Black Workers, Pension and Poverty

The Government’s plan to drastically reform public sector pensions will condemn many Black people to a life of poverty in their old age. Black people’s poverty in retirement is directly linked to the discrimination and low levels of pay they experience throughout their working lives in the labour market. Conference notes the Runnymede Trust research […]

Supporting Black Communities

Conference pledges its solidarity with the communities and cities affected by the disturbances in August 2011. Conference condemns the widespread damage to property, homes, small businesses – many owned by Black people – and employees losing their workplaces and jobs. The disturbances devastated communities that could ill afford it. However, Conference notes that the stereotyping […]

Defending Our Public Services

Conference believes that since taking office the Con-Dem government has had a devastating effect on all communities in the UK. Their policies have hurt the economy, the jobs and livelihoods of working people and slammed the barriers down on higher education for young people. Their rhetoric on race, immigration and multiculturalism have sought to divide […]

Care for Black Social Workers in Mental Health.

Conference, in recent years we have seen a decline in the care of our Black Social Workers in the field of mental health and the valuable work they perform on a daily basis in our communities. They are undervalued, under supervised and unheard by managers of their hardship. It is a known fact that in […]

Speaking up against Racism

Speaking up against racism Conference welcomes another successful year where the BNP were driven back at the ballot box, thanks to the hard work of anti-racist and anti-fascist activists, many of whom are UNISON activists and members. Of the 258 candidates the BNP stood in the English local elections, only two were elected and they […]

Cancer and the Black Community

Conference is concerned by research that has shown greater numbers of women of African, African-Caribbean and Pakistani origin are likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer that has spread than white women. A breast cancer incidence and survival study found that 17% of Pakistani women, 15% of African women, 11% of African Caribbean women and […]

The Cultural and Language Barriers in the Workplace

The Cultural and Language Barriers in the Workplace Conference, many of our members experience communication and Language barriers in the workplace. These members are some of our most vulnerable Black workers – migrant workers, low paid members, those working in the ‘hidden workforce’ but are integral and valuable for service delivery and provision. The reality […]

Challenging Racism In the Workplace Toolkit

Conference notes the revised and improved version of the UNISON Challenging Racism in the Workplace Toolkit. In the Northern Region, we have encouraged branches to organize specific training for branch officers, representatives and lay members and this we would hope is being replicated elsewhere in other regions. In the East Midlands we have worked closely […]

Community Projects Supporting Black Young People

Conference notes a motion carried at National Black Members Conference in 2008, titled “Black Community Projects in Crisis” that encapsulates problems among young Black youths and the need to maintain the existence of Black community projects. At the time of producing the motion many projects were facing closure and sadly many have since closed owing […]

Dying on the Inside

DYING ON THE INSIDE Conference is disturbed and deeply concerned at the number of unexplained deaths of Black people including young men, women and children, whilst in Police Custody, Prisons, Hospitals, Young Offenders Institutes and Remand Centres. In the last 13 years over 300 unexplained deaths of Black people have occurred. More and more of […]

Child Soldiers from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Child Soldiers from Arfica, Asia and the Middle East. Throughout history and in many cultures, children have been involved in military campaigns even when such practices were supposedly against cultural morals. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the child on the involvement of Children in armed conflict (2000) sets 18 as the […]

East Africa – Food Crisis Appeal

EAST AFRICA – FOOD CRISIS APPEAL More than 10 million people in East Africa are facing desperate food shortages following the worst drought in 60 years. Rains have failed or successive seasons and families across Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are struggling to find anything to eat or drink. Hundreds of livestock have already died. The […]