- Conference
- 2017 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 13 September 2016
- Decision
- Carried
This Conference welcomes the work of the Scottish region young members in developing their ‘Gonnae No Dae That’ (‘Can you not do that?’) campaign to challenge bullying of young workers in the workplace.
This Conference believes that Black young workers are likely to suffer disproportionately from bullying and harassment at work.
Conference further believes that Black young workers who are also women, and/or LGBT, and/or disabled, and/or low paid are likely to be even more disproportionately bullied or harassed.
This Conference places on record now its total opposition to bullying and harassment in all forms, and commits to challenging it in all our workplaces.
This Conference recognises that all too often those bullied and/or harassed feel isolated and without support, and that they feel they have no choice but to deal with it on an individual basis, while support from UNISON could make all the difference.
This Conference also recognises that while UNISON has an important role to play in offering support to individuals in this way, it also has to consider bullying and harassment as a collective issue, and that bullying of Black young members in particular is a reflection of the racism and ageism in wider society. It is therefore important that UNISON promotes education and information around the broader issues as well.
This Conference calls on the National Black Members’ Committee (NBMC) to:
1)Publish a statement in the next available issue of Black Action stating its total opposition to bullying and harassment in all forms in our workplaces, and its determination to ensure it is challenged and eradicated, and the importance of collective work to achieve this;
2)Raise the issue of bullying and harassment of Black young members throughout the Black members structure, calling for it to be raised with branches, and seeking development of, or effective implementation of, workplace policies;
3)Conduct a survey of Black young members on the issue of bullying and harassment, and publish the results at next year’s Black Members Conference;
4)Seek to work with the National Young Members’ Forum to ensure that the issue of bullying and harassment of Black young workers forms part of joint campaign work.
Submitted by: National Young Members’ Forum
NBMC Policy: Support