- Conference
- 2020 Higher Education Service Group Conference
- Date
- 26 September 2019
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Raising the profile of Black activists and increasing the number of Black members involved in Higher Education establishments at branch, regional and national levels within the union is critical in meeting UNISON’s recruitment and organising objectives.
Conference notes that UNISON has developed a Leadership School where activists can take steps to develop their leadership skills and take up positions of increased responsibility and notes further that members who have attended this school have gone on to become branch secretaries and employed staff.
However Conference is concerned that high levels of redundancies, consequent high staff turnover and lack of facility time in universities has had a significant impact on Black activists in particular, leading to a slow pace of change and take up in leadership positions in our trade union.
Black members play a valuable role in ensuring the union and branches identify and take up equality issues and actively challenge discrimination in the workplace. This is key in meeting the union’s current challenges as no workplace where discrimination exists can be truly organised.
Conference believes that achieving race equality is not an add on. It must be a key part of our agenda going forward.
Conference therefore calls on the Higher Education Service Group Executive to work with the NBMC to:
a)Remind higher education branches and members of the support, training and guidance available to Black members to become activists.
b)Explore how we can promote achieving fair representation of Black members in membership to higher education branches in line with UNISON rules and the UNISON Code of Good Branch Practice.
c)Identify higher education members who might wish to be more active in the workplace and work to ensure that Black members are fully represented in both branch structures and staff side negotiating bodies.
.