Fighting for anti racist workplaces

On Saturday 5 February trade unionists and workplace activists from across Britain will come together at the ‘Fighting for anti racist workplaces’ conference - hosted by the TUC and Stand Up To Racism - to talk about how we oppose the government’s racist offensive.

🔥Speakers so far confirmed include:

Christina McAnea UNISON general secretary

Kevin Courtney NEU general secretary

Mark Serwotka PCS general secretary

Manuel Cortes TSSA general secretary

Sarah Woolley BFAWU general secretary

Gloria Mills UNISON head of equalities

Steve Hedley RMT assistant general secretary

Ian Taylor CWU NEC/ North West Region chair

Shavanah Taj Welsh TUC general secretary

Zita Holbourne PCS vice president

Amarjite Singh CWU NEC/ South East Wales Amal secretary

Tony Adams NUJ Black Members Council

Juliana Ojinnaka UCU Black Members Committee chair

Mohammed Shafiq PCS Black Members Committee chair

Glen Hart RMT Black & Ethnic Minority Advisory Committee chair

Taranjit Chana GMB RACE

Mel Mullings RMT Black & Ethnic Minority Advisory Committee

Lee Baron Midlands TUC secretary

Winston Richards CWU London Region chair

Matthew Creagh TUC Policy Officer for employment rights

Mohammad Asif Afghan Human Rights Foundation

Lawrence Davies Belly Mujinga case lawyer

Neomi Bennett Equality4BlackNurses

Boris Johnson and Priti Patel’s Nationality and Borders bill is attempting to effectively remove the right to seek asylum in Britain while the scapegoating of refugees and migrants continues. The government’s CRED report denied the reality of institutional racism exposed by the Black Lives Matter movement, despite the massively disproportionate death rate amongst black front line workers and communities.

The government’s new police bill targets BLM activists and the GRT community and strengthens police powers despite the ongoing reality of black communities facing disproportionate use of stop and search and deaths in police contact.

The government is playing the game of divide and rule, attempting to fool working people that ‘others’ - migrants, refugees and Muslims - are to blame for the problems in our society.

This ‘divide and rule’ strategy legitimises racism and risks opening the door to the racist and fascist right.

We need to take up these arguments in our workplaces and build the unity we need to oppose racism and austerity.

The conference will discuss how we do this and how to maximise the trade union turnout at UN antiracism day events initiated by Stand Up To Racism and also supported by the TUC.