Bargaining for equality
The best way for Trade Union Reps and Officials to deal with discrimination is to negotiate and enforce agreements with the employer to improve the terms and conditions of their members and promote equal treatment for all workers.
Many employers claim to be equal opportunity employers but often there is a wide gap between what exists on paper and how it is implemented. This is where Trade Unions reps and officials can make a difference by bargaining for equality with employers to ensure that employers actually deliver on what they commit to.
No Workplace should be without policies and agreements that address issues of:
- Recruitment, selection and promotion of employees
Unions should work to eliminate bad practice in employment. Examples of this include word of mouth recruitment and discouraging others to apply. Another bad practice is promoting black workers when annual monitoring figures are due. This can mean, in some cases, ?promotion to fail? when the person is placed in a higher post without adequate training, mentoring or support.
Unions reps and officials should seek to negotiate the following:
- All vacancies are advertised to reach all categories of employees in job centres and in newspapers, including those read by ethnic groups.
- Equal opportunity statements are included in all advertisements and information about jobs.
- Educational requirements are appropriate for the job and not favourable
- Overseas qualifications are accepted if they are comparable with UK equivalents
- Information about jobs includes clear job descriptions and person specifications that make reference to any particular skill or qualifications or requirements of the job e.g. working late at night or in particular hostile environments
- Training programmes are monitored to ensure that disadvantaged groups are interviewed and given support while they are in work.
- Ensure that tests and criteria that are not relevant to the job are avoided. Interviewers are trained in race equality issues and use the person specification only for selecting people.
- Links are made with local community groups, schools, colleges and universities to aid local recruitment.
- Training qualifications and skills
Black workers continue to be greatly disadvantaged even when they have similar qualifications to white workers. There has been a rising skill level among black workers and they are much more likely to hold higher level qualifications than their white colleagues are. An analysis of Scotland?s Census 2001 supports this by revealing that they are large differences in economic activity rates between ethnic groups. White people have the highest activity rate and Pakistani and other South Asian people have the lowest rate.
Unions should seek to negotiate that
- All opportunities for training are advertised throughout the organisation
- equal opportunity training is included in training for all staff.
- Training is not just about courses but mentoring and the establishment of support mechanisms
- Work with employers to implement positive action measures such as establishing pre-employment training schemes.
- Ensure that conditions of service meet the specific concerns of disadvantaged groups such as time off for religious observance and that dress codes should take into account the cultural and religious practices of different groups.
- Negotiate effective solutions to resolve issues of Harassment and Bullying of members.
Monitor Progress by:
- Collecting and analysing information such as earning, hours and ethnic origin,
- Reviewing questions, criteria procedures and Attila practice on recruitment, selection and promotion.
- Monitoring incidents of racial harassment and bullying and how they are taken up.
- Monitoring of how complaints of race discrimination are taken up.
This information will provide bargaining for equality reps with a profile of what is happening in the workplace and how different groups are being treated. From here targets can be set and used to develop positive action plans to include methods of consultation with employees and members.