TUC EQUALITY AUDIT 2014

Sally Brett Senior Equality Policy Officer

Trade unions and equality

“If unions can’t recruit from all sections of the workforce and don’t get equal participation in their bargaining and decision-making then they will struggle to sustain and grow their membership. Without strong unions, the workplace will be a less fair and more unequal place for everyone.”Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary

TUC Stephen Lawrence Legacy• Made pursuit of equality condition of affiliation• Recommended model equality clause:

“The objects of the union shall include:a. The promotion of equality for all including through:i. collective bargaining, publicity material and campaigning,

representation, union organisation and structures, education and training, organising and recruitment, the provision of all other services and benefits and all other activities;

ii. the union’s own employment practices.b. To oppose actively all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair

discrimination whether on the grounds of sex, race, ethnic or national origin, religion, colour, class, caring responsibilities, marital status, sexuality, disability, age, or other status or personal characteristic.”

• Led to biennial audits of affiliates

Background to 2014 Audit

• Questionnaires sent to all 54 TUC-affiliated unions in Nov ‘13 for completion by Jan ’14

• 36 unions responded - 67% response rate, down from 87% in 2011

• Covers over 5.6m members or 95% of TUC-affiliated union members

• Steering group set up and number of improvements made to final report

LABOUR MARKET DIVERSITY AND REPRESENTATION IN UNIONS

TUC Equality Audit 2014

Women • Women over-represented in membership• Women over-represented in few unionised

professions, but under-represented elsewhere• P/T workers also under-represented

Women

• 69% of unions provided monitoring data• Female membership varied from 4% to 81%• In majority, women under-represented among shop

stewards, H&S reps, branch officers, conference and Congress delegations and on union execs

• Over-represented relative to % in membership among ULRs and equality reps in majority of unions

• 46% women delegates at Congress 2014 but 38% of speakers were women

• 45% of General Council are women

BME workers

• Union density highest for Black/Black British but other BME groups under-represented

• Migrant workers significantly under-represented

BME workers• Two-fifths of unions provided monitoring data• BME membership varied from 2% to 16%• In majority, BME members under-represented among

shop stewards, branch officers, H&S reps, conference delegates and on union execs

• In most, well-represented or over-represented among ULRs and equality reps

• In 4 out of 7, BME members were well-represented on TUC Congress delegations

• 14.4% of Congress 2014 delegates identified as BME (up from 12.4% in 2013)

Disabled workers

• Disabled employees slightly more likely to be union members than non-disabled

Disabled workers• 36% of unions provided monitoring data• Disabled membership varied from 0.1% to 8%• In majority, data suggested disabled members

well-represented or over-represented in all union positions

• Is this the case? Or are those active within the union more comfortable about identifying as disabled/declaring disability status?

• 14.6% of Congress 2014 delegates disabled (up from 12% in 2013)

LGBT workers

• No reliable official stats on size of LGBT workforce• 22% of unions provided monitoring data• LGBT membership between 0.2% to 2%• Data suggests LGBT members over-represented at

all levels in the union but more likely that activists are more comfortable declaring LGBT status

• 3% of TUC Congress 2014 delegates LGB down from 6.2% in 2013

• 6 trans delegates, up from 5 in 2013

Young workers

• UK workforce is ageing but union membership is ageing faster

Young workers• 44% of unions provided monitoring data• Unions used own definition of young worker – cut off

varied from 25 to 35 years old• Young worker membership varied from 0.5% to 34%• In all unions, young members under-represented

among ULRs, H&S reps and on union execs• In most unions, under-represented among branch

officers, equality reps and on Congress delegations• In three-quarters, under-represented on conference

delegations• 5.5% of Congress 2014 delegates were under 35 down

from 7.8% in 2013

IMPROVING REPRESENTATION AND PARTICIPATION

TUC Equality Audit 2014

Monitoring• Significant increase in monitoring since 2011,

especially of membership

Monitoring

• NASUWT, NUJ, PCS, UCU and Unite only unions who provided membership and (some) participation data for all groups

• Not all large unions carry out comprehensive monitoring

• Despite improvements in LGBT and disability monitoring only 51% of members are asked about disability and 44% LGBT status

• By contrast, 99% are asked gender, 83% asked age and 77% asked ethnicity

Targeted recruitment• Young workers now most likely to be targeted• Biggest increase in activity aimed at LGBT and

disabled workers

Targeted recruitment• Training & development – e.g. FDA leadership

conferences, BECTU’s Reel Angels and Move On Up events, Unite’s management training for BME employees in bus industry, Equity casting events for East Asian and disabled actors, NUJ’s George Viner awards

• Campaigns – e.g. Usdaw’s safe journeys to work, TSSA’s equal pay campaign, PCS Proud’s ‘Proud to be Gay, Mr Putin’ social media campaign, Prospect Pioneers

• Support & guidance – e.g. UCU survival guide for BME members, NASUWT guide on race equality in education and support activities for LGBT teachers, GMB trans toolkit, TSSA’s neurodiversity champions

Targeted recruitment

• Recruitment materials – e.g. UNISON’s specific recruitment materials for LGBT, bisexual and trans members, Nautilus materials for migrant workers

• Networks – e.g. Napo Black Network, young member network in Prospect and UCU’s network for international workers

• Community outreach – many unions involved in Pride events both nationally and locally

Encouraging participation

• Rise in unions targeting BME, disabled, LGBT and young workers to get them active in union

• Slight fall for women and migrant workers

Encouraging participation

• Self-organised groups or networks – e.g. Nautilus’ Women’s Council, NUJ’s 60+ Council, PCS regional networks for LGBT and disabled members

• Training & development – e.g. NASUWT’s Women and BME Members’ Development Courses, UNISON LGBT branch officers’ training

• Mentoring – PCS mentoring pilot for women, Usdaw case study on BME mentoring project

Encouraging participation

• New routes to activism – e.g. NASUWT’s ‘workplace contact’ and job-share opportunities, Napo: Next Generation, ATL Future and Future TSSA

• Conferences and events – e.g. FDA uses TUC Disabled Workers Conference to encourage disabled reps

Equality committees

• Most significant change is the growth in national committees for young workers

Equality conferences

• Increase in equality conferences/seminars at national level, especially for young workers

• Activity suggests popularity/demand for events

Reserved seats

• Only small number of unions use them• Use has increased for young, disabled and LGBT

members

Reserved seats

• As largest unions most likely to use them, they cover high % of union members e.g. 61% of union members are in union with reserved seats for women on national exec

• Five of largest unions now using reserved seats for women on branch committees (up from 1 in 2011), covering 67% of members

• Six unions now have reserved seats for young people on conference delegations, covering 48% of union members

Equality reps• About half of unions have a provision or

practice for appointing or electing equality reps, covering 87% of union members

• New TUC briefing on equality reps http://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/Union%20equality%20reps%20briefing%202014.pdf

• Essential bridge for translating equality objectives, policies and structures into impact in workplace

Equality reps

“If a new government enacts only one new piece of equality legislation it should be to require equality representatives at workplaces, who would be involved in drawing up and enforcing employment and pay equity plans. Trade unions were once part of the problem – today, they are an essential part of the solution.” Sir Bob Hepple QC

EQUALITY RULES AND ACTION PLANS

TUC Equality Audit 2014

TUC model equality clause

• 75% of unions now adopted clause (or similar) in rulebook, up from around two-fifths a decade ago

• Majority of union members covered

Rules on far-right or racist parties

• 39% of unions have such a rule, but majority of union members covered

Equality action plans

• 56% of unions have an equality action plan in place, up from 27% in 2011

• And 90% of union members are now in a union which has a plan to tackle discrimination and advance equality

TUC Equality Audit 2014 resources

• http://www.tuc.org.uk/equality-issues/equality-audit/equality-audit-2014-improving-representation-and-participation-trade