- Conference
- 2013 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 18 September 2012
- Decision
- Carried
Following the pathetic attempt at consultation employed by the Tory Led UK Government on the future of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) this year, it appears that the fate of the EHRC was already in the balance and any support for a National organization that leads on Equality, Diversity, Discrimination and Human Rights in Employment was never a priority for the Tories.
However, this still means that the work on fighting on Equality and Discrimination issues in Employment has not disappeared but instead needs to be given more vigour and attention. Instead of individualizing these issues, UNSION needs to be setting the agenda on Equality and Employment in the Workplace. This means being more bold in supporting cases where Race discrimination is clearly taking place, implementing the UNISON Race Discrimination Protocol in full and supporting the EHRC or its re-vamped structure in tackling enforcement of Equality legislation, having punitive powers against bad employers and providing a scrutiny of current and prospective equality legislation in Parliament.
Therefore we instruct the National Black Members Committee to:
1)Produce guidelines for branches and regions on how to better support Race discrimination cases, using existing Race Equality legislation, UNISON Race Discrimination Protocol and other policies and procedures that exist within UNISON.
2)Continue to campaign for a National organisation that has powers to deal with enforcement of Equality legislation, punitive powers to deal with bad employers, powers to scrutinize current and prospective Equality legislation from Parliament and provide guidelines and research on all Equality and employment related issues.
3)Continue to campaign and publicise the impact of a relaxation of employment protection, workers rights in the workplace and the necessity to increase the health and safety regulations currently afforded workers.