Homeless Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) asylum seekers

Conference notes the continuing national housing crisis and the exponential rise in homelessness. Conference welcomes the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 which extends the previous 28 day period for ‘threatened homelessness’ to 56 days and makes clear that a valid Section 21 notice (Housing Act 1988) also constitutes being ‘threatened with homelessness’. For […]

Building on the success of the London Mayoral Election

This National Black Members Conference notes that whilst Jeremy Corbyn and Labour did not win the General Election on 8 June 2017 they far exceeded expectation and substantially damaged Theresa May and the Tories ambitions of a Tory overall majority. Labour won 40 percent of the vote nationally. This was due to an inspiring manifesto, […]

Zero hours and Black workers

In recent news it has reported that the number of unemployment has hit a record low. What these statistics do not report is that a large proportion of this is because of the increase in zero hours contracts. Employers have increasingly been turning to zero hours contracts as part of the general attack on staff […]

Blood donation

The National Health Service (NHS) Blood donation and Transplant reported that Black people make up just 2.7 percent of active blood donors, despite representing 10.4 percent of England’s population. Blood donation is required from all communities and ethnic backgrounds to meet the needs of all patients in England and North Wales now and in the […]

Hate crimes and mate crimes

Conference welcomes the work that has been done by UNISON thus far on hate crime. According to a report by the Equality and Human Rights commission called ‘Disabled people’s experiences of targeted violence and hostility’, Black disabled people are even more likely to be vulnerable to hate crimes. The report notes that ‘recognition of multiple […]

The United Families and Friends Campaign

West Midlands Black Members Self Organised Group (WMBMSOG) would like the National Black Members Committee to raise awareness of United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC). UFFC is a coalition of families who have experienced the deaths of loved ones by the State. Whether by the police, prison or psychiatric settings. (Clinics, Hospitals). The Lammy Review, […]

Black workers and in-work poverty

Conference notes that despite efforts to bring further equality into society, evidence shows that Black workers are still being held back in the work place. Inequalities in employment and income persist, and for many Black workers, this impacts upon their standard of living and make them experience poverty. According to the Department for Works and […]

Dementia the effects on Black people

Dementia is not a disease in fact; it is a group of signs and symptoms. Some of the symptoms may include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem-solving or language and a person with dementia may also experience changes in their mood or behaviour. Dementia is caused when the brain is damaged by diseases, such […]

Women and Automation

Women and Automation Conference notes that automation and digitisation of jobs is changing the nature, quality, and distribution of employment, not just within sectors such as manufacturing and distribution, but in the sphere of public services too. This means that there is a mistaken view that Automation affects jobs that are predominantly done by men. […]

Black graduates and Black workers pay gap

Conference acknowledges that equal pay is an issue that affect not only Black graduates and workers. However, Black graduates and workers are more disproportionately affected. Conference notes that once upon a time it was said that Black people are not in the top earners because of a lack of opportunity in education. Whilst some progress […]

Stop Porn Culture

The pornography industry has pushed its way into our lives, distorting our conceptions of sex and sexuality. Pornography offers people a vision of sexuality rooted in men’s domination of women and women’s acceptance of their own degradation. Pornography is not simply the sexist, naked Playboy photos from earlier times. Those pin-up-type centrefolds look tame when […]

Low Pay and Women in UNISON

UNISON’s principles of proportionality and fair representation means that some seats on elected bodies, including the NEC, are reserved for women and low-paid members, so that the make-up fairly represents the wider union. We have a variety of places where low paid seats exist, and low pay is included in branch delegations to national delegate […]

Femicide – not an isolated incident

The killing of a woman, especially in a domestic setting, is often reported as an ‘isolated incident with no further threat to the public’. Such descriptions dismiss the scale of the issue, and diminish the fact that gender-based violence is a society-wide issue. This conference applauds the work of Karen Ingala-Smith (Chief Executive of Nia […]

The experience of Black people in Higher Education (HE) institutions

Conference notes with alarm and concern the steady decrease in numbers of first-time applicants to university which has decreased by 5 percent for United Kingdom (UK) students and 7 percent for the EU students. These figures are particularly concerning when broken down by age group where we will find the number of 19-year-old applicants has […]

Race Equality Act – How far have we come since 1968?

On 8 December 1965 the first Race Relations Act came into force in Britain. Prior to this, it was legal to discriminate against people because of the colour of their skin, and this act was the first in many equality legislation to promote non-discrimination and equality, the Act was amended in 1968. This year is […]