Minority ethnic members vital for unions

The future of the UK trade union movement will be shaped by its capacity to recruit more ethnic minority workers. This was TUC general secretary Brendan Barber's message to the 12th annual TUC Black Workers' Conference in Southport last month.

He said: "It's no exaggeration to say trade unionism in the UK stands at a historically important crossroads. In one direction renewal - in the other decline. And our capacity to recruit more ethnic minority workers into our movement will help shape our future."

Barber also bemoaned the lack of black faces at the top of the union movement, noting that since the retirement of Sir Bill Morris, "there is not a single black trade union general secretary in the TUC-affiliated unions."

He added that the TUC's 2003 equality audit of member unions and the TUC itself, "underlined the scale of the challenges that lie ahead."

The TUC is currently developing a national strategy for organising black workers, with regional consultations on this currently underway. The aim is to formally launch the strategy at next year's Black Workers' Conference.

Among motions passed by the conference were those which condemned the disproportionate impact of civil service cuts on black workers; called for the TUC to campaign for asylum seekers to be granted the right to work while their applications are being processed; and opposed the introduction of the government's identity card scheme.