UCU week of action against workplace racism

28 January 2016

Fighting racism in the workplace - identifying and challenging racism

The UCU week of action is an annual event highlighting the need to fight racism in the workplace. Previous events and resources can be found below.

Branches are encouraged to hold events during this week focussed on taking foward the fight against racism; let us know what you are planning and we can add it to the Week of Action page on the UCU website.

Week of Action Against Workplace racism: 18-22 March 2024

This year's week of action will coincide with the UN Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March.

You can find a range of resources to support local branch activity below and on our equality advice and guidance page.

Week of Action Against Workplace racism: 22-28 February 2023

The theme of this year's UCU Week of Action Against Workplace Racism is:
Enough is Enough: Time for Action

More information can be found in the document below.

UCU Week of Action Against Workplace Racism 2023 [181kb]
UCU Week of Action Against Workplace Racism 2023 [131kb]

Week of Action Against Workplace racism 2022

The Week of Action Against Workplace racism 2022 took place 21 - 25 February 2022.

This year our key event was an online panel discussion on the theme of identifying and challenging racism in the workplace as we find it today.

Jason Arday joined us as a key note speaker. Panellists from the UCU black members' standing committee (BMSC) addressed some specific areas listed below.

Panellists will cover the following:

EDIs - where does this reside in our institutions
black professional image - who defines them
micro-aggression, what does it look and feel like
black academic progression and the race pay gap in higher education
summary - what can UCU do about these issues.

Panel:
Jason Arday - key note speaker
Juliana Ojinnaka - BMSC Chair
Kieran Hurrell - BMSC
Cynthia Akwei - BMSC

22-26 February 2021:
Community accountability: an antiracism for abolitionist times
#antiracistworkplace

'...you're really articulate for a black person'

'...but where are you REALLY from?'

'...although it seems very minor, consistent and persistent misspelling of my name. If you can learn Dostoyevsky...'

Extracts from the UCU survey into the experiences of black workers in further and higher education, 2015

The sixth week of action against workplace racism will be held from the week beginning Monday 22 February 2021. This annual campaign event has grown from strength to strength as it involves a whole union approach in tackling the issues of workplace racism and its impact on careers, mental health and well-being and relationships with peers/students.

The theme of this year's week of action is community accountability: an antiracism for abolitionist times. What is the role education institutions play in perpetuating racism? Community accountability seeks to transform education from a system of state racism to education as a community resource. The community accountability outline and guidance documents can be found here:

The UCU black members' standing committee initiative is designed to assist members and branches who wish to map out an organising plan to create a process of ongoing community accountability. To find out more catch up on our keynote webinar below.

Building an anti-racist environment

This annual campaign event has grown from strength to strength as it involves a whole union approach in tackling the issues of workplace racism and its impact on careers, mental health and well-being and relationships with peers/students. Racist incidents are on the rise across the country and UCU needs to be at the forefront of challenging and pushing back on workplace racism.

Films are available below featuring members of UCU's Black Members' Standing Committee discussing approaches to tackling discrimination. The films can be used in a variety of ways. We have found they are a useful resource to show during a lunchtime meeting allowing plenty of time for follow-up discussions and goal setting.

Branch are encouraged to engage with members, colleagues and the wider institution by hosting events looking at least one of the following areas:

Please let us know what you have planned for your week of action.

Suggested activities and other resources

Below are some other resources and suggestions you may want to use to stimulate discussion among members and students.

Watch our 'witness' campaign film in which UCU black members speak candidly about their experiences of everyday racism and its impact.
Host a meeting to discuss what and how branches can challenge and change perceptions including working with other equality groups to ensure that workplace racism is challenged on an intersectional basis.
Use our survey findings from our most recent report ' Staying Power [1mb]' (2019) and our initial 'witness' report [132kb] (2016).
Involve black staff to share their experiences of everyday racism in the workplace - devise an action plan of how branches can work toward addressing the issues raised.
Share the witness document [824kb] capturing some of the experiences of UCU black members.
Use our bargaining guide on tackling workplace racism [343kb] to raise the issues identified with employers as an integral part of the collective bargaining agenda.
Submit an article for the 'Black Voices' blog: https://www.ucu.org.uk/black-voices. Please send contributions to Chris Nicholas (cnicholas@ucu.org.uk).
Use our posters:
Challenging workplace racism - poster 1 [56kb]
Challenging workplace racism - poster 2 [51kb]
UCU: challenging workplace racism - leaflet [254kb]
If you would like hard copies of the posters please contact Martin Whelton .

Branches are also encouraged to raise awareness of the issues raised in the following videos and we have suggested a number of activities [239kb] for the week to encourage discussion and actions to help further engage members in seeking solutions:

Bullying and stereotyping blocking professorial path for black women

A February 2019 report for UCU says a culture of bullying and stereotyping means black academics have to work harder and employ mentally draining strategies to try and get on.

UCU survey

The survey of 631 black union members working in post-16 education found that:

over two-thirds (71%) said they had 'often' or 'sometimes' been subject to bullying and harassment from managers
nine out of ten (90%) black staff members report having faced barriers to promotion in colleges and universities.

UCU report finds high levels of discrimination

The experiences of black and minority ethnic staff in further and higher education, Feb 16 [132kb]

The qualitative data from the survey into experiences of UCU's black members can be found here:

Witness - voice of UCU black members, Feb 17 [824kb]
Witness - voice of UCU black members, Feb 17 [277kb]

'Witness'

Initiated by UCU Black Members' Standing Committee, our new film 'witness' chronicles the lived experiences of UCU black members in post-16 education.

'witness' film: worksheet [146kb]
'witness' film: what next? [146kb]
'witness' film: questions [142kb]