Stephen Lawrence: Ten Years After

STEPHEN LAWRENCE: 10 YEARS AFTER

Welcome...

It's now ten years since the publication of the landmark Macpherson Report - which, in the aftermath of the death of Stephen Lawrence, laid bare the extent of institutional racism within British life.

So it's a good time for us to review progress and address the huge challenges that still remain.

Let me thank the Secretary of State John Denham for being here and underlining the government's commitment to this agenda.

And let me also thank Doreen Lawrence, Stephen's mother, for joining us.

The TUC family has been proud to give our support the Lawrence family in their long struggle for justice.

As part of that process, we set up our own Task Group to look at how we as a trade union movement could do better on race equality.

That's what led the TUC and unions to put equality and tackling racism at the heart of our constitutions; to launch a programme of biennial equality audits to measure how far we've come; to get thousands of our shop stewards and reps to sign up for our on-line education course on tackling racism; and, last year, we began training and supporting a nationwide network of specialist union equality reps - already 350 strong and counting.

But progress is never a straight path and the battle against racism is far from over.

If anyone was ever in any doubt that we've still got our work cut out, you only had to watch that channel 4 film on the racial abuse routinely meted out to London traffic wardens to know how far we've got to go.

And let's be honest, the public debate about immigration and asylum seekers is still dominated by a right-wing media peddling myths and misinformation, and is still very often just a proxy for prejudice and racism.

Parts of the political class seem all too willing to go with the rightward flow.

We are all now very familiar with variations of that phrase 'we must be free to talk about immigration without being accused of racism'.

Of course we need to be free to talk about immigration. In fact, sometimes it seems as if the tabloids and political chat shows talk about little else.

But when the immigration debate becomes simply a vehicle for racism, we must also be free to say so.

In contrast to the debate about immigration, there is relatively little public attention given to tackling racism, both in the workplace and our communities.

You have to wonder why problems of educational achievement has hit the headlines as an issue of white boys losing out at school when, in fact, the main factor in their achievement is one of poverty and class - not colour.

And yet when race is a significant factor, for example regarding black and ethnic minority workers' chances of getting a job or promotion or better pay, the silence is deafening.

We need stronger leadership to tackle the root causes of racism and the conditions in which it breeds.

I congratulate John for recognising this when he's spoken about the role that unscrupulous employers play in dividing workers against one another, by undercutting established rates of pay for the job often through agency contracts, sometimes on the basis of skin colour, sometimes according to nationality, or both.

The conditions in which racism and xenophobia thrives are well documented.

A shortage of decent jobs and affordable homes; a sense of abandonment and distrust of those in authority; anxiety and uncertainty about the future - and a political failure that allows for the scape-goating of black people, or foreigners, or those from a minority faith, because those who are really responsible for our economic ills are deemed too powerful to touch.

You don't have to look too far back into history to know where this leads.

Not just in Britain but across Europe fascist organisations aim to make capital from the Recession.

A real worry, of course, is not just the rise of the Far Right but its mainstreaming too.

The BNP has gained two MEPs in the European elections as well as the resources that go with that; Nick Griffin disgracefully was given a prime time seat on Question Time; and the English Defence League is showing that racist hooliganism is still very much part of our society.

Throughout history, racism and fascism have thrived on poverty, inequality and uncertainty.

So it's no surprise that these problems have been brought into even sharper relief by the recession: the biggest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

We are already seeing the impact on communities that have barely recovered from the recessions of the '80s and '90s, when unemployment was famously deemed by the then Conservative Chancellor as a price worth paying.

It's all very well to shed crocodile tears about so-called broken Britain.

But if public spending is slashed and the economic stimulus stripped away, then longer dole queues and more misery will be the price ordinary people pay.

And, of course, as the TUC's Recession report made clear, black and ethnic minority communities are among those hardest hit.

When times are tough, like now, the need for fairness - not just tackling poverty but taxing the rich - is more important than ever.

Whether it's in our workplaces or in our communities, everybody deserves dignity, respect and equal opportunities: a chance to live free from fear, prejudice or discrimination.

Now I think it's important to recognise that some progress has been made over the past 10 years.

The Government deserves credit for the commitment it has shown to advancing race equality.

We welcome the Race Relations Amendment Act which resulted from the Macpherson Inquiry.

We welcome the Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force and the National Employment Panel's Business Commission.

And we welcome the public sector duty to promote race equality, though the TUC believes it must be extended to the private sector too.

But institutional racism remains a major problem across much of our public life.

A problem in our communities: with young black men still far more likely to be targeted by police stop and search operations than anyone else.

And a problem in our workplaces: where black workers are still much more likely to be low paid and where even in the professions covert racism is a stark reality for too many.

No doubt you will have seen the story in the Observer last month, which lifted the lid on the extent of racial discrimination in British workplaces.

Researchers commissioned by the DWP sent almost 3,000 job applications to hundreds of employers - in public, private and voluntary sectors - for three fictitious workers;

one with an African name, one with an Asian name, and one with an English name.

All had similar experiences and qualifications - yet, surprise, surprise, the candidate with an English name was invited to almost twice as many interviews.

A rather predictable finding - but no less disturbing for that.

Whether we are trade unionists, campaigners or community activists, it's our job to tackle these continuing injustices head on.

While the government must take the lead, it's up to all of us to act as a force for fairness and hold businesses and public services to account.

For us, fighting racism, prejudice and discrimination cannot be an optional extra, something to be tagged onto our everyday work - it has to be part and parcel of everything we do.

As much a core part of our work as winning better pay, defending pensions and health &safety.

And I think we've got to be honest, as a movement, about where there is room for improvement.

Sometimes we haven't always given race equality the priority it deserves - that's got to change.

Sometimes we come across, as pale, male and stale - that's got to change.

And sometimes we've treated discrimination as an individual issue, instead of doing what we do best - finding collective solutions through collective bargaining and - crucially - through collective organisation.

That's got to change too.

I'm proud that today we're launching the TUC's updated guide on 'Tackling Racism in the Workplace'.

It's an absolutely vital resource for negotiators - covering everything from the law through to issues such as agency workers and promotion.

I urge everyone to get hold of a copy; read it; and, above all, act on its recommendations.

With race discrimination still rife, with Britain in recession, and with the Far Right on the march, none of us can afford to relax our guard.

We need to think about where we want to be in 10 years' time.

And we need to show how we turn race equality from an aspiration into a reality.

Britain may be a more diverse and more tolerant place than a generation ago, but we are a still long way from becoming a more equal society.

A country where what matters is not the colour of your skin, but the content of your character.

There is much more we can and must do.

Winning new organising campaigns and collective agreements.

Campaigning for stronger, fairer laws.

Building alliances with sister movements and community groups that share our values.

The trade union movement can become an even better champion of race equality, at work and in society.

I remember the words of the journalist Gary Younge back in 2000.

Gary is a journalist, NUJ member and friend of the trade union movement who wrote up the Stephen Lawrence task group report for us.

At the launch, he said something very simple but very important: when black people rise, we all rise.

Those words are as true as ever today.

Thanks for listening.