Tackling inequality and discrimination in the Scottish workplace!
The trade union approach
STUC’s One Workplace Equal Rights Project held a showcase its work and looked at how Scottish trade unions can move forward in tackling inequality and discrimination in the workplace. The award-winning One Workplace Project has been a breath of fresh air for the trade union movement in Scotland and, at the same time, presented us with challenges to meet.
The mapping research commissioned by the Project provided the critical starting point in identifying the trade union tendency to tackle inequality on an individual rights basis, rather than tackling the structural problems which cause inequality. The research really crystallised the key challenges for trade unions to effectively fight discrimination and promote equality. This is an approach that moves away from looking at equality in one-off incidents to a holistic view.
We have to question the level playing field analogy, which trade unionists tend to cling to, where we believe that everyone should receive the same equal treatment in terms of access to work, pay, training and career progression, regardless of their identity. We have to refine our strategies, to take a positive action approach that really considers the structural inequality and barriers that different groups face. We have to take positive steps, which may be different for women, or black workers or disabled workers, to overcome the structural barriers and challenge the underlying inequality – rather than simply bolstering the unequal status quo. In doing this, the Scottish trade union movement can mainstream equality effectively into the daily bargaining agenda, ensuring that equality is at the core of all that we do.
Building on this analogy, the Project has challenged the Scottish TUC and our affiliated unions to look at the workplace through an equality-focused lens. A number of resources produced by the Project have provided valuable levers for us to work differently and better. One of these is the unique and innovative training DVD ‘One for All?’. An adaptation from a theatre production which the Project commissioned to perform at the 2007 STUC Annual Congress, the DVD presents three scenarios exploring the issues of equal rights and opportunities in the Scottish workplace. This ground breaking resource dramatically tells the story of the three individuals as they struggle to cope with discrimination through harassment, suspicion and other barriers from colleagues and managers. It conveys the human impact this has on their personal and professional lives. The drama also raises issues and poses challenging questions about how the Scottish trade union movement can reach out and support vulnerable groups in the Scottish workplace.
The Scottish TUC campaigning initiatives have equality at the core. In the annual St. Andrew’s Day Anti-Racism March and Rally, the current work on tackling human trafficking and child sexual exploitation, and the 50=50 campaign on women’s representation, the STUC and the Scottish trade union movement as a whole can be very proud of its record on equality campaigning.
The trade union role in tackling discrimination and promoting equality is critical and the challenges for us are daunting: pay gaps that have existed for decades, ethnic penalties and underemployment, and prejudices and stereotyping which run deep. We are in no doubt of the enormity and scale of the challenges that lie ahead. However, it is a challenge that we are happy to face with determination and resolve.
We must build on the imaginative and powerful work of this Project offering training, advice and other resources to trade unions, employers and employees. We must support those with expertise, harnessing the skills and experiences of those facing discrimination, and developing the capacity in all trade union reps to make a difference – so that we have in Scotland workplaces, a society and an economy that are fair, just and equitable.