Black members group
Get involved with our growing network of active Black members in branches and regions across the union
Help promote equality and tackle discrimination in the workplace
Black members share many of the same concerns as other members, such as employment rights, pay, promotion and training, but racism and discrimination can deepen the impact of workplace inequalities.
Our Black members’ self-organised groups campaign for equality in the workplace and wider union. They recruit new Black members, encourage existing members to become more active in their branches and work in partnership with other parts of the union to identify and promote our race equality agenda.
Issues raised in members' groups can then be discussed at the annual National Black Members Conference and worked on by the elected members of the National Black Members Committee.
UNISON is committed to increasing its representation and participation of Black people within the union. It is important that there is a visible and vocal presence of the Black members’ experience.
We encourage members to observe Black History Month in October. Our branches often organise events, host discussions, and highlight the year’s theme to raise awareness about Black history and heritage. Contact your branch in the run-up to October to find out how you can participate.
Defining Black
In UNISON, Black is used to indicate people with a shared history. Black with a capital ‘B’ is used in its broad political and inclusive sense to describe people in Britain who have suffered colonialism and enslavement in the past and continue to experience racism and diminished opportunities in today’s society.
The terms ‘minority ethnic’ and ‘ethnic minority’ are in widespread official use today. However, these terms have clear disadvantages in terms of the connotations of marginal or less important and in many neighbourhoods, towns and cities in Britain it is statistically inaccurate or misleading to describe Black groups as a minority.
Historically in the UK, the term Black has been used routinely in anti-racist campaigns starting in the 70s. 25 years ago when four Black MPs Bernie Grant, Paul Boateng, Diane Abbott and Keith Vaz were elected at the height of 1980s Black activism, African, Arab, Asian and Caribbean communities had come to realise the importance of unity in our common struggle against racism and under-representation and campaigned under the political term ‘Black’.
Language changes and evolves but terminology is always important in terms of intention and direction. Using Black is about creating unity in our fight against deep-rooted racism that sees Black people disadvantaged in housing, education, employment and the criminal justice and health systems.
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