Putting the black in the Union Jack

National Black Members’ Committee newsletterOctober 2012

No one can forget the

image of Mo Farah, his victory celebration and now famous ‘MoBot’ signature

No one can forget the feel good factor that ‘super Saturday’ brought to the nation when Jessica Ennis won gold in the heptathlon. Ennis, whose father is Jamaican, became the poster girl of the Olympics. If Ennis was the poster girl then Mo Farah, born in Somalia, was the poster boy. He became the first British athlete to win both the 5,000m and 10,000m. No one can forget the image of Mo Farah, his victory celebration and now famous ‘MoBot’ signature. For me, it proves that sport can help bring people from all racial backgrounds together and draw people behind a common event such as the Olympics.

Women athletes jumped gender hurdles. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei entered female

athletes for the first time, meaning every currently eligible country has sent a female competitor to at least one Olympic Games. It was also the first games at which every sport had female competitors.

The respect given to the Paralympians contrasted deeply with the portrayal of disabled people by the government and the media. Athletes highlighted the importance of benefits to support their achievements. I feel that the Olympics and

Paralympics brought people from all social and cultural backgrounds together. It also proved that multiculturalism is a major component of our society. As many commentators stated, Britain was in a unique place in terms of its cultural make-up that enabled many spectators to be able to support, not just British athletes, but also athletes from around the globe.

Whether you attended or just watched it on the telly, you could enjoy the positive vibe of collective achievement – athletes, spectators, workers, volunteers – all made a great event. If only it helped employers recognise the potential of people. Unions can also take heart from it. We’re stronger when we’re united.Newton Thompson

ContentsSay no to austerity 2Equality training 3Doreen Lawrence 3Taking up the baton 4Workplace news 6Spotlight on black history 7National Diversity Award 8Who is Pavel Alam 8

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Public and Commercial Services Union | pcs.org.uk

The games of the XXX Olympiad – more commonly London 2012 – were a major international event. More than 10,000 athletes from 204 national olympic committees (NOCs) participated. London became the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times.

The games received widespread acclaim for their organisation, with the volunteers and public enthusiasm praised particularly highly. The recognition of the contribution of public sector workers however was shamefully lacking. The opening ceremony also received near-universal acclaim. Here at least homage was paid to ordinary working class people, whether on the Jarrow March or in the National Health Service.

Usain Bolt became a living legend, after the second of his three gold medals. He became the first man to ever win the 100m and 200m double at subsequent games, along with the 4x100m titles. The latter helped Jamaica to break the world record.

Hello, on behalf of the editorial board and the national black members’ committee

(NBMC). It would be remiss of me not to thank members who contacted us regarding the changes to the design and style of the newsletter. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any other comments.

This summer has been eventful as ever. The 2012 Olympics were a great event for many, though not without controversies over sponsors (ATOS, G4S) and racist comments. It must not be forgotten that many PCS members from the department of culture media and sport, along with secondees from other government departments, helped make the games one of the best ever in living memory.

That all took place amid the backdrop of private sector companies making huge profits or as a good friend of mine says ‘pirateering’. The shamed G4S who failed to deliver on its promise of being able to deliver the services that public sector employees deliver on a daily basis – and at a fraction of the cost.

These businesses are only interested in making profit at the expense of hard-working public sector employees. That’s why we must all oppose and fight the privatisation agenda. Newton Thompson

Please feel free to drop us a line or submit articles

at equality@pcs.org.uk Remember you can contact

your group or regional reps whose details are shown on the back page within the contacts section.

October 20122 | Editorial

Say ‘no’ to austerityFROM THE CHAIR

It is great once again to address you in this edition of the Equality, Freedom and Justice newsletter.

I am pleased that racism and sport was chosen as a theme for the 2012 Black History month. We have seen cases that involved discrimination in certain sports and approaches to specific acts of racism that catapulted this issue to national prominence.

This year also saw what is called ‘the greatest show on Earth’ – the 2012 Olympics. It was sold as regenerating the more deprived areas of London and creating hope from its legacy. This will be explored in this year’s black members’ seminar. The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) – is a public body set up to develop and build from the existing venues, post-2012 Olympics within the department for culture, media and sport. Is this the saviour that will assist in reducing the disproportionate impact on our black community and public services during these times of austerity? After reading the impact assessment of this organisation, I noticed the recommendation for a diversity champion and creation of a staff network, as they didn’t have one prior to the authority being set up. I hope this year’s seminar will look at ways to hold the government to account in regards to the legacy.

On 26 March, 2011, the TUC’s March for the Alternative attracted 500,000 people to a demonstration and rally in London. As this issue goes to print, the TUC will have organised another mass demonstration in London under the banner of A Future That Works, nearly 18 months after the last one. Coinciding with this are marches in Glasgow and in Belfast. As the TUC commented: “It is becoming ever clearer that this government does not have the policies – or even much of a commitment – to build a prosperous economy that

can generate the jobs and industries we need for the future.”

This is true, with particular relation to our black communities, where the cuts will lead to black workers being the target of redundancies and pay freezes, which in reality will be a pay cut. This will widen the existing unacceptable pay gap between black and white workers. Black communities are being disproportionately affected by the cuts; statistics indicated that the proportion of BME communities living in poverty is significantly higher than the national average. It is black

communities who will be amongst the hardest hit.

Traditionally, black communities have found it easier to gain employment in the public sector. Approximately 40% of black workers are employed in the public sector compared to 25% of their white counterparts. Those that benefit from these cuts are likely to be the BNP and EDL who are already furthering racial tensions to divide us when more than ever, we need to be united. It is essential that we stand together and win the economic argument.

Enjoy this edition of the newsletter. I salute you all in your efforts to tackle discrimination.Conrad GayleChair of the national black members committee

From the editor

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that this govern­ment does not have the policies – or even much of a commitment – to build a prosperous economyTUC

October 2012 News | 3

Understanding race and equalityHMRC black members’ equality training

Doreen gets freedom of the city

This event, the first of its kind, for PCS black members was held at the Northern College in Barnsley. The course we studied was entitled understanding race and equality. I am extremely privileged to have had the opportunity to attend.

The attendees included 17 lay members, five of the newly-elected black members’ advisory committee (BMAC), alongside NEC member Hector Wesley and AGS Mark Leopard.

The awe-inspiring college and the stunning and relaxing surroundings, contributed well to purposeful study. The feedback from all the participants was that the course was well run by our Pete Grubb, PCS lay tutor and Debbie Potts from Northern College. Debbie gave us all a potted history of the college.

Over the busy weekend, we were able to unpick some of the main issues around race and equality. Some key questions were:zz What were the issues?zz What was race discrimination?zz Is there race discrimination within our own black communities?zz How do we begin to tackle it?

We developed our speaking and listening skills through discussions in small groups.

Show Racism the Red Card welcomed Doreen Lawrence into their hall of fame last September, in tribute to her inspirational work in the field of race equality and her fight for justice following the racist murder of her son, Stephen. She is a long-standing supporter of the show racism the red card campaign and visited its north east headquarters.

As part of her visit, Newcastle City Council hosted a civic reception in her honour to pay testament to her dedication to

human rights and her fight for justice for the victims of racially motivated crime. Following the reception, Show Racism the Red Card and the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust benefitted from a fundraising event ‘A Night of Fashion’, organised by local businesses. The show was a huge success and included a live band and charity raffle. All proceeds from the evening were shared by Show Racism the Red Card and the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.

Doreen Lawrence said she was looking forward to meeting the people of Newcastle and sharing the platform with Show Racism the Red Card: “We have worked together in the past in their educational work. The team of Show Racism the Red Card are committed to working with schools to help young children to stand up to racism.” Ged Grebby, chief executive of Show Racism the Red Card said of Doreen: “She is truly an inspiration to all of us in the field of anti-racism.”

Time was spent listening to and appreciating the views and opinions of others. We then practised giving feedback on our findings to the rest of the group. This will prove very useful practice for the future. Good use was made of the learning resource centre in the huge library for basic research. We also discussed language and the range of equality vocabulary. Throughout

the course many examples of institutional racism were highlighted among working practices, despite the legislation that exists and is supposed to protect members. We explored the need to raise the profile of the PCS black members’ network and the benefits to members.

Everyone that attended including the tutors, gained an enormous amount from this

course and it will enable them to use what they learnt in the future to assist colleagues with equality and race issues. Hopefully the course will inspire all to progress their learning and become more knowledgeable about race issues, which will then enable everyone to become more effective PCS activists. After all knowledge is power.

There were a number of key issues that seem to affect members:zz Not being provided with communications relating to black members issues from their branches, group and NEC zz Under-representation at branch and group levelzz Understanding of how to challenge inequality issues both within the workplace and within the unionzz Need for personal case training that understands specific issues that black members may face.

I would like to formally thank Pete Grubb for developing the course, Debbie Potts for her professional and insightful facilitation and Mark Leopard for all his hard work for making it all possible, the HMRC BMAC and the members that attended.Newton Thompson

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October 20124 | Feature

Racism and resistanceTaking up the batonEarlier this year, I attended one of many public meetings where the legendary US athlete, John Carlos was speaking. For those who don’t know John Carlos, Tommy Smith and Peter Norman made history at the 1968 Olympics, In Mexico City. The black power salute by John Carlos (a bronze Olympic medallist) and Tommy Smith (a gold Olympic medallist) with raised right-hand gloved fists, were accompanied by a less obvious but equally defiant gesture of Peter Norman (silver Olympic medallist), wearing an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge as combined acts of resistance and defiance.

John Carlos talked about his early life and his transition into adulthood where he became an Olympian and a freedom fighter. His legendary stand cost him dearly. The black power salute caused such a furore in the ‘Land of the free’, you could have thought that he had committed high treason. How dare someone ask for African Americans to be treated like equal citizens?

Key to this story of resistance and defiance in pursuit of equality and human rights is the sacrifice the athletes were willing to make to remind the world that even though the US government was all too willing to have African-Americans win medals to swell the coffers of the its medal chest, back on home soil, those medals meant nothing. Under the segregation that existed, African-American people were treated like second class citizens, facing daily racism without any real redress. It was in the face of constant discrimination and a need for justice that the American civil rights movement was born and flourished during the 1960s.

Struggle – a relay race Speaking about the ‘Black fist’ salute John Carlos said for him life

was not about winning medals it was about the fight for freedom. Many battles have yet to be fought in order to win the war. John Carlos told the audience that Malcolm X had been a positive influence in his life. John Carlos said that by our actions, the contributions to equality and human rights are either lost or gained. We have a duty to ensure the lives and struggles of people like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were not in vain. He reminded everyone that the fight

for equality and justice was like a long relay race. He stated we all have a duty to be baton bearers and carry on the race until the job was done.

John Carlos was very inspiring as he concluded his public address he said: “I am not afraid to offend my oppressors. They try to destroy you by breaking your will in order to make you afraid. It’s not about black and white. It’s about right versus wrong.” Those words were thought-provoking for me. I tried to remember what happened last time someone took steps to oppress me. Did I fight back? Did I keep quiet hoping they would leave me alone and get someone else the next time?

Passing on the batonEarlier this year, Premier league footballer, Anton Ferdinand decided to make a stand because he had been racially abused. This must have been an incredibly brave thing for him to do in such a public arena, particularly as football has such a high profile in the UK. Despite immense pressure put on him to put the

incident behind him, Anton Ferdinand refused to shake the hand of John Terry before the match at Loftus Road last Saturday (15 September 2012). The defender also refused to shake the hand of Ashley Cole, who appeared as a character witness at John Terry’s trial earlier this year. Terry was cleared of using a racial slur against Anton Ferdinand in court, but was given a four game ban and £220,00 fine by the FA.

Like John Carlos, Anton Ferdinand’s refusal to cooperate could cost him dearly. However he’s decided that the principle is worth the fight. Anton’s refusal to co-operate may not be as significant as the black power salute, but he has done the thing that John Carlos has asked us to do and that is to take up the baton. What have you done lately?Newton Thompson Ph

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Like John Carlos, Anton

Ferdinand’s refusal to cooperate could cost him dearly

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white. It’s about right versus wrongJohn Carlos

October 2012 News | 5

PCS challenges redundancy discrimination The department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has initiated a selection process, which has declared 25 administrative assistants (AA) and officers (AO) to be surplus. They are threatened with redundancy. Our branch feels there was a disproportionate impact on black, Asian and minority ethnic (BME) staff. Of the 17 surplus individuals who have spoken to PCS, 12 are BME – over 70%. The BME profile across core Defra in these grades is around 43%.

PCS has written to human resources (HR) who have dismissed the issue and propose to take no action. Their response was to state: “Diversity analysis was carried out prior to the selection panel meeting to establish whether there were any disproportionate impacts on the diversity profile at each grade that should be flagged to the panel.” They went on to say: “We believe that we have taken an appropriate and proportionate approach to assessing the impact on groups with protected characteristics. We do not, therefore, propose to take any further action.”

Our argument is that by focussing on the whole population profile (180) before and after a reduction of 25 (down to 155) is not going to show a

As part of Acas’ commitment to equality, the board commissioned research into career progression, specifically to explore whether there are barriers to entry into the senior management team for particular groups of Acas staff.

Praesta Partners interviewed 12 women at Grade 5–7, 10 women at grades 8 and 9 and eight BME staff at grades 8 and 9. This was done “to better understand all the issues that impact upon grade/career progression and why women and people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds (BME) are not more proportionately represented in all grades of job in Acas”.

They will be:zz Analyzing the findings of the BME/gender progression researchzz Investigating the ‘prefer not to say’ category in the monitoring returns (for disabled people)zz Initiating board representation targets for gender, consistent with the Davies report (Equality and Human Rights Commission 2008).

The findings have been published in a report. The report provides us with a really helpful insight into the things we already do well while offering a steer as to where improvements can be made. Staff have been encouraged to feed their thoughts on the report to our equality and diversity manager, and the equality and diversity group will explore how best to take forward the findings of the report.

statistically significant impact. Is there evidence of discrimination in the selection process has not been addressed by HR? The data provided which, far from justifying this inaction, seems to show a very significant disproportionate impact.

Data is only available for those who have declared their ethnicity. Thirteen of the 25 selected out are known to be BME whereas only five are known to be white. So where ethnicity is known (for 18 of the 25) 72% of those selected out are BME. Twice as many BME AAs (4) as white AAs (2) were selected for redundancy and three times as many BME AOs (9) as white AOs (3) were selected out. We have also been made aware of white members of staff in admin grades who applied for voluntary exit but who were turned down.

As with evidence of discrimination within the appraisal moderation outcomes (now rolled out in other government departments, it is felt the department is seeking to hide behind the unknown figures. However, it is statistically unlikely that the disproportionate impact shown amongst those for whom there is data is not replicated across the whole Efra group. It would certainly not be too

difficult for the employer to investigate further.

PCS has made further representations and is also seeking legal advice. Our branch believes the selection process itself – an arbitrary assessment by managers of competencies and performance made up for the purpose of selection and not necessarily bearing any relationship to previous performance assessments – is not exactly robust. If the process is shown to be discriminatory it is flawed and all those selected out should be reintegrated within Defra and the selection process annulled.

All this clearly justifies our previous decision to launch our branch’s Black Members Forum on Monday 22 October 2012, during Black History Month, where we have invited a number of inspirational black and anti-fascist speakers to help launch our planned Forum.

It is clear that we in our branch are going to have to get more organised in dealing with such issues and the planned launch meeting of our branch’s Black Members forum intends to help us to do just that.Niaz FaizPCS Defra Southern branchEquality Officer

Staff have been

encouraged to feed their thoughts on the report to our equality and diversity manager

Barriers to progression in ACAS

SCOTLANDThe STUC black workers conference will take place in October and PCS has two motions on public sector pensions and why austerity isn’t working. Network members visited the Scottish Parliament, where they had an opportunity to meet BME parliamentarians, The equality committee and the observe the running of parliament. Feedback was very positive. Information will be circulated on a political shadowing scheme for members. The next network meeting will launch of Black History Month and have some media training, where we hope to develop a video for YouTube. Halema MoghulNational rep for Scotland

LONDON AND SOUTH EASTThe LSE network hopes to produce a regional newsletter and organise a Black History Month event. To build the network, they are visiting a Job Centre Plus office with an NEC member. We also organised a mobilising event for 20 October open to activists from across unions within the region.Mark BenjaminLSE Convenor

NORTHERNOrganising for successThe Northern Region Black Members’ Network continues to increase its profile within the region, educating PCS black members on current campaigns and strategies. The network mailing list has extended because of recruitment stalls, and being present on an equality stall at the learning at work day event at Benton Park View.

The Northern Regional Black Members’ Network mainly consists of staff working in the Newcastle, Sunderland and Washington area. It has been suggested that we need to recruit a little further afield. Plans will be made in the near future to hold a recruitment and information stall within the Peterlee and Stockton area.

Issues and campaignsA full report from the previous NBMC meeting was made and included issues such as budget constraints, using Facebook and Twitter, discrimination at work and campaigns such as Justice for Jay. There was also a report concerning the government’s plans to implement costs, concerning taking claims to employment tribunals. YouTube videos on ‘Stop and search’ and Stephen Lawrence were presented to network members to reinforce the necessity to support such campaigns.

Jan Gifford, learning officer has presented a CV work shop to network members and provided a CD to all members containing CV templates and good writing techniques.

Network members have been asked to inform other members and display posters on notice boards for the PCS Racial Incident Hotline.

The Anne Frank Trust is holding a month long exhibition in Newcastle city centre. It was collectively agreed that the Northern Region Black Members’ Network was to visit the exhibit together as part of celebrating Black History Month.Jai MurrayNorthern region black members secretary

October 20126 | Workplace and regional news

HMRC PCS has been in discussion with human resources director, Kerry Duffy concerning the EmbRACE program. This is to be rolled out to black staff in HMRC (PT Operations) area. PCS believes that in the interests of fairness, it would prove pertinent for management to locally monitor and map the ethnicity of staff eligible to apply for this initiative. The request has been sent to HMRC and we are waiting for a response.

TFTA contracts have been altered to fixed term appointments. This will give staff the opportunity to apply for posts when they become available. Previously they weren’t allowed to. There are approximately 2,500 people of whom at least 500 are black.

CommunicationBlack members are to set up a group newsletter, Twitter and Facebook accounts to improve communications. The group are trying to use the regional black members networks to highlight activities that the black members committee were undertaking.

MappingGroup has mapped all its branches to find out whether or not they have an equality rep. Some branches don’t have black members’ reps or even equality reps. The advisory committees are planning to work with those branches to get equality reps established.

LAND REgISTRyIn Land Registry we are trying to raise the profile of black issues. We are encouraging branches to have ULRs and equality officers to

Workplace news Regional news

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work together to raise awareness and educate members. Our publications, ‘News from the GEC’, group magazine ‘Progress’ and the LR equality bulletin, have contained articles on the following on the ‘Speak up and speak out’ campaign, the Racial Incident hotline and Doreen Lawrence’s speech at conference.

For Black History Month, packs will be put together with promotional material/posters and potential activities to send out to branches. ULRs are being encouraged by the group to help raise the profile of BME issues as it is a ‘learning point’.Suraya Ghani, NBMC Land Registry member

SOUTH EAST REgION TUC RACE RELATIONSPCS is well represented on the committee with both Austin Harney and Mark Benjamin re-elected joint co-secretaries and Dil Joshi as elected vice-chair.

Committee members continue to publicise the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust appeal. The EDL marches in Luton and Waltham Forest had led activists to continue to mobilise with anti-fascist and anti-racist groups like UAF in order to oppose them.Mark Benjamin, joint co-secretary SERTUC race relations sub-committee

Public and Commercial Services Union | pcs.org.uk

tournament (June) and the Olympics (August) it seemed a good opportunity to focus on how racism has affected sport both historically and currently.

Racism in footballRacism amongst some football fans is well documented but 2012 was ignited by racism on the pitch from the poor response from Liverpool over the sanctions against Luis Suárez and the incident involving former England captain John Terry and Anton Ferdinand. The hosting of the Euro championship in Poland and Ukraine also threw racist and anti-Semitic chanting in the spotlight.

The last hurdle to jump?Sol Campbell’s comments on the dangers of racist attacks were downplayed by the host countries, despite evidence broadcast by the BBC Panorama team. The NBMC put pressure on the government via the PCS parliamentary group, who ensured the issue was aired via an early day motion put down by Valerie Vaz MP (bit.ly/OXSNJh).

Olympic legacy There are many different views on the legacy of the 2012 Olympics but the event provided a huge focus on sport from the government, media and public. The glitz and medal fever may have given some temporary respite from the gloom of job losses, recession and austerity. But it also threw up real issues of corporate sponsorship, lack of sports funding, access to sports for

Racism and sport

BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2012

Snakes and LaddersPages 4–5 Pioneering men and womenPage 6

This year the PCS national black members committee (NBMC) agreed on the theme of ‘Racism and sport’ for black history month (BHM). With the advent of the Euro football

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Racism and sportWhat is Black History Month?Page 3

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October 2012 Black history | 7Ph

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William Cuffay was born in Chatham, Kent, 1788. His father was a cook and former slave. William found work as an apprentice tailor and eventually joined the tailors’ union. The union called a strike in 1834 and Cuffay then lost his job. Anger drove him to become involved in the fight for universal suffrage and workers representation in parliament.

In 1839 Cuffay joined the Metropolitan Tailors’ Charter Association and became an important figure in the Chartist movement, elected to the five man national executive of the National Charter Association in 1842.

The Chartist movement was the first mass organisation of the working class and in 1838 had issued a People’s Charter which identified basic political reforms. These were:zz A vote for every man over the age of 21zz A secret ballotzz No property qualification for members of parliamentzz Payment for MPs allowing poor men to stand for parliamentzz Constituencies of equal sizezz Annual elections for parliament.

Cuffay was one of the more

Sarojini Naidu, poet and writer, was known as ‘The Nightingale of India’. She was proficient in Persian, Urdu, Telugu, English and Bengali. Her family came from Bengal and her father was the first member of the Indian National Congress in Hyderabad. He was dismissed from his position as college principal, for his political activities.

The Nizam (ruler) of Hyderabad was so impressed with Sarojini’s work, he gave her a scholarship. At the age of 16, she was admitted to King’s College, London. The partition of Bengal in 1905 by Lord Curzon, led Naidu to join the Indian freedom struggle. She met with leading figures such Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Sarojini later moved on to become leader of the Indian National Congress Party. She travelled extensively to the United States of America and Europe as the flag-bearer of the Indian nationalism.

Labour and women’s rightsDuring 1915-1918, she travelled to different regions in India delivering lectures on social welfare, dignity of labour, women’s emancipation and nationalism. She awakened the women of India and brought

militant leaders in favour of strikes. At the 1848 Kennington Common meeting, he was urged by some Chartists to lead an armed uprising in London. As a result of a government spy, Cuffay was arrested and brought before the courts.

Cuffay was supported by the Northern Star paper. They said he was being tried by “a jury animated by class-resentments and party-hatred”. Cuffay was convicted and sentenced to be transported to Tasmania for 21 years.

In 1856, all political prisoners in Tasmania were pardoned. Cuffay decided not to return to England and instead became a tailor in Tasmania. He continued to be involved in radical politics and trade unions until his death in 1870 at the age of 82. He had played an important role in getting the master and servant law in the colony changed to allow more rights for workers, many of them ex-prisoners.

One of his obituaries stated he was “a fluent and effective speaker, he was always popular with the working classes”. One of his legacies is that eventually most of the Chartists’ demands were realised except that of annual elections, which would have been impractical.

Spotlight onWilliam Cuffay

Spotlight onSarojini Naidu

them out of the kitchen. She also helped to establish the Women’s Indian Association (WIA) in 1917. She was sent to London along with socialist Annie Besant, President of WIA, to present the case for the women’s vote to the parliamentary joint select committee. In 1916, she took up the cause of the highly exploited indigo workers of Champaran, Bihar.

In March 1919, Mahatma Gandhi organized the Non-Cooperation Movement to protest and Naidu was the first to join the movement. Besides, Sarojini Naidu also actively campaigned for reforms to British rule which led to a limited form of female suffrage, unity between Muslims and Congress and the civil disobedience movement.

Arrest and imprisonmentIn 1919, she went to England as a member of the all-India Home Rule Deputation. In 1925, she was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress Party and took Gandhi’s place after he was imprisoned in 1930 and was herself arrested and imprisoned during the Quit India campaign in 1942.

Post independence, Sarojini Naidu became the first woman Governor of Uttar Pradesh. In 1848 Cuffay was sentenced to be transported to Tasmania

Sarojini Naidu was born in Hyderabad

1963 Born in London Borough of Stoke Newington – now Hackney

1977 Attended Anti Nazi League (ANL) demonstrations

1981–84 Played gigs raising money for the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the miners’ strike

1984 Joined CPSA (post and telecom) for month before it becomes National Communications Union (NCU)

1985 Became local rep and worked in one of the first call centres

1988 Elected branch anti-poll tax officer1990–2006 Anti-fascist activity in Welling and

Brick Lane. Full-time branch assistant secretary,

Communication Workers Union. Chair/vice chair of the CWU Race Committee and Black Workers’ Conference, TUC delegate. Founding member of Panther, black socialist group

1999–2006 TUC tutor2002 WEA Black trade unionist oral history

project worker 2007 PCS education officer responsible for

training reps, including regional black members’ networks

2012 PCS education and equality officer with responsibility for the national black members’ committee (NBMC) and race equality issues.

Editoral BoardDaphne DennisMohammed ShafiqNewton ThompsonDesign PCS CommunicationsPrintMarstan

Equality, Freedom and Justice is published quarterly by the Public and Commercial Services union, 160 Falcon Road, London SW11 2LN

October 20128 | News

PCS member wins national diversity award

Solidarity with the Marikana miners

Who is Pavel Alam?

NEC member Zita Holbourne beat thousands of nominees to win the award for positive role model for race at the inaugural awards ceremony held in Manchester.

The awards celebrate the achievements of people and organisations that “tackle the issues in today’s society” and champions their “selfless hard work on a day-to-day basis towards a more inclusive society.”

Zita beat off the competition to win the award for her work in equality and diversity and as a committed activist with 20 years of experience. Zita is also co-founder and national co-chair of Black Activists Rising Against Cut, a national campaign group set up to respond to the disproportionate impact of cuts on black workers, service users and communities.

On winning the award she said: “It’s an honour to have my work recognised in this way. I hope that the award stands to recognise the importance of trade union and community activism in advancing race equality.

“Right now the progress made on equality over decades is under threat. We have a duty, not just to defend the hard-earned gains

The September NBMC meeting discussed the situation in South Africa in respect to the recent strikes by miners at working at Marikana mine run by Lonmin, which resulted in the brutal suppression and the killing of 34 miners by state forces.

The tragedy has brought to the fore the inability of the main mineworkers’ union (NUM) to represent the workers interests and allegations of collusion with the bosses. The NUM is closely linked to the ruling ANC government. This is amid the huge disparity of wealth between workers and owners. The strike has however resulted in a significant victory for the workers who have received a 22% wage rise. The strikes have now spread to include 35,000 workers at the AngloGold Ashanti and Anglo American Platinum.

The PCS NEC had already passed a motion of solidarity with the miners, which was welcomed. The NBMC however will be asking the NEC to follow this and make a donation to the strike committee and the families of those killed in the dispute.

made by those who went before us, but to achieve equality in our lifetime and create a legacy for future generations.

“Freedom is not the power to do what we want but to be

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empowered to do what’s right. Until each one of us is at liberty to embrace who we are without fear of hatred or discrimination we all have a responsibility to stand up for equality and justice.”

In June, 2012, Pav Alam was appointed as secretary for the National Black members committee and officer for race equality. He also continues to work in the trade union education. Here we present a short profile on him.