Unions affirm major programme designed to bolster anti-racism

The TUC and its 48 affiliated unions have endorsed a major programme of anti-racism work to tackle discrimination both within their ranks and outside (see Labour Research, October 2022, pages 16-18). 


The action plan, along with an anti-racism manifesto, was proposed in a report by the TUC’s Anti-Racism Task Force (ARTF) and adopted unanimously by last month’s postponed TUC Congress.


The plan commits unions to growing and diversifying their membership, winning for Black workers on race discrimination and centring racial equality in collective bargaining. It also commits them to action on the concerns of Black union staff, revealed in earlier work conducted by the ARTF, by changing their employment practices to ensure that unions are “truly inclusive workplaces”. 


The programme also includes campaigning for secure and safe jobs; fighting for workers’ rights; holding the government to account; and demanding stronger legislation and enforcement to improve Black workers’ labour market experiences.


ARTF chair Patrick Roache, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, told delegates that the report “provided a crucial opportunity to create lasting change across the labour movement”.