A JOURNEY THROUGH TUBE HISTORY

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2013 :: RMTnews 22 One of the biggest obstacles faced for anti-discrimination campaigners is the lack of opportunity for the people they aim to protect. Accepted stereotypes of particular classes inabilities often meant that disadvantaged groups relied on the law to react to complaints rather than proactively anticipate the problems. Independent research led by Cambridge Professor Robert Hepple QC identified, prior to the enactment of the Equality Act 2010, that the amount of fragmented anti-discrimination legislation placed too much emphasis on state regulation and too little on the responsibility of organisations and individuals to generate change. In response, many groups and a number of reviews have called for an inclusionary approach to promoting equality. By placing the onus on employers, suppliers of services, educators or trade unions and workers associations to take positive steps to encourage diversity and avoiding fault- finding and the need for retrospective analysis of decisions. This inclusionary approach is a positive duty to reduce the under-representation of disadvantaged groups is, in the long run, more effective than negative duties not to discriminate. The Citizen Advice Bureau in its own review, realised that irrespective of legislative activity over the last thirty years, including consolidation of discrimination into a single act, and despite Governmental achievements such as civil partnerships, public sector duties and community cohesion initiatives, inequality remains deeply embedded in our society. It is understood that with the current rates of progress it will take until 2105 to close the gap in ethnic employment rates. The TUC’s negotiator guide, ‘Tackling Racism in the Workplace’ provides a clear statement on what is required: “It is worth bearing in mind that the law in itself does not put a stop to discrimination – it cannot be relied upon to achieve and protect equality issues; its function is to define what unlawful discrimination is. Collective bargaining is a proactive mechanism for ensuring that equal rights exist within the workplace. Therefore, unions are in a position to proactively seek out and challenge discriminatory practices”. The task for any progressive trade union is to recognise the importance of tackling inequalities both internally and with the bosses. Effective trade unions benefit society as a whole. It is a well established principle that the gap between rich and poor is lower in countries with strong trade unions fighting for ordinary workers. Although, the standards we set, should not be one that is lower than what we expect from the bosses. A TUC European investigation (2005) into how trade unions tackle racism exposed some astonishing findings. It discovered that traditionally, trade unions have sought to deal with racism in the workplace by adopting one or a few of the following six strategic positions: Protection, Denial, Delegation, Assimilation, Self-organisation and Positive discrimination. One of the most poignant factors that the investigation revealed was an insight on the London buses. The presence of a black majority of operating staff and the long history of black and ethnic workers creating a long experience of integration meant that there were a significant number of black and ethnic representatives at the two lowest levels of the union (branch officers and garage stewards). The price paid is often one of downplaying discrimination issues. Another problem identified is with workers actually taking employers to tribunal for discrimination. The problem explained was in terms of personal expense and the possibility of being stereotyped as a troublemaker. The concluding recommendations offered by the report, recognises racism as a RMT member Glen Hart looks at ways to tackle racism and discrimination in the workplace Glen Hart DEALING WITH DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORKPLACE