Received from: Unison
Merged into composite 06
Conference deplores the UK government’s and employers’ inaction in carrying out risk assessments to prevent the foreseeable deaths of Black workers from Covid-19.
The disproportionate deaths and hospitalisations of Black people is a national scandal. Black people are up to four times as likely to die from Covid-19 than white people. This devastating toll has exposed decades of entrenched inequality and systematic racism in work and wider society.
The coronavirus does not discriminate; however, it does exploit the disadvantages, deprivation and health and social inequalities that are driven and maintained by the institutional and structural racism that is common across the UK.
Covid-19 is having a disproportionate adverse impact on the health, lives and livelihood of Black people. Black Lives Matter.
Continued warm words from governments are not enough and action is needed today. Employers, governments, public bodies and regulators must be held to account for their duty of care, legal and lawful responsibilities. This includes, but is not limited to, the Health and Safety Executive, the Care Quality Commission (and devolved equivalents), the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the departments of the Westminster, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments.
Congress calls on the General Council to campaign for:
i. a public inquiry
ii. risk assessments for Black workers and appropriate PPE
iii. the implementation of the Windrush Lessons Learned review
iv. implementation of the Lammy review of the justice system
v. the closing of the ethnic pay gap
vi. governments to act on Theresa May’s comprehensive Race Disparity Audit.
UNISON
AMENDMENT
- At end of paragraph 3, add:
“Black workers lack confidence both that their concerns about the health risks of Covid-19 are being taken seriously and that they will be treated fairly if raising concerns about Covid-19 risks at work.” - In paragraph 5, sentence 2, after “regulators must be”, insert “properly resourced and”.
Prospect
AMENDMENT
- Add to the end of paragraph 3:
“Congress notes new analysis by the Labour Party that suggests inner city areas with much higher than average Black, Asian and minority ethnic populations have among the highest rates of furloughed staff. Therefore, workers in these areas could be at a higher risk of redundancy.”
Community