with employers, on behalf of their members collectively. Negotiations can include pay, conditions and terms of service. Collective bargaining is only possible where an employer recognises a trade union, and between them, they can decide on the scope of negotiations.
The TUC and unions are campaigning for a £15 statutory minimum wage as soon as possible. But we can’t wait for a change in the law. Every union needs to use our power now to put that demand at the bargaining table. We know that Black workers are more likely to be low-paid and at least £15 an hour would benefit all workers.
The trade union movement has grown to rely on the legal framework in Britain to tackle individual problems of racial discrimination at work. This has led to race discrimination cases being treated by union representatives as individual legal matters that requires legal expertise. That has resulted in most legal cases being transferred to legal firms for advice on whether the cases have a reasonable chance of success if pursued at an employment tribunal. This individualised approached by trade unions about what can be achieved has caused tensions between Black members and their unions.5
In our collective bargaining workstream we set out to explore strategic litigation and bargaining on race. We aimed to gather information about trade unions’ current approaches to legal casework involving race cases that have a disproportionately negative impact on Black workers, and to draw up a set of key recommendations for unions to adopt a strategic approach to race litigation cases.
The TUC set out to explore possibilities of joint working with the EHRC on the use of their race fund, with the aim of encouraging them to take a strategic approach on legal action, legal interventions and the use of their investigatory powers on racism in the workplace.
The workstream brought together our movement to investigate how we can collectivise experiences of individual race cases, to organise and bargain on them together.
The ARTF, alongside TUC Education, held its first collective bargaining webinar, which was attended by over 700 trade union reps. It explored tackling racism and inequality from a collective bargaining perspective.
A list of resources can be found in the Appendix.
The ARTF has produced a digital guide for trade union reps covering collective bargaining issues for Black workers. The guide includes:
Check out the guide here: https://www.tuc.org.uk/resource/discrimination-and-trade-unions-negotiators-guide
Trade unions face a mounting challenge in recruiting and engaging with Black workers, who are highly impacted by racism in the labour market. This ranges from Black workers in precarious working conditions such as being on zero-hours contracts, the first to be fired and last to be hired, outsourcing and being underemployed.
Looking at the proportion of employees who are trade union members, Black workers are the highest of any ethnic group24, yet few are in positions of leadership, as trade union reps and officials. When they are given the opportunity, Black activists and members feel that they are mainly pigeon-holed into equality-based roles.
If trade unions want to make a significant difference in improving racial equality when it comes to work and in trade unions, then they must address some of the current practices that act as barriers to engagement for Black members.
The union movement must provide better networks for Black activists to build support systems and network with other trade unionists, which include networks that are for Black and white members. They must address the key challenges of the current cultural practices that allow certain groups to work their way up to leadership positions, and not for other groups.
To open the conversation about organising Black workers, the ARTF held a series of online events that were attended by hundreds. We invited a number of national and international trade union organisers and key anti-racism practitioners to explore organising against racism domestically, good models of building industrial action and power, and connecting the national labour struggles with the global fight against capital.
The ARTF held three regional taster sessions talking with Black members about race, organising and activist education programmes. The sessions were organised by the following TUC regional teams: TUC South West, TUC Yorkshire and the Humber and TUC Midlands.
These regional taster sessions were designed to enable open and honest discussions about the experiences of Black activists. To hear about the opportunities and gaps with trade union engagement, and to discuss Black leadership.
The discussion concluded that the TUC and union plans must include building allyship training, as well as fully understanding how institutional and interpersonal racism operates. There should also be specific training for white trade unionists.
Any ARTF programmes created for Black activists should collectivise Black voices to push through much-needed changes in unions.
Some participants commented about previous leadership programmes being helpful in raising an individual’s profiles in their union/branch, as well as developing new skills useful for the movement – several have taken up new jobs and roles in unions as a result.
The diversity of views in the taster sessions signalled a general sentiment that Black members and reps should not be pigeon-holed into equality officer roles and should be offered core union roles.
In April 2022, TUC South West launched a pilot Black Talent Programme.
“I have been part of the trade union movement for over 22 years in a number of roles. I have been a temporary staff member, a member who found it disheartening and very hard to access the union structure. I have also been a workplace rep, a branch chair and a BME committee member both regional and national.
Over the years I have worked within trade union structures at both City of Bristol College and South Birmingham College. I have delivered several courses for trade unionists in the areas of workplace representatives, health and safety, equality and diversity and mental health.
This Black talent programme was developed by me, working alongside the TUC South West team.
The programme allows Black members to have the opportunity to learn about the trade union movement’s structures, diversity, priorities and leadership. The year-long programme involves workshops on organising in trade unions, organising theories, leadership dynamics, communicating effectively, public speaking – as well as understanding politics and its connections to trade unionism.
It was important for us to create a programme that had a level of flexibility built into it, so that the cohort could feed into this process and help us identify what would be useful for them, to support their journey as trade union activists and future leaders.
The programme has 20 Black members participating from a variety of unions and sectors, with varying degrees of experience of trade unions. The group challenges reflected the Taster session, which included being isolated as individual activists within their own unions, not being able to identify key people to support them and the challenge of being pigeon-holed into equality roles only.
The group is now breaking out of these challenges and the programme has strengthened individual and collective belief in seeing a change in the trade union movement. The group have developed strong relationships with each other and is sharing knowledge, information and resources with each other. We are now halfway through the programme and already seeing the successes. Members are becoming more confident and stepping into various roles in their unions, they are identifying their own mentors and they are networking cross unions. They have identified their own personal goals and support each other with any challenges they experience both in and outside of their trade unions.
It’s only been six months since training began and we’re seeing the benefits it has for everyone in trade unions. As a result of this programme, participants have been elected to their union executive committees, championing diversity at work, running anti-racism training, becoming health and safety reps, and successfully navigating through the various structures of their unions.
I strongly believe that such programmes for Black members need to be running up and down the country. If the trade union movement is serious about race equality and building Black leaders within our movement, they must continue to build on the work that has been laid out by this talent programme.”
The ARTF commissioned research to understand the structures that are in place for Black workers across the TUC’s seven regions and nations in England and Wales. The research also maps what unions were doing about anti-racist strategy and organising. Further research took place with chairs, vice chairs and regular members of Black workers’ forums and committees. The report contains recommendations for the TUC regions and nations when it comes to building on anti-racist work. The TUC Anti-Racism Task Force originally proposed the creation of a network of Black activists around England and Wales, and a Black Leadership Programme to provide additional training to activists and reps.
The social and economic uncertainty that many Black workers faced since the 2008 crisis has been exacerbated by Covid-19 pandemic.
ONS figures released last year show that Black African men had the highest rate of death involving Covid-19, 2.7 times higher than men of white ethnic background. Black Caribbean women had the highest rate, 2.0 times higher than women of white ethnic background.6
Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian men also had a significantly higher risk of death involving Covid-19 (1.5 and 1.6 times, respectively) than white males once region, population density, socio-demographic and household characteristics were accounted for.7
As the disproportionate death rate of Black people became clearer as Covid-19 spread across the country, it highlighted serious issues in our health, employment and housing system.
Around one in six Black workers felt they had been put at a higher risk of exposure to Covid-19 because of their ethnic background. Many reported being forced to do frontline work that white colleagues had refused to do. Others said they were denied access to PPE equipment, refused risk assessments and were singled out to do high risk work.8
Covid-19 has increased the trends that were evident in the labour market for many years before the pandemic. There have been varying challenges for Black workers during this pandemic. The high proportion of key worker jobs in retail, transport, hospitality, social care and health are made up of Black communities. Years of neoliberalism has put an immeasurable amount of power in the hands of employers, which is increasingly being used to exploit their workforce.
The Covid-19 Inquiry has been set up to examine the UK’s preparedness and response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and to learn lessons for the future. With the publication of the final terms of reference in June 2022, the independent inquiry has now been formally established under its chair, Baroness Hallett.
Following consultation with unions, including with members of the ARTF, the TUC confirmed that they would apply for core participant status in the public inquiry as the representative body on behalf of all affiliated unions. This was seen as the most effective way of securing a broad range of trade union engagement in the inquiry while optimising the use of resources. If granted, the TUC would act as a conduit to affiliate union engagement in the inquiry, with unions playing the lead role in the relevant parts of the inquiry. The TUC itself would engage on its own terms in those parts of the inquiry directly relevant to its own role in the pandemic.
As a representative body core participant, the TUC would seek to ensure fair, balanced and inclusive engagement for affiliates across a range of sectors. As part of this approach, we have set up a working group of unions to inform the TUC’s approach as the inquiry progresses. In addition, we will consult with our statutory equality committees to ensure the voice of members disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, particularly women, Black, LGBT+ and disabled workers, are centred in all work around the inquiry.
The ARTF held two anti-racism network roundtables. The TUC brought together key players working in race policy in the UK to explore what current challenges the anti-racist movement faces, and what is needed to create a successful and sustainable network of anti-racist organisations.
The roundtables were set up to better understand the current state of the anti-racism movement and if an anti-racism network was the best way to build toward a stronger anti-racism presence in the UK.
These roundtables have been a crucial step in building a sustainable anti-racist network.
Each roundtable identified that there must be follow-up work carried out. This work should include a shared analysis of anti-racism and develop a framework for the network.9
The TUC, on the behalf of the ARTF, commissioned Number Cruncher Politics to carry out polling and conduct focus groups with Black people on their experiences of discrimination, the impact of working during a pandemic, and what Black workers think of employer action on tackling racism. The polling is based on a weighted sample of 1,750 Black and ethnic minority workers in the UK.
We asked people to tell us about their experiences at work; if they had been racially harassed, attacked or bullied, if they had been treated differently by their employer because of their race (eg, by being denied promotion, access to training or being unfairly disciplined). We also asked people to tell us about their experiences of raising issues of racism in the workplace; how their employers responded to their complaint, what support they were able to get and what impact the experience of workplace racism had on their lives. The evidence captured in this report reveals the systemic nature of racism and highlights that workplace racism and racial inequality must be addressed through substantive structural, institutional and legislative reform.
This report gives a platform for the thousands of Black workers who have experienced racism at work over the last five years to have their experiences revealed and recognised. It exposes the ongoing everyday reality of racism faced by many Black workers – and it demands a response from employers, governments and trade unions.
The TUC believes that this change cannot happen without transparency in the workplace. Employers need to have the information to assess how institutional racism impacts their policy, processes and practices. Black workers need to be given the confidence to raise the problems they face within the workplace and be confident that the experiences they relate will be heard and acted upon. Without this, the reality of racism in the workplace will continue to be hidden.10
Unions as employers survey
In late 2021, the unions as employers workstream of the ARTF conducted a HR survey. The survey aimed to find out more about monitoring and policies to tackle racial disparities for Black staff working for trades unions, and actions to improve Black recruitment, retention, progression, and training amongst trade union staff.
We had a total of 24 respondents. In addition to the TUC response, we had responses from nine small unions, eight medium sized unions and six large unions.
This was a useful first benchmarking survey and the workstream recommends that this is conducted annually by the TUC and be a part of the review of the Equality Audit. Following the survey, the TUC convened a union HR and equalities staff network.
This work must be a priority by unions if we want to see an improvement in racial justice in our work as employers. We must build trust with our staff and demonstrate that there is honest and transparent leadership, committed to creating positive change. We must engage with our workforce and identify clear tangible steps on how to address the barriers.
The ARTF HR network was set-up following the results of the unions as employers’ recruitment, retention and promotion survey conducted in late 2021. The unions as employers workstream has a practical element to it and is actively asking unions about their HR practices. This network is a key part of what we do with the results of survey. It is made up of union HR and equalities staff and seeks to examine some of the issues raised in the survey, create a support network for union staff working on this issue, and act as a space where best practice can be shared.
It also serves the purpose of ensuring HR staff are well informed about the work of the ARTF and specifically the unions as employers workstream. It brings together different union representatives to discuss collective challenges and how we work together, especially when it comes to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The feedback we have received from participants is that they have found it a useful and informative space to share challenges and learn from other HR colleagues.
The ARTF unions as employers workstream commissioned Professor Kehinde Andrews and Dionne Taylor to investigate the experiences of Black staff working in trade unions.
The research builds a picture of the employment experience of Black trade union employees. It’s the first of its kind to be carried out.
In total, 143 people filled out the survey and 30 staff members took part in online focus groups. The focus groups included participation from 12 different unions and participants in a number of different roles including manual workers, officers and senior management.
Four themes were identified:
The research has highlighted important aspects of working in trade unions which need to be addressed by our unions. A five-step plan can be found in the action plan under ‘leading by example’.
The ARTF is a starting point for the TUC and trade unions to put race at the heart of our collective bargaining, organising, policy and employer strategies.
Racism is multi-faceted and is always evolving in relation to the changing labour market, labour segregation and wider economic and political agendas. This means that the work of the trade union movement must not stop when it comes to racism. We must remain flexible, agile and ever changing, taking a proactive and reactive stance wherever racism shows up. Through this journey, we must engage with Black workers, members, activists and staff and ensure we are actively listening and making a change in our unions and demanding change in workplaces.
Trade unions actively fighting racism and building anti-racist cultures and policies – are good unions.
The ARTF has outlined in the anti-racism manifesto and the action plan what needs to happen refresh, renew and reboot the movement’s campaigning, organising and bargaining work, and tackle racial inequalities in our workplaces and communities.
As well as highlighting the principles which must guide our work, it outlines how unions as employers can lead from the front on race. It really is time for us to raise our game, meeting Black workers’ aspirations for equality, justice and fairness.
The Implementation and Oversight Group (IOG) will be established after Congress 2022 and will remain in place until Congress 2027. The purpose of the IOG is to champion the agenda of racial justice and equality, and to work with our unions to deliver on racial justice with the recommendations proposed in this action plan and manifesto. This IOG will provide a strategic steer to the trade union movement and will be responsible for working with the TUC Race Relations Committee and TUC General Council to oversee and monitor the implementation of recommendations from this ARTF report.
Throughout the programme of the ARTF our unions have launched their own initiatives and programmes to tackle racism in both the labour market and their own structures.
The ARTF asked our unions to share models and initiatives which have been established and launched during the lifetime of the ARTF. Whilst the examples below give a sense of some of the work our unions are doing to tackle racism, it is by no means definitive.
This section reflects the work that is being carried out in conjunction with the launch of the ARTF, or a result of the ARTF and its four workstreams. These examples, reported by union leaders, showcase what the trade union movement is doing and how we can learn from one another.
Accord is in the process of rewriting its staff policies and procedures. The union is consulting its staff on an anti-racist organisation statement. The union will be pursuing reviewing its grievance and harassment policy and procedures, including zero-tolerance of all forms of harassment and discrimination.
BFAWU have developed a BME network for members to support and learn from each other. The union is actively working with Stand Up To Racism and CLASS (race-class narratives). The union will also be running a survey of their BME members and will be reporting on the findings.
The CSP is actively working on:
Organising – equality reps trial
All policy and lobbying work comments on health inequalities and is pressing authorities to address racial disparities in physio services
Unions as employers – The Equal Group Audit
It is doing this through a number of interlinked initiatives including by working in partnership with pre-registration education providers to ensure that applicants from all demographics are recruited to the programmes, support is in place academically and pastorally to enable students with protected characteristics to succeed. Structural, systemic barriers are removed and dominant cultural hegemony challenged.
That support is offered by creating communities of practice (Allies in Education) to work together towards decolonising the curriculum and challenging bias and micro-aggressions, active programme monitoring, challenging the status quo via CSP accreditation processes.
By setting the expectation that all physiotherapy students will understand of the causes of inequity and the impact it has on patient care and their colleagues and even assessing students’ ability to demonstrate anti-discriminatory behaviour in practice, we are looking to change culture at grass roots level and ensuring that it isn’t just the minoritised students who are forced to speak out. Allyship has effectively been built into the curriculum and is assessed at multiple points through a student journey.
Similarly, CSP is investing in supporting its early to middle leaders to demonstrate the same understanding of inequality and inequity, and actively practice anti-discriminatory behaviours. We are funding 48 leadership places on bespoke modules delivered by two partner universities with a target entry requirement of 30 per cent successful applicants who identify as BME. We are actively seeking to enable diversity within the profession, ensuring that those moving into leadership roles where they can enact structural change are again equipped to challenge their own biases, ensuring their services are equitable and their behaviour anti-discriminatory.
The CWU’s anti-racism work focuses on the following four key strategic areas:
1. Leadership and representation
2. Working within CWU structures and empowering communities
3. Building awareness and changing attitudes through education
4. International solidarity
For each key area the CWU has planned a programme of work that looks to address racism in the workplace, develop links and initiatives within the community and with likeminded organisations.
In particular, the CWU plans to:
GMB has taken a major step forward in the fight for race equality by appointing its first national race organiser. The appointment of Tyehimba Nosakhere, a Black GMB regional officer of twenty-three years’ service, fulfils a key recommendation of the Dr Elizabeth Henry Report. The GMB Task Force for Positive Change that was established to implement the recommendations of the QC Monaghan Report and also, the Dr Elizabeth Henry Report has set up a race subgroup which will be led by the national race organiser in implementing the other recommendations and to develop and drive GMB organising and campaigning on race issues in the workplace.
Collective bargaining
NAHT is improving the monitoring of our discrimination cases taken by our legal team and our regional officers, in order to have a better understanding of trends. This insight will be utilised in shaping training for our paid and lay officials. NAHT is also in discussion with the Teacher Regulation Agency around the equality data they gather, pressing for greater insight from themselves to see if there is a disproportionate impact on Black, Asian and minority ethnic school leaders.
NAHT would welcome the opportunity to continue to engage with the TUC legal officers and TUC equality team to discuss learnings and share insight across unions to support this work. NAHT would also welcome ongoing webinars and training around collective bargaining and race.
Organising
Over the last two years, NAHT has developed and grown three new equality networks for members, including our Leaders for Race equality group. This group provides a space for these members to come together to discuss the experiences and issues facing them as school leaders within NAHT and the profession more widely. From this network, NAHT has supported the creation of the ‘You Are Not Alone’ book. The book shares the personal experiences of 14 NAHT members from Asian, African, Caribbean and multiple backgrounds. It includes personal and challenging stories of the discrimination faced as both leaders and individuals through school, university, interviews and promotion. The book has been an incredibly powerful tool for opening discussions on racial equality within the education profession and has helped raise the profile of the work NAHT and its members are undertaking. The book is now being taken on by a larger publisher and work is underway to extend it, to share not just lived experiences but practical advice on how to create more inclusive cultures in schools.
In developing the network, we have seen increased engagement from our Black, Asian and minority ethnic members within NAHT’s work, with a number now elected to our National Executive and other regional and local positions. NAHT would welcome additional support in increasing our engagement and involvement with the TUC Black Workers conference and wider trade union movement in terms of anti-racism work.
Public policy
NAHT’s Leaders for Race Equality network continue to help shape NAHT’s policy work, with a number of new policy positions and campaigns originating from the group. With the support of the group, NAHT has developed an anti-racism statement, as an overarching ethos for all of our anti-racism work.
Unions as employers
Recruitment and selection strategy
A complete review has been undertaken of our recruitment strategy, seeing an introduction of a candidate information pack that better represents a diverse workforce. Crucially, opened new channels in regards to recruitment where we place our vacancies on platforms such as Pink Jobs, mydiversity.com raising awareness as an inclusive employer. All our job adverts encourage applicants from all protected characteristics including those from an ethnic minority background to apply. We also push out adverts to our own equality networks for members in order to grow our own talent within the union. Current data suggests that we are in fact seeing an improvement in the number of applicants coming from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.
Policies
Engaged in a series of meetings with head of equality and strategy at the TUC, Kudsia Batool, regards to EDI awareness and training and exploring the roll out of mandatory training to all staff as part of the first phase as part of the collective drive to build inclusive, diverse and safe working environments for all employees. Utilising the platform within the wider union network for sharing best practices approach, challenges and barriers with other HR professionals.
Equality monitoring
As part of our onboarding process, we have reintroduced voluntary completion of equality monitoring, being clear on purpose and how any data is used. This data together with the ambition to gather refreshed monitoring information on existing staff will enable us to set our own targets on improving our representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic workers to fairly reflect our membership.
Working with the Probation Service
Napo and our sister union in probation worked with the Probation Service and RISE (The HMPPS staff network covering race) to carry out a joint union survey on the experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff working in the service. The survey was carried out between April and June 2021. The results of the survey have provided a wealth of qualitative and quantitative data.
Napo is working alongside our partners to analyse the data and we have developed an iterative Race Action plan as a direct response to the findings from the survey. This along with the survey findings has been shared with all staff working in probation. Both documents were launched at an all-staff Teams event held in February 2022 which was hosted by the Director General of Probation, Amy Rees. A further all-staff Teams event is scheduled to take place in September 2022 to share progress on the action plan with staff.
The unions meet monthly with the Probation Service to assess progress on the action plan, and the action plan is also discussed at our quarterly meetings of the Probation Unions Diversity and Equality Sub-Committee of the JNC, at this forum we also discuss the work being undertaken by the HMPPS race action programme. The group benefited from the privilege of having Dr Patrick Roach attend and address the meeting to talk about the work of TUC Anti-Racism Task Force and how we can in partnership meet the challenges that face us to tackle racism collectively in the workplace and how to ensure we make probation a truly inclusive organisation.
Napo has developed a virtual anti-racism roadshow which has been well received. Originally it was intended to be for Napo members. However, due to its success, it is now being rolled out to all staff working in probation. It is delivered at a regional level, with regional probation directors making a contribution alongside the Napo general secretary. It includes an interactive education session, and it has also provided an opportunity to share the key findings of the Black staff survey with a wider audience, we utilise breakout sessions to discuss in detail what it means to be an ally, how to be anti-racism and how to deal with racist micro-aggressions, we finish the roadshow by sharing Napo’s anti-racist pledge and invite staff to sign up to the pledge.
Working with CAFCASS
Napo has secured agreement from CAFCASS to carry out a race pay audit of staff working for the organisation. We expect to have this completed annually.
Our members in the Family Court Section who work as social workers for CAFCASS are working on a response to the findings of Social Work England’s and What Works for Children's Social Care Anti-Racism Survey Report, and how to address the prevalence of racism experienced by colleagues and service users.
Napo are also encouraging members in CAFCASS to sign up to its Anti-Racism Pledge.
Napo as a trade union
Napo has revised and refreshed our anti-racist statement. this was done in consultation with our branch anti-racism officers and the Napo Black Network (a self-organised network in Napo for Black members). The revised statement was adopted at Napo’s AGM in October 2021. Alongside the statement Napo has developed a national race action plan. Which will be reviewed annually.
Napo has worked with our network of branch anti-racism officers to revise and update their job description and it now includes outreach work with the community. We have also developed an individual member action plan, which again was launched at our AGM in October 2021, as Napo’s Anti-Racism Pledge. This has been widely promoted at Napo’s anti-racism roadshows.
At Napo’s most recent AGM we dedicated our professional session with a debate on the impact of racial trauma on service users. The debate included a panel of high-profile speakers and helped raise awareness of racial trauma for the professionals working in probation.
Collective bargaining
Organising
Public policy
Unions as employers
Following the 2022 survey of Black staff, NASUWT has also agreed the following:
Improving staff wellbeing
Improve access to the union’s apprenticeship offer by providing targeted access for Black staff to aid career development/progression
Improving line management support
Further information
NASUWT motion to annual conference on securing racial justice: https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/advice/equalities/under-represented-groups/bl…
NASUWT Black Staff Anti-Racism Action Plan: Act-for-Racial-Justice-Report-the-Union-as-an-Employer (1).pdf
NASUWT Anti-racism and Decolonising the Curriculum Framework document :https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/asset/0B661756-DE8B-4FFB-B236A72ADA095A6C/
Information from this year's Black teachers consultation conference and 'A Better Deal for Black Teachers' campaign: https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/being-involved/events/consultation-conference…
Advice on collecting equalities data for collective bargaining: https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/asset/3D06E002-1983-450B-863BF6099D417D07/
The four workstreams of the TUC Anti-Racism Task Force complement much of the work being undertaken by the NEU, as a union and as an employer. The NEU’s established workstreams include:
In January 2020, PCS undertook an assessment of staffing structures, roles, and practices in relation to developing better participation, policies and meeting the needs of our existing and future equalities structures. We created a new merged department Organising, Campaigning, Equality and Learning (OCEL) that would require a significant level of staff resourcing to realise our potential.
At that time, PCS employed 200 staff. Amongst findings on other protected characteristics, we found that:
As the pandemic enforced lockdown and homeworking, PCS was forced to rapidly advance the restructure of administrative staff roles into a central response team (CRT). Our digital operation had already been agreed but we were forced to move to implementation for more rapidly than planned.
Whilst the external freeze was initially concerning, we required to look to our existing pool of staff to populate organising, leadership and bargaining roles. PCS administrative staff historically have been a loyal cadre of long-serving workers, the vast majority of which were women and where Black workers were concentrated. Then CRT centralised function lack of physical face to face presenteeism, forced resources away from traditional administrative functions and we were able to test out many of our new digital organising tools by training and developing staff in new approaches.
With internal temporary promotions, development plans, and peer to peer mentoring, we have been able develop Black women leaders into national officer roles, organising, bargaining, digital and managerial roles. Many of those have now achieved permanent postings in their new roles and have brought a fresh approach to full time officer jobs, and ultimately increasing representation and participation of Black women in critical roles in our structure.
Additionally, PCS has a range of actions planning to run:
2022 develop engagement with RCM members who committed to supporting Race Matters: https://www.rcm.org.uk/supporting/race-matters/
At the RCM’s activist conference in June 2022, a workshop was held to explore how RCM branches can become more inclusive. The feedback from this session will inform an equality audit toolkit for RCM branches which will be published later this year.
Race to Lunch is a series of bimonthly workshops for RCM members covering both professional and trade union issues: https://www.rcm.org.uk/rcm-events/2022/race-to-lunch-celebrating-nation… https://www.rcm.org.uk/rcm-events/2022/race-to-lunch-improving-practice/
In collaboration with the Turning the Tide Oversight Group the RCM launched a mentorship programme for Black, Asian, and mixed ethnicity midwives and MSWs: https://www.rcm.org.uk/media-releases/2021/october/we-are-turning-the-t…
In collaboration with the Turning the Tide Oversight Group, the RCM launched a mentorship programme for Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity midwives and MSWs: https://www.rcm.org.uk/media-releases/2021/october/we-are-turning-the-t…
Following RCM’s motion to TUC Black Worker’s Conference to ‘decolonise the midwifery curriculum’ the RCM has set up an internal group (with relevant stakeholders) to take forward this work and the RCM’s Student Midwife Forum held a webinar on the topic.
Promoting and incorporating recommendations from reports into maternity disparities facing racialised marginalised groups unions as employers, in 2021, the RCM commissioned Health Education England to deliver workshops for staff exploring race from a human rights perspective annual appraisals from 2022/23 will include a formal requirement to include a conversation about anti-racism 2022 planned cultural intelligence workshops for RCM staff.
Usdaw is establishing a Black Activists Development Programme intended to support around 12 Black members each year who will, through a mix of classroom and non-classroom sessions, be supported to achieve their personal development goals and over the longer term to help transform the union.
Still Rigged: racism in the labour market https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/still-rigged-racism-uk…
Health Safety and Racism in the Workplace https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/health-safety-racism-w…
Organising Workstream: regional mapping project https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/organising-workstream-…
The Trade Union Challenge – winning legal race discrimination cases https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/trade-union-challenge-…
Anti-Racism Task Force: listening activity roundtable https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/anti-racism-taskforce-…
Building an Anti-Racism Network (public policy roundtable summary) https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/building-anti-racism-n…
TUC Education webinar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkghHi6YLOA
More can be found at: https://www.tuc.org.uk/AntiRacismTaskforce
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