- Conference
- 2025 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 9 September 2024
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes the ‘Voices from the Race at Work Surveys’ report from March 2024 which brought together data and comments from surveys conducted in 2015, 2018 and 2021 by YouGov on what they described as “ethnic minority employees’ experiences of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), career barriers, racial harassment and organisational responses to racism.”
Conference notes that the report found that “Recruitment and selection processes are often unfair, and there is a lack of promotion opportunities or information about promotion opportunities […] with a higher prevalence in the public sector.” It further commented: “employees are ‘held back’ for business reasons, leading to career progression constraints.”
This has a particular impact on young Black workers, at the start of their careers, who may be missing out on development, training and progression opportunities, and who may feel they have to leave organisations in which they are denied the promotion and progression opportunities afforded to their white colleagues. The April 2023 report from Young Minds reported that “23% of Black, Asian and racialised young people, including 30% of young Black people, reported not having the same work opportunities as other people, compared to 16% of white young people.”
The under-representation of Black staff in senior and leadership roles can also lead to a lack of awareness and understanding of racism and discrimination in workplaces. Conference notes the YMCA report produced in 2020 which found that “50% of young
Black people in the UK feel that lack of diversity was a barrier to gaining employment, while 52% feel it is because of a lack of diversity in leadership.”
Conference recognises that the failure to support, develop and promote Black staff is a key contributing factor to the ethnicity pay gap. Black staff are often over-represented at lower pay grades without opportunities to progress in their careers. As the Ethnicity Pay Gap Toolkit produced by the National Black Members Committee noted, “Introducing mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting would ensure Black workers have equal access to good quality jobs, career progression and pay.”
Conference welcomes the work done to date by the National Black Members Committee on the ethnicity pay gap.
Conference believes one aspect of ending the ethnicity pay gap across public services must include addressing lack of promotion, development and progression opportunities for Black workers, by creating workplaces where Black workers’ talent and abilities are fully valued, and Black workers are supported and encouraged to progress in their careers.
Conference asks the National Black Members Committee to:
1)Examine the situation with regard to progression for Black staff across UNISON employers, perhaps through surveying Black members;
2)Identify examples of best practice by employers in addressing the ethnicity pay gap through development of promotion and progression opportunities, and promote and share best practice and examples of excellence;
3)Continue to promote UNISON’s resources on the ethnicity pay gap, including the toolkit developed during the Year of Black Worker, the guidance on “Negotiating for race equality – performance management and career progression” and other guides and resources;
4)Work with UNISON’s Service Groups to encourage them to include the ethnicity pay gap in their bargaining and negotiating work with employers, including asking employers to publish ethnicity pay gap data and negotiating improvement plans to reduce the ethnicity pay gap;
5)Work with UNISON’s National Young Members Forum and the Young Black Members Network to promote UNISON’s work on the ethnicity pay gap to young Black UNISON members.
