MIND THE ETHNIC PAY GAP

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march/april 2024 :: RMTnews 20 Delegates to the black and ethnic minority conference meeting in Birmingham called on the union to put pressure on employers to produce ethnicity pay gap reports, deal with racism within their workplace. Over 60 delegates attended the conference, one of the highest in its recent history, which passed a range of motions including on antisemitism, Islamophobia and calling for the ending of the illegal occupation of the Chagos Islands. Moving the unanimously passed motion on the ethnic pay gap, Wale Agunbiade, East London Rail branch said: “When I go to talks with the employer, there are regular talks about the gender pay gap but there are zero talks about the ethnic pay gap. ”When you don’t address them then people think that it is not a problem. “Just in 2022, the biggest pay gap was black and ethnic minority people. They were earning 5.6 per cent less than then their white counterparts. “It will take 40 years for these gaps to close so we need to ensure these companies act. They claim to care about equality and diversity, let’s push them to make sure it happens,” he said. Mr Agunbiade also noted that staff had reported to him that managers at rail companies have said black and ethnic minority staff members cannot go any higher in the company because “we have reached the level of ethnic people at that level”. The motion called on the union to“write to companies where we have recognition to conduct a ethnicity pay gap report and to involve our union in any research and report. “We propose that the RMT advisory committee is provided with any information gathered and collated about these companies as well as a comprehensive list of the responses of the companies that have been approached.” Delegates also highlighted attitudes of senior managers in various contracted out rail companies where accusations of mistreatment along racial lines and even differing wage levels were raised. The conference went on to discuss anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the context of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Delegates condemned antisemitism but pointed out it must not be used as a means to deflect legitimate criticism of the Israel Defence Force and the argument for boycott, disinvestment and sanctions against the state of Israel. Moving the successful motion, Shoaib Malik from Liverpool 5 said that critics of Israel policy towards MIND THE ETHNIC PAY GAP Well-attended black and ethnic members conference calls on employers to tackle the ethnic pay gap