Speech to Defeating Racism booklet launch (Billys Blog)

[Big Daz]

Speech to Defeating Racism booklet launch

Thank you very much for inviting me to speak today in my capacity as chair of the unionlearn board.

The scourge of racism - discrimination, inequality and prejudice - continues to blight the lives of black people at work and in society.

We see it in unemployment levels that are twice as high for young black school leavers as it is for their white counterparts.
We see it in the low-status, low-paid jobs that nobody else wants being filled by African migrant workers with high levels of education.
And we see it in the Asian shopkeeper, their business ransacked and terrorised by local youths.
But we in the TUC and in unionlearn are determined to overcome racism and to continue fighting for the rights of black people both as workers and as citizens.


One of the key objectives for unionlearn is to work with unions to address inequalities in the labour market. All workers want the chance to develop themselves, to explore their talents, to build their confidence, to get recognition for it through accreditation and qualifications and to take the benefits back into the workplace, into their families and their communities.

It is often workers from black and minority ethnic communities who find that they have the biggest barriers to overcome to achieve these goals.
And in helping people from these communities to overcome these barriers through greater access to learning and skills we give them a very positive image of what a union can do for them. –
And as a result they will stick with the union, persuade others to join us and feel more capable to take part in the life of the union at the workplace both by throwing in their two pennyworth to discussions and feeling more able to stick up for themselves.
At a recent meeting of the Board, the General Secretary of one of the teaching unions told us that whilst they had no BME shop stewards in their union, 25% of their ULRs were from BME communities. –
I think that graphically illustrates that learning and skills are seen by our BME communities as an important part of the campaign against racism in the workplace and that this work is drawing black and Asian workers into union work.
So I am very pleased to welcome this publication and to congratulate unionlearn and SERTUC for providing reps and activists with this resource to support their fight against the scourge of racism in their workplaces and in their communities.

Posted by Billy Hayes | @ Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:33:52 +0000

[davidessex]

i,d love to see someone black take your place billy !

[pinstripe]

i,d love to see someone black take your place billy !

Black, white, green, blue or pink, I don't really care which race or religion his replacement is.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

i,d love to see someone black take your place billy !

Black, white, green, blue or pink, I don't really care which race or religion his replacement is.

Ditto I will be colour and gender blind when it comes to voting for his replacement. I just hope who I chose is Pie blind.

[Big Daz]

When is the next GS election due?

[lovejoy]

4 years, he was re-relected unopposed last year!!

The only hope / rumour is that he'll jump ship and become MP

[dvbuk55]

4 years, he was re-relected unopposed last year!!

The only hope / rumour is that he'll jump ship and become MP

Well he's certainly after someones vote.

[Big Daz]

4 years, he was re-relected unopposed last year!!

The only hope / rumour is that he'll jump ship and become MP

Personally i would welcome another CWU MP in parliment whether it be Billy or somebody else.

[strangler]

Speech to Defeating Racism booklet launch

Thank you very much for inviting me to speak today in my capacity as chair of the unionlearn board.

The scourge of racism - discrimination, inequality and prejudice - continues to blight the lives of black people at work and in society.

We see it in unemployment levels that are twice as high for young black school leavers as it is for their white counterparts.
We see it in the low-status, low-paid jobs that nobody else wants being filled by African migrant workers with high levels of education.
And we see it in the Asian shopkeeper, their business ransacked and terrorised by local youths.
But we in the TUC and in unionlearn are determined to overcome racism and to continue fighting for the rights of black people both as workers and as citizens.


One of the key objectives for unionlearn is to work with unions to address inequalities in the labour market. All workers want the chance to develop themselves, to explore their talents, to build their confidence, to get recognition for it through accreditation and qualifications and to take the benefits back into the workplace, into their families and their communities.

It is often workers from black and minority ethnic communities who find that they have the biggest barriers to overcome to achieve these goals.
And in helping people from these communities to overcome these barriers through greater access to learning and skills we give them a very positive image of what a union can do for them. –
And as a result they will stick with the union, persuade others to join us and feel more capable to take part in the life of the union at the workplace both by throwing in their two pennyworth to discussions and feeling more able to stick up for themselves.
At a recent meeting of the Board, the General Secretary of one of the teaching unions told us that whilst they had no BME shop stewards in their union, 25% of their ULRs were from BME communities. –
I think that graphically illustrates that learning and skills are seen by our BME communities as an important part of the campaign against racism in the workplace and that this work is drawing black and Asian workers into union work.
So I am very pleased to welcome this publication and to congratulate unionlearn and SERTUC for providing reps and activists with this resource to support their fight against the scourge of racism in their workplaces and in their communities.

Posted by Billy Hayes | @ Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:33:52 +0000

Don`t get me started....

[dvbuk55]

4 years, he was re-relected unopposed last year!!

The only hope / rumour is that he'll jump ship and become MP

Personally i would welcome another CWU MP in parliment whether it be Billy or somebody else.

I would really love to hear an explanation of that statement

[IWW Fellow Worker]

i,d love to see someone black take your place billy !

Black, white, green, blue or pink, I don't really care which race or religion his replacement is.

Same here mate, ust as long as he's a RED

[norbet colon]

i,d love to see someone black take your place billy !

Black, white, green, blue or pink, I don't really care which race or religion his replacement is.

Ditto I will be colour and gender blind when it comes to voting for his replacement. I just hope who I chose is Pie blind.

that's the only thing Billy could win !