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Around the globe, wealthy economic and political elites are cutting back access to a decent life for working families and blaming racialised peoples, religions, lower caste, cultures, and recent migrants. Racism, caste, religion, language, migrant status, and nationality have been used to divide and weaken workers for centuries. The Peruvian sociologist Anibal Quijano positions race as one of the foundation stones of modern colonial domination.
In 2020, demonstrations and marches against police brutality and anti-Black racism were held in over 60 countries and on every continent except Antarctica. Indigenous Peoples' movements for sovereignty, treaty and voice are critical to decolonisation, transformative justice, our relationship to land and the survival of the earth. Black, Indigenous and racialised workers are more likely to be employed in precarious jobs without union representation. The racial pay gap threatens the wages and conditions of all workers. Institutional and structural racism prevents workers from accessing quality education, housing, healthcare and shortens lives.
Unions have historically created strong spaces of resistance. In the Caribbean and in South Africa, for example, unions have directly confronted racism and colonialism, to form powerful labour movements from within white-only and colonialist-controlled unions.
At the same time, union structures, including our global trade union structures, are sometimes white-dominated institutions with histories of exclusionary practices which nevertheless have a key role to play in uniting workers against racism. The labour movement in California was founded with a campaign to promote white-only manufactured goods to “protect” white workers. In 1955 the bus transport union in Britain not only voted in favour of a colour bar, but the union threatened industrial action to enforce it. “If one black man steps on the platform as a conductor, every wheel will stop.” In 1963, in the face of a community bus boycott and campaign, the Bristol Bus Boycott, a mass meeting of bus transport workers finally voted down the colour bar.
Unions around the globe must directly address, change, and repair past and current practices of excluding workers based on race, ethnicity, caste, nationality, and religion. Becoming inclusive of the entire working class builds associational, societal, institutional, and structural power in the face of neoliberalism and global capitalism.
These materials on Anti-Racism and Decolonisation are a starting point. You will need to adjust the materials to fit how race, religion, caste, or ethnicity are discussed in your country and region. Use the framing and language that suits your situation and helps move your organising forward.
Before you begin, review how you can integrate the Tool Box materials on Intersectionality, Structural Discrimination, Equity and Implicit Bias to ensure that participants have a knowledge of these key concepts.
These materials on anti-racism and decolonisation examine the many ways that unions can take action against racism and colonialization, including:
The appendices give participants a shared understanding of history, terms, and concepts and can be used for self-learning, small discussions, or trade union education sessions.
Terms may be controversial or contested. You will need to decide which words will work in your context. Contested words, such as White supremacy, can be important. White supremacy directly describes the history and reality of White dominance.
Go over the materials first to ensure that you are clear on concepts and language and adjust the materials for your situation. Think about how language is used currently in the union and workplace and decide where new language may be needed.
These Tool Box materials focus on racism and the different ways in which the history of European colonialism and modern racism intersect. The terms Black, White and Indigenous in these materials are capitalised when used in relation to people.
The discussion questions in blue boxes are for self-reflection or group discussion. Detailed information on how to facilitate discussion groups on anti-racism and decolonisation can be found under the heading “Trade Union Education” below.
If you are just beginning this work in your union, or if the union does not yet have the capacity to take on these issues, self-reflection, journaling and sharing in small groups may be a way to start. Gathering a small number of union comrades who are interested in discussing and learning together about anti-racism and decolonisation could be an excellent way to begin.
The materials are meant to be flexible enough that an individual union leader or worker could use them to learn, study circle discussions could be held in a particular workplace, or the materials could be used to support a more extensive plan to increase the collective work of the union on anti-racism and decolonisation.
We need to be able to talk about racial injustice to organise workers at the workplace and in our wider communities. It is not easy. Concepts, history, and experience vary greatly within and between regions, countries and individuals. Our language and concepts are impacted by stolen histories, genocide, denial, and false “facts”. Racial, religion, caste, national and ethnic identities shift and change as workers cross borders and cultures. Learning about the specifics of our own and others’ histories and experiences and creating the language and concepts that fit is a critical act of resistance.
In each country and culture, racism significantly impacts and intersects with Indigenous land rights, ethnicity, language, national origin, migration status, gender, caste, colour, and class in different and unique ways. If we do not understand, articulate, describe and discuss these intersections, we cede power to those who use them to divide us.
For example, migration intersects with race. Our language and concepts may be unclear because our way of thinking is racialised. The word migrant is often used to identify darker-skinned migrants coming from a particular region or country, seen as competitors to lighter-skinned workers. White migrants become “expats” rather than migrants. There is often a lack of differentiation between internal and external migrants and a lack of information about how colonialist history, capitalism, and neoliberal economic and state policies drive migration.
In India and elsewhere, European colonialism has layered a racial lens onto an existing precolonial caste system. The caste system is rigid, birth ascribed, with limited mobility, and is sanctified by social custom and religion. Caste discrimination exists in Asia and in parts of Western Africa and Nigeria. The Burakumin in Japan and the Dalits in India have formed international alliances to combat caste and descent-based discrimination.
Union policies, reports and curriculum that address issues of race and decolonisation may be found within union materials about migrants, refugees, religious discrimination, xenophobia, caste, informal workers, and the growth of right-wing movements.
Unions need to converse openly about how racism and other forms of oppression work. When we talk about race and class together, not separately, we create a stronger narrative.
Studies and polls of voters have found that leading with a direct message about race, infused with a class analysis, can give us the ability to counter prejudice and hate. A narrative that intersects race and class often includes three parts 1) distrust of powerful economic elites who are stoking racial and caste division 2) the need to join together across racial and caste or religious lines and 3) demand of change in policy or government that represents the interests of all working people.
Sometimes mentioning race at all is considered racist, taboo and to be avoided. Our countries have not fully reckoned with the historical truth telling, reconciliation, reparations and transformation needed to repair past and stop continuing racial injustice. Marisol de la Candena writes about what she calls “silent racism” in Peru, the “exclusionary practices legitimized by ‘culture’ … In most of Latin America, ‘culture’ and ‘education’ has been racialized and used to mark racial differences.”
Sarah Kavanagh from the National Union of Journalists in Britain explains that “[n]o one is exempt from racism; but if we are prepared to name it and shame it, if we are prepared to challenge its baseless assumptions and if we are prepared to tackle its harmful consequences – then we can help eradicate it.”
In 2020, leaders and activists from the National Union of Journalists in the UK contributed to a campaign to knock on the doors of local residents and urged them to vote against the British National Party (BNP). “Despite starting out with many in the community being openly hostile towards us, we were able to turn things around using a strategy that sought to educate, organise and engage.” The message that best resonated dealt directly with race: 1) “The BNP judge everyone by the colour of their skin, rather than any individual’s actions or behaviour 2) It is not the poor in our society (including migrants and asylum-seekers) who are responsible for other people’s misery 3) I am a trade unionist, not a politician, I just want you to think about it and vote.”
Similar conversations that centred on race as well as class were effective in organising working-class voters against the extreme right in the United States in the 2020 presidential election.
Guidelines for Trade Unions
1. “Wherever you find yourself in the world, it is your duty to align yourself with the struggle of the oppressed in that country and activity resist being used to undermine that struggle.”
2. “Actively seek to understand the historical context of your coworkers historical and current struggle, so that you aren’t liable to the popular ahistorical and decontextualised myths about their conditions you will encounter.”
3. Educate and share with others. The more we share, the more we connect. The privileged have an important role in educating and mobilising their own peoples.
4. Members of oppressed groups are the ones to lead the struggle. Those who do not experience oppression are not best-placed to make decisions on how to overcome it.
Adapted from africasacountry.com/2019/04/why-im-no-longer-talking-to-nigerians-about-race and theconversation.com/black-lives-matter-four-lessons-in-white-allyship-from-the-south-african-anti-apartheid-movement-141555
How are racial issues and social stratification discussed in your country and region? Are workers divided or oppressed by language, colour, education level, caste, religion, migration status? Is there a racial context to this oppression?
The non-profit Minority Rights Group provides an online directory that gives reports by country. The reports include country demographics, current issues, and contacts for Indigenous and racialised peoples’ organisations. minorityrights.org/directory/
How does the Minority Rights Group briefing for your country compare to your own knowledge and experiences?
Is race currently talked about in the workplace and union? If so, how?
What is the history of the union including and/or excluding groups of workers by race, religion, caste or ethnicity?
After reviewing the materials, discuss how you will adjust the language and concepts to fit your situation.
As union leaders, we need to reclaim stories, histories and research on racism and colonialism and the resistance movements particular to our countries and regions. These histories will likely be different than what is easily available, different than the “normal” histories we learn. We may need to learn more about the problems and issues of our own racial, caste or ethnic groups, as well as that of groups different from our own.
Begin by gathering, sharing, and discussing data and information about both the particular problems, and the root causes of racism in your context. Learn about differences in pay and working conditions, access to jobs, wealth and social benefits. Social justice organisations, cultural elders, academic experts, books and the internet can assist. We can learn through supporting people’s struggles for social justice, attending events, and listening.
Examine how race is being talked about at the workplace and whether there are links to far-right organisations and media stories. When having challenging conversations with workers, be careful about getting lost in arguing. Personal stories and truth-telling about how race and class impact us can be a more effective method of changing attitudes and actions.
Conversations with workers in our industries and union are important. They can be held informally with people you know, or more systematically utilising the Participatory Action Research methods outlined in the section onCore Materials . The Participatory Action Research method can be used to interview workers about their lives and how racism and colonialism has affected them and their communities.
Stephen Faulkner, a trade union leader and educator in South Africa, talks about the importance of “‘digging where we stand’. ‘Digging where we stand" means exploring our own roots, both individually and collectively, and looking at how those roots have been distorted, ignored, belittled, or glorified. It includes identifying and describing challenges in our workplaces and communities and looking at the approaches on offer to see what might help address the challenges.”
The materials below on Trade Union Education include a section on story-telling as well as study circle and workshop curriculum that can help organise workplace conversations about our racial and colonial histories.
What are the racial, religious and ethnic identities of the workers that the union represents? What groups of Indigenous workers are represented by the union?
Identify and learn more about the traditional owners of the land.
Which of these groups are underrepresented in the decision-making structures of the union?
What can you do to learn about and reclaim histories of racism, colonialism and resistance movements that are specific to workers in your union? How can you help share these histories?
Remember to listen, be respectful and be ready to learn from the experiences of others.
Trade union education on racism and colonialism can take many forms. All trade union education curriculum should include an anti-racism lens. Trade union trainers and facilitators should have an understanding of racism and be suitably trained.
Australian unions have developed an online education course entitled, “First Nations Workers Alliance: Voice. Treaty. Truth.” The course introduces union leaders to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and struggles, teaches organising skills and offers opportunities to participate in current events and campaigns.
The ACTU Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Committee developed the course to address the need for more education on what a ‘Voice’ would look like and how it would be delivered. The Uluru Statement from the Heart calls for ‘First Nations Voice' in the Australian Constitution and a 'Makarrata Commission' to supervise a process of 'agreement-making' and 'truth-telling' between governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. There was solidarity for the Makarrata Commission, the ask for Treaties and truth-telling, but little knowledge and understanding regarding the Voice.
The Voice Truth Treaty Course takes a look at the history and the proposal moving forward, what challenges we face, how to overcome them and campaign as a collective movement for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. By the end of the course participants are able to: • Understand the history of the First Nations peoples’ struggle • Explain the Uluru Statement of the Heart and the three key points of the Voice. Treaty. Truth. campaign • Learn techniques to advocate and campaign on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander industrial workplace issues • Develop skills and confidence to handle objections • Learn effective messaging and mapping actions, including social media
www.actu.org.au/our-work/actu-events/voice-treaty-truth-advocacy
These Tool Box materials on anti-racism and decolonisation can be used in a series of 1½-hour educational sessions. The discussion questions in blue boxes can be used in a study circle or a workshop format. Simply go through the blue boxes and select the questions that are relevant. You will be able to adapt the materials to form an anti-racism weekly study circle for approximately 8-9 weeks, a two-day workshop or any other format that suits the needs of your union.
If you are organising group discussions, you will want to decide whether Indigenous Peoples affinity groups, affinity groups by race, religion, caste, nationality or ethnicity, mixed groups or some combination will be best.
The ways in which race and colonialism are talked about differ so much around the world that you will need to adjust the language in the Tool Box materials to suit your education programme. Draw from other educational materials that fit your national and regional context. Because words and concepts around race and racism are often-changing, confusing and/or contested, it is worth spending education time on history, language, and concepts.
If the union is not yet prepared or does not have the capacity and resources to implement a full course or education programme, you may want to invite a small number of people to explore the topics with you as a way to begin.
Anti-Racism and Decolonisation Study Circle Curriculum
Sample
Week 1 Discrimination
Week 2 Intersectionality
Week 3 Implicit Bias
Week 4 History of Colonialism and Racism
Week 5 Race, Caste, Religion, Nationality and Ethnicity
Week 6 Race, Caste, Religion, Nationality and Ethnicity continued
Week 7 Racism
Week 8 White Supremacy
Week 9 Next Steps
In small group discussions on anti-racism and decolonisation, the goal is to create space where people can feel safe enough to share and brave enough to honour people’s different experiences and identities. Listening to each other is essential. Set collective ground rules. Ground rules might include the importance of speaking from your own experience and listening deeply and pausing before speaking.
In 2020, three British bus transport workers represented by the union UNITE were terminated by the employer for viciously racist statements. The union negotiated an agreement with the employer to support training for all bus workers. UNITE’s curriculum “Unity Over Division” gives an opportunity for the union not to preach, but to listen and discuss issues that are causing division in the workplace, including racism and other forms of oppression.
There are about 65 bus workers at the East Midlands garage, including cleaners, canteen, garage workers and drivers. Approximately 50% of the bus workers are White and 50% Indian, Pakistani and Eastern European. In the canteen, workers sit like with like with tables for Asian, White and Polish workers. A union survey showed that 85% of non-White workers reported seeing discriminatory behaviour occurring at the workplace as compared to only approximately 15% for White workers. Of the eighteen shop delegates, there was one Asian delegate and one female delegate.
The union convened a meeting of the eighteen shop delegates to listen to each other and discuss the results of the survey and plan how to move forward with worker training. Recent incidents at work were discussed. The delegates discussed how language changes over time, with words that might have been used frequently years ago being challenged today. Issues involving free speech were covered, including how with free speech comes responsibility for consequences and impact. The initial shop delegate discussion led to more conversations in the bus garage the next day and then connected to training for all workers.
The delegates decided to integrate the full worker training discussions from the beginning and to hold three sessions with groups of approximately twelve persons. Workers participated in both the large group and in smaller break-out groups. Questions and problem-solving case studies were used to engage workers in large and small group discussions. The feedback after the workshop was positive, with workers requesting further discussions and training.
You may want to start with the International Transport Workers Federation calls ‘the circle’ method for your group discussion. Begin with someone reading a section of the material out loud along with the accompanying questions in the blue box. Then select someone to speak first. They can answer one or more of the questions. The person on their left speaks next, until you have gone around the circle. If they want to, people can pass. When you have gone around the circle once, go round again. This time only the people who passed the first time can speak. They retain their right to pass again if they wish.
One advantage to this method is that it helps people experience from the beginning that they have the right to speak and be listened to. It also enables the facilitator to assist at the end of the circle and lay out additional questions or agenda items for the group, or to create a group plan to gather more information or speakers about issues that participants have highlighted or to take collective action together.
You can divide people into smaller groups at the end of the circle sharing to discuss different topics or concerns. These smaller groups could be affinity groups or mixed groups depending on the topic and the needs of the group. Or you can decide to remain in the larger group. It may be that everyone needs to work together.
Affinity groups of oppressed racial/religious/ethnic groups can help build community and self-organisation necessary for trade union democracy. Affinity groups for people who hold white privilege are important in order to help counter patterns of denial and avoidance. The workbook “Me and White Supremacy” provides detailed guidance and support along with weekly readings and discussion questions for white affinity groups. The book can be used to work in individual reflection or in discussion circles.
When you bring people back from smaller work groups, you may not need to report back, as this can be repetitive and may not recreate the safe space of the smaller group. What will probably work better is to share lessons learned. If you do not have time to hear from each small group, it is fine to just ask two or three groups to share something they have learned that will be useful to the larger group.
Once there is an understanding and sharing of concepts, histories, and participant experiences, it will be natural to proceed to taking trade union action. You may want to ask participants to commit to one to three things that they will do to continue to combat racism and colonialism and share these commitments with the discussion group. Or you may want to focus on actions the group can take together that are important to them and the union.
Story-telling is often used by workers and leaders to help inspire and move workers to action. Compelling stories usually involve a challenge, a choice, and an outcome that provides insight or lessons.
The lived experience of racism and colonisation is fluid, dynamic and constantly being recreated rather than a set category of experiences. Telling our stories can prevent oversimplification and depersonalisation of our lives and can strengthen community and understanding. Personal stories hep communicate the values that move us.
If it would be helpful, have one or two people prepare ahead a personal story about challenging racism and colonisation that can serve as an example for the group.
If it fits your situation, you may want to have participants begin by discussing some general questions related to their personal experiences of racism and colonisation.
Discussion questions can be found in the Appendix – Race, Caste, Nationality, Religion and Ethnicity. The discussion questions will help participants share a variety of personal experiences, from which they can draw specific stories of challenges they have faced and lessons they would like to share as stories.
Ask participants (in pairs or small groups) to identify a specific time that they were challenged by racism or colonisation (from the point of privilege or oppression).
Describe the moment in enough detail that it will create a story with a vivid picture for the listeners and answer the following questions:
Challenge: When was a time that you were you challenged by racism or colonialism? Why did you feel it was a challenge? What was so challenging about it? Why was it your challenge?
Choice: Why did you make the choice you did? Where did you get the courage (or not)? Where did you get the hope (or not)? Did your parent’s, grandparent’s or ancestor’s stories teach you in any way how to act in that moment? How did it feel?
Outcome/Lessons: How did the outcome feel? Why did it feel that way? What did it teach you? What do you want to teach us? How do you want us to feel?
Once participants have shared and practiced sufficiently in pairs or small groups, ask volunteers to share their stories in the larger group.
These instructions for story-telling are adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, an organiser from the California farmworkers union who now teaches community and union organising globally.
https://commonslibrary.org/public-narrative-curriculum/?gclid=CjwKCAjwgISIBhBfEiwALE19SVeVxkfAz9yL8OAK2kqFFqViGRM8WFNZIKpgJb1WUyGKrXY-4Sy7LxoC-y8QAvD_BwE
How might educational sessions be organised (content and materials, dates, times, places, facilitation)? Will you divide into affinity groups? Will you use the circle method or story-telling?
Are you able to work with the current union education programme and materials to increase the participation of underrepresented racial, religious, caste and ethnic groups in the creation, content, and delivery of materials? If so, how would this be organised?
Would a small discussion group of interested workers and leaders fit your situation better than a full education course or programme?
How will you ensure that facilitators are suitably trained and supported?
Self-organisation of indigenous and racial/religious/ethnic groups within unions is not supposed to be a ‘conceded’ space”. It is the result of the work of underrepresented groups engaging in and encouraging visibility to make trade union life more democratic. Underrepresented groups reach out to other group members, form committees or secretariats, build cohesion and unity of action, and organise for political power and space within the union. It is important that self-organisation space be strong, cohesive, well-structured, and permanent.
In 2019, flight attendants and pilots in Brazil formed a Black Crew Committee. There was opposition from union members. Some co-workers questioned the need for the committee, stating that there is no racism in aviation. The union leadership has supported the committee.
The Black Crew Committee is raising awareness among airline workers about issues related to black crew members and working to combat racism. They plan to collect data and information regarding the number of Black cabin crew and the needs of these workers. There are few Black women pilots in Brazil. The committee plans to meet with the aviation schools and employers to facilitate access to education and affirmative action.
What spaces for self-organisation of underrepresented racial, religious, ethnic and Indigenous groups exist in the union? What ways do young workers work together and communicate? How effective are these spaces?
What is needed to build strong, cohesive, well-resourced structures and permanent self-organisation? What material and political support is needed?
Which union structures (assemblies, congresses, meetings, decision-making bodies) will you need to approach and what can they contribute to support youth self-organisation? How can you build alliances? What opposition might you encounter? What political space or mandates and resources need to be negotiated?
What might such a committee or secretariat look like and what initial steps need to be taken?
If the union does not already collect information allowing union members to self-identify by race or ethnicity, discuss how might you start doing so. How will you make contacts and build self-organisation?
Once you have identified the racial, religious, caste and ethnic groups that are under-represented in the union decision-making structures, it is important to examine the reasons for any inequities and take steps to overcome them.
The global union federation IndustriAll states that “[a]s representatives of workers, unions fight the noble fight in the hope of creating a fairer world. But if we don’t take a moment to ask ourselves if we are replicating the practices of this broken system within our own structures, then our fight is no more noble than multinationals fighting for their right not be held accountable for human rights violations … Why would you join a trade union that lacks the diversity to properly represent you and that itself perpetuates institutional racism?”
Some unions have procedures for quotas or other mechanisms to overcome inequities in representation. Quotas have been shown to be critical to improving the representation of women in the decision-making structures of Brazilian unions and have been used successfully by unions to address racial discrimination. Quotas, especially if they are not compulsory, are a place to start, but not a place to end. Along with quotas, self-organisation structures, mentoring programs, access to education and other forms of support can help the union both recruit and maintain diverse leadership and resolve inequities. Reparations and repairs for past injustices and lack of representation may be needed.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Caucus of the Australian Council of Trade Unions is held for a full day prior to the national congress. Unions are encouraged to send Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander members as either credentialed voting delegates or as observers to the Caucus.
The one-day meeting assists in achieving consensus amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates on representation and policy issues. The Caucus forms an electoral college that elects the chair and alternate chair of the Caucus, who are members of the ACTU Executive.
E tū is the largest private sector union in Aotearoa New Zealand representing 50,000 workers from across most sectors of the economy including manufacturing, aviation, carers, property services, and the creative industries.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi
E tū and Maori
Structurally, E tū provides for separate space for the organisation of Maori. This space, Te Runanga, is described as the “organisation in the union for Maori members”. E tū provides for a co-president Maori, who has equal standing with the other co-president. Te Runanga has a budget, meeting rights, and the representation on the governance body and the supreme decision-making body, the national delegates’ conference. Te Runanga also appoints a “kaumatua” (elder) to give advice to te Runanga and E tū.
In recent developments, there have been moves to deepen the “treaty journey” through a Memorandum of Understanding between E tū governance and Te Runanga, with the following purpose: “To give honour and effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi with tangata whenua and tauiwi (non-Maori) as equal partners.”
The group established to guide this process, Te Kauae Iti o E tū, has identified the need to understand what it means to have authority over all things Maori within the context of E tū and what the implications are for both governance and management of being Treaty-aligned.
Other developments
The trade union centre, the NZ Council of Trade Unions, also has a Runanga, and this body has played a key role in leading a national conversation between unions about Te Tiriti o Waitangi, colonisation, and steps to move forward in establishing new approaches to being Tiriti-aligned in NZ unions. In 2021 a one-day hui (meeting) took place to advance this, in the second such engagement through the CTU.
https://www.etu.nz/democracy/te-runanga/
https://www.union.org.nz/runanga/
How does the percentage of underrepresented racial, religious, caste and ethnic groups in the union compare to their participation in the decision-making bodies of the union?
What would true equality, equity and liberation look like in the union?
Are there reparations and repairs for past injustices and lack of representation that the union needs to attend to? How might this be done?
What would be the best proposal to begin to fix inequities? (quota, parity or other mechanism)?
What can you learn about successful experiences correcting racial/ethnic/religious inequities in representation in other unions?
How can you encourage debate and discussion involving a proposal to increase representation? What arguments will be used for and against? Who are potential allies and opponents? What decision-making forums in the union will debate and vote on the proposal?
How can you ensure that the quotas or parity proposal will be applied at all levels of the union and enshrined in the union constitution, union policy and union education programmes?
How can self-organisation structures, mentoring programs, access to education and other forms of support for underrepresented union leaders be expanded?
How and when will progress be evaluated?
What challenges and barriers may arise and how can they be overcome?
Seek out other social justice organisations that are working on anti-racism and decolonisation that you can align with. Support their work and develop committed long-term relationships.
Alliances can help union workers and leaders address the current and historical struggles of oppressed groups of workers and transform unions into more inclusive representatives of the working class.
The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum (ILLPF) for example has been speaking out on climate change and has member organisations around the world.
The European Network Against Racism is a network of racial justice organisations at both the national and the European levels that unions can involve themselves with, and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance is a human rights monitoring body.
Alliances are important at the workplace level. In Spain, the teacher’s union has a programme inviting mothers to the school to share experiences and stories from around the world in their mother tongues of Arabic, Russian, Urdu, Portuguese and Chinese. In Germany, the teachers´ union state branch established a programme called ‘Peer Up’ in which the union regularly invites their members to establish a peer-to-peer network with qualified migrants who want to work in the educational sector.
Prior to the ILWU, dock worker unions either denied Black workers admission or segregated them. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) was formed on the unity of black and white workers and has been advocating the freedom of oppressed peoples since its founding in the 1930s.
The ILWU shut down San Francisco and Oakland ports when Martin Luther King was murdered and on multiple occasions since then, including the police murders of Black citizens and during the anti-capitalist Occupy Movement. The ILWU refused to unload South African cargo during apartheid and stood openly against the internment of Japanese Americans in the 1940s. In 2020, the ILWU rallied and shut down every port on the west coast of the United States to protest of the murder of George Floyd.
What action can we take to support the demands of Indigenous Peoples around the world, at the workplace, and in the communities where we live?
What action can we take to support racial justice movements and organisations that are fighting racism and colonialism at the workplace, in the communities where we live and around the globe?
The trade union movement is guided by principles of human rights, democracy, and racial justice. Unions are the first line of defence at the workplace, but are sometimes not equipped to support or organise racially oppressed workers.
Union benefits are especially important for racially oppressed workers, for whom unionisation has long been a critical component of economic mobility. Union collective bargaining agreementsand legislationcan be key to fighting racism at the workplace. Union contracts can cover issues such as non-discrimination, anti-bullying and equity in recruitment, promotions, and discipline.
When unions commit to organising non-union, racially oppressed workers, there is a tremendous potential for membership growth. In the 1980s, unions in Los Angeles publicly debated whether it was possible to organise Latinx immigrant workers as union members. The unions transformed, and by the 1990s Los Angeles became a centre of union growth among Latinx migrant workers, particularly in the janitor, drywall, and manufacturing sectors, increasing wages and benefits for thousands of workers and rebuilding the militancy and power of the entire labour movement.
At the workplace, workers face racist language and attacks every day as well as discrimination in pay, recruitment, promotions, discipline and access to education and other resources. Racial discrimination complaints need to be taken seriously, acted on and dealt with satisfactorily, including complaints against union leadership.
According to a TUC survey, over two thirds of non-White British workers do not turn to their unions for support on workplace problems related to race. A considerable number of White British trade union leaders used the TUC survey to express racist views, oppose multiculturalism, or criticise equality work.
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) in Australia has completed two union survey reports about cultural respect, racial discrimination, lateral violence and policies at Australia’s universities. The two surveys, “I’m not a racist, but …” carried out in 2011 and “I’m still not a racist, but…”, performed in 2018, show increases in workplace racism and a lack of commitment from university employers to address the issues.
NTEU has succeeded in negotiating numeric employment hiring targets for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in over 80% of their collective agreements. The union also negotiates pay for workers with additional languages, anti-racism dispute-resolution clauses, and pay for cultural and ceremonial leave.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment targets help ensure greater employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as university employers will not pay the required attention to this issue through policy alone. An enforceable employment target in their Collective Agreement is the driver and only way many universities will increase employment.
The union seeks a minimum 3% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment target, converted to a number. If percentage-only agreements are reached, the university could remove a significant number of non-Aboriginal workers from their institution, maintain Aboriginal employment and meet their percentage-based employment target. For this reason, the union has mandated numeric targets with annual milestones.
The following is a sample of hiring target language from the 2019-2022 collective agreement with Victoria University and NTEU:
“The University will use its best endeavours to increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff members employed by it to 2.2% (i.e. 37 FTE staff members as at the date of approval of this Agreement) of the full-time equivalent staffing population by the nominal expiry date of this Agreement.”
www.nteu.org.au/rights/agreements
In 2021, the Tunisian government passed a law creating a National Commission for the Fight against Racial Discrimination which will include civil society and union representatives and legislators. The Commission has begun training Tunisian lawyers on national anti-discrimination laws. The official percentage of Black Tunisians and sub-Saharan migrants are both not known, but unofficial data shows Black Tunisians may represent 10-15% of the population.
Discuss what can be done to fight racism and discrimination in the workplace by
Addressing incidents of racial discrimination in the workplace?
Increasing outreach and organising of racialised workers who are underrepresented in the union?
Improving contract language, policies and legislation to protect workers from racial discrimination at the workplace?
Unions must allocate resources and time to organising campaigns of racialised workers. Employers and right-wing movements use race to divide workers from unions and from each other. Too often unions ignore, turn a blind eye, or refuse to organise racially oppressed workers, which further weakens the labour movement.
If racially oppressed workers are not organised, their lower pay and conditions threaten the working conditions of all, and unions are left divided and alienated from their base.
One of the key recommendations of the 2009 report on COSATU’s Responses to Xenophobia is to organise migrant workers. “Organising migrant workers is fundamental. If migrant workers are organized this issue of them accepting lower wages won’t be there. We understand South Africans are grieving about migrant workers accepting lower wages but if they were unionized, they would be on a common platform of fighting. The capitalist would not take advantage of that cheap labour.”
Union campaigns and organising can be an opportunity to address racial injustice. Union workers and leaders can reach out to underrepresented workers to support their organising campaigns. Existing organising campaigns can be strengthened by directly addressing issues of racial injustice.
The majority of workers in the world face discrimination based on their race, nationality, religion, migration status, and/or caste. Union leaders and workers may need to address our own racism and privilege in order to move forward and campaign for the rights of all workers.
The Tool Box section “Campaigning and Organising” will help with union campaigns to combat racism and discrimination, protect land claims, or organise workers to participate in and join the union.
In 2008, the CGT, the largest French union federation, launched a campaign of strikes of seventeen worksites, many of them restaurants, with a demand for legal work permits for those ‘sans papiers’ (without papers). The campaign highlighted the contrasts between wealthy restaurant patrons and the migrants working at low wages with no rights who served them. The first workplace to strike was led by Fodie Konté of Mali and eight of his co-workers, all of them members of the CGT and supported by Droits Devant!, a migrant rights advocacy group. Seven of the nine won their papers in less than a week. By 2010 the strikes grew to include 6,000 and an occupation of the Place de la Bastille. The union was able to assist approximately 5,000 workers to receive work permits, organise precarious workers in small and medium restaurants and businesses, and protect labour standards.
In 2020, the Australian union, United Voice, hired additional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island organisers from the local area, who immediately reached out to and signed up 200 new First Nations members and created a union newsletter that specifically addresses Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders concerns and issues.
Many of the 200 new members joined as part of the First Nations Workers Alliance union campaign for the rights of workers who are in the racist Community Development Programme (CDP). The CDP targets exclusively Indigenous areas, and forces Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to work for unemployment benefits (“dole”) – often at for-profit institutions – or face significant penalties to their dole payments. The work is often unsafe, and not protected by work health and safety programmes or insurance, and Australian superannuation (pension) payments are not paid on wages earned.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions is demanding that the government implement a retirement savings strategy that addresses the inequality of workers´ access to retirement savings funds.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders face the hardest challenges for retirement in Australia. At the most basic level, the retirement income system is not designed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers to participate in. Prior to the late 1960s, it was legal for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to be paid less than non-Indigenous Australians. They were not able to accumulate property and therefore were not able to accumulate incomes for retirement. The systemic racial exclusion of Indigenous people continues today through the creation and maintenance of a retirement income system designed without thought for First Nations people.
First Nations peoples still have a life expectancy shorter than non-Indigenous Australians. The life expectancy at birth of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men is estimated to be 71.6 years, or 8.6 years less than non-Indigenous men, and for women 75.6 years, or 7.8 years respectively. The age pension eligibility age of 67 is inappropriate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers. The current retirement age is racially inequitable and will remain so until the life expectancy gap is closed.
Prior to the Wave Hill Walk Off in 1967, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers were not able to accumulate property. The generation that is retiring now is the first generation with the right to own homes and to have savings accounts. The effect of intergenerational wealth is not measured adequately in assessments of the retirement income system, but its effect cannot be understated.
The median income for Indigenous Australians is approximately 23% lower than that of non-Indigenous Australians. The same issues felt by women as barriers to accumulating superannuation are felt by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers. This issue is compounded for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who face the worst retirement outcomes of all. Indigenous women have just 36% of the superannuation savings of non-Indigenous men on average.
Retirement inequality is just one of the inequalities that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders face which needs urgent rectification, and unless there is Government intervention, many First Nations people will continue to retire into poverty.
https://www.actu.org.au/media/1385875/d8-submission-to-retirement-income-review.pdf
What organising campaign(s) can help build the participation of underrepresented racialised workers in the union or confront issues of racism and colonialism?
What would be the first steps to initiating or providing resources for such a campaign?
Combatting racism within the union itself requires a vision and commitment from all parts of the organisation, material resources and skills. There are materials on Strategic Planning in the Tool Kit.
The goal of a strategic planning process might be to achieve balanced participation of underrepresented racial/national/religious/caste/ethnic groups in the decision-making structures of the union. Or it might be to overhaul the union education programme. Or to obtain resources and funding for an organising campaign of racialised workers who have been underrepresented or excluded from the union. Or to develop a union education programme for members on anti-racism and decolonisation.
As outlined in the “Strategic Planning” materials, you will need to ensure a mandate from the union organisational structures and leadership, form a core committee to drive the process, and then more forward to create the strategic plan. The core committee to drive the strategic planning process is best done by a strong self-organisation group with significant allies that has the capacity to predict, prepare for and organise support in the face of potential opposition to the process.
To begin, you will want to conduct an unflinching inventory of what the union has and has not done in their efforts to challenge racism. Create annual benchmarks that measure the starting point and results of policy changes to combat racism and colonialism within the union.
The following are some examples of unions which have carried out strategic plans to fight racism and colonisation.
The California Faculty Association (CFA) represents approximately 30,000 faculty in state university system. In 2016, the union committed to intentionally centering anti-racism in all union work with a goal of transforming the union.
The union’s anti-racism and social justice work has become positive force for union membership growth and has been instrumental in identifying and growing workplace leaders statewide.
All statewide leaders have participated in anti-racism workshops and trainings. A staff position for a “Program Director for Anti-Racism and Social Justice” was created. CFA has developed guiding principles, contract language, anti-racism and implicit bias workshops, book clubs, podcasts, and biennial equity conferences for union members.
The union has protested murders of Black students and increased racism and violence against Asian and Pacific Islander communities. CFA is taking action, demanding the removal of armed police from campus, improved curriculum and departments, racial pay equity, racial representation and an end to unequal workloads for faculty who are Black Indigenous and People of Colour (cultural taxation.
CFA posts a podcast series of interviews with union leaders and activists on anti-racism and social justice, a “Social Justice Study Hall” and other materials on their website.
https://www.calfac.org/council-racial-and-social-justice
The TUC strategy to confront racism and the far right is based firmly on the need for workplace organising, political education and international solidarity.
To achieve this, they have identified three important objectives
IG Metall has developed a successful programme that transformed the union in the Kiel region of Germany.
Beginning in the 1980s, an active ‘Migration Committee’ provided a space for Turkish workers to share in the leadership with works council members. Activities included language seminars, assisting seniors with their retirement issues, and training sessions on legal issues.
The “honouring” of Turkish cultural and sports associations contributed to the closeness between German and Turkish workers, union leaders and their families. Turkish leaders are now firmly established at the presidium of IG Metall Kiel as delegates at the district level and in the works councils.
Since the mid-nineties, the IG Metall delegates of the Kiel Administration Office have been selected based on a ‘delegate key’, which lays down that the delegating companies must send a number of migrant delegates that correspond to the proportion of migrant employees. This is a voluntary obligation at other workplaces, but mandatory in Kiel. For works council elections there is a consensus to ensure that Turkish workers are well-positioned on the IG Metall slate.
Migrant worker children’s education and advancement in Kiel has been a central focus of the Migration Committee from the very beginning. Almost all of the children of the current migrant members of the current committee have higher-level school or vocational certification and hold good jobs.
The work in Kiel has the clear support of the national and regional IG Metall offices and focused, sincere and consistent local union leadership.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Pākehā Treaty workers’ movement emerged in the 1980s in response to calls from Māori for Pākehā to learn about their responsibilities under the Treaty and to educate Tauiwi about the Treaty of Waitangi. The Pākehā movement developed alongside and in relationship to the Māori Tino Rangatiratanga movement.
“The Pākehā Treaty workers’ movement focuses on shifting Pākehā society towards social justice for Māori and aims to neutralise resistance to Māori efforts for self-determination. Members share a broad political vision of Tino Rangatiratanga and undertake a range of practices to achieve this, a key focus being adult education about the Treaty and the impact of colonisation on Māori.
Pākehā Treaty workers are allies to the struggle of Māori people. As such, our position parallels that of people in countries with similar colonial histories who are supporting social justice, but are not themselves members of the group. Central to our approach to social justice is a focus on change within our own, dominant culture.”
https://trc.org.nz/sites/trc.org.nz/files/allies/Jen%20Margaret%20Winston%20Churchill%20Report%202010.pdf
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Māori, traditionally meaning ‘ordinary’ or ‘normal’, is used by Europeans to refer to the people living in Aotearoa when Europeans arrived.
Pākehā refers to people of European descent in Aotearoa
Tauwi are the non-Māori people of Aotearoa
Hapū are the groups of related families who were recognised by the British as sovereign bodies before signing of the Treaty.
Tino Rangatiratanga is full sovereignty, self-determination
What would a strategic planning process look like in your union?
What would be the goal of a strategic planning process?
What would be the first steps to initiating or supporting such a process? How would it be supported over time?
World history is full of examples of social hierarchies based on religion, language, nationality, culture, caste, and kinship long before modern racial categories were formed as part of European colonialism. India’s 3,000-year-old caste system, with its infinity of caste rankings, is one of the world’s longest surviving social hierarchies. From as early as the 18th century BCE, China conquered, colonised, and absorbed vast numbers of peoples of different ethnicities, languages, religions, and cultures and continues to do so. In Europe, mass murders, enslavement, land removals and genocide of Jews, Irish, Muslims, and Roma was documented by the 11th century CE and continued to the Spanish Reconquista, the Holocaust of the 20th century, and the racism of today.
Countries around the world have used nationalism and racism to justify nation building and imperialist expansions for centuries. In many countries and regions, discrimination based on religion, caste, language, nationality, and migration status may be more pronounced than, or separate from, racial categories created by Europeans. As European and American imperialism gained momentum, racial hierarchies also spread, intersected, and have been influenced by various systems of social hierarchy.
European powers greatly expanded their racial lens around the 15th century, the time that they began colonising and “discovering” the globe. In 1494, the Spanish and Portuguese signed the Treaty of Tordesillas that divided the world, with Spain gaining lands to the west of the Atlantic (with the exception of Brazil) and Portugal gaining the eastern side, including Africa and Asia. During the 1500s the British designated the Indigenous Irish racially inferior “savages” and brought in settlers to control them and remove them from their lands.
European religious and political leaders at first justified their new racial order as God’s law revealed to Christians. By the 18th century European “scientists” constructed four or five racial categories for human beings, hierarchies based on physical characteristics and skin colour, with White people being superior.
European colonialists identified Indigenous Peoples as an inferior race and as non-human to justify the theft of land. Between 1491 and 1691 in the western hemisphere alone, European colonialism killed approximately 90% of Indigenous Peoples through genocide and slavery. European and European-American slaveowners created a legal system based on race and used it to justify the murder and enslavement of millions of African peoples. Between the 17th and 19th centuries over 11 million Africans were taken to Latin America as slaves (twenty-five times more than were taken to the United States).
By the 19th century, European politicians were secure in asserting that ‘race’ was the reason Europeans and European Americans deserved to run the world. Cecil Rhodes, the empire-builder of southern Africa, wrote in 1877, "I contend that we are the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race."
Direct rule by European colonial powers in India, China, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Americas continued into the twentieth century. World War II and anti-colonial movements weakened the old European powers and strengthened the United States. In 2019, the United States maintained military bases in some 140 countries around the world.
Each of our countries and regions has a unique history of colonisation and resistance. In the 13th century, Japan forcibly annexed the island kingdom of Okinawa. Under Japanese racial hegemony “the Okinawans lost their own culture, language, land and political institutions … After World War II, the Okinawan people were ruled by US occupation force, losing their land to the building of American military facilities. With the 1972 reversion to mainland Japan, Okinawans continue to resist the continuing presence of the US military and the loss of native culture and language.” The UN has made it clear that the Okinawans are Indigenous Peoples, but Japan has yet to recognise this.
Legacy colonialism and racism combine with imperialism to impact power relations in most of the world today. Masterwal Taddese Terefe writes that “despite the fact that no colonial power managed to conquer Ethiopia, the country did not escape being colonised in other ways, including in the educational system.”
Settler colonialism differs from other forms of colonialism and imperialism in that settler colonialism is characterised by invasion and displacement of local populations in order to make way for settler populations. Other forms of colonialism emphasise resource and labour extraction.
Global financial institutions continue to reinforce global inequalities. In the “post-colonial world” money continues to flow from the poorest countries to the wealthiest in a form of ‘global apartheid’. France, for example, has taken over $ 500 billion from Francophone African countries based on a pact they forced the countries to sign before they were granted independence. Fourteen countries in Francophone Africa continue to pay a “colonial era tax”.
In 2012, the Committee for the Cancellation of Illegitimate Debt estimated that $ 377 billion more moved from what was identified as the ‘global south’ to the ‘global north’ than was sent from the ‘global north’. The calculations were based on foreign debt payments and repatriated profits of multinationals as compared to development assistance and migrant remittances.
Is this history different from what you are familiar with? How and why?
Discuss how your country and/or region has been impacted by colonialism and/or racism.
If the land you live on was taken from the traditional owners, who took it, how and when? Are there efforts to restore sovereignty or return this land to its traditional owners? If you don’t know, is it possible to uncover this history?
Was there subsequent colonisation of this land? If so, by who, how and when? What is the history of resistance movements to colonialism?
What is the history of slavery, caste, migration and religious discrimination in your country and region?
How and when did concepts of race and racism develop?
The following quotes speak about the relationship between colonialism and racism. What stands out for you?
“It has taken me most of my life to even grasp the connections between my struggle as a Black Canadian and the struggle of Indigenous Peoples on these stolen territories …. British imperialism, which led to the colonisation of both Canada and Sierra Leone, produced me, and informed the stories I share with you … So when I talk about Black and Indigenous solidarity as necessary for our future survival, I’m not speaking in metaphors. I’m asking us to honour the history and struggles of our ancestors as we grapple with the aftermath.”
-- Desmond Cole, The Skin We’re In
“As a people who are both Black and First Nations, we cannot embrace an emancipatory agenda that is silent about the significance of the relationship between Black lands and Black lives. Blackfellas are not seeking a revitalized citizenship that recognizes our dignity and humanity – we are insisting upon our sovereignty as First Nations peoples. We refuse to talk about our lives independently of our land.”
-- Chelsea Bond, We Just Black Matter: Australia’s Indifference to Aboriginal Lives and Land
Race, ethnicity, caste, descent, skin colour, and national identities intersect in complex ways. Racial and ethnic categories are confusing, complex and logic-defying and every changing. Peoples socially “assigned” racial identities may not align with their own internal racial identities.
What we call ourselves and each other is both a sensitive and powerful topic. It might seem like a small thing, but it’s worth it for us to understand and to learn how co-workers and union members identify themselves. Use the terms the person uses to self-identify and err on the side of specificity.
Race describes the broad categories that people are divided into, that are arbitrary yet considered to be generally based on ancestral origin and physical characteristics and that cannot be easily changed by environment or external factors. Raceassigns human worth and social status by a hierarchical, institutionally enforced system.
In many parts of the world, biological characteristics have not played as major a role in determining differences as compared to caste or religion. However, the growth of capitalism and the imposition of Western definitions of race and racism have increased their importance.
For some people, it comes as a surprise that racial categorisation schemes were invented by scientists to support the categorisation of groups of people as superior and inferior. Race is a made-up social construct, not a biological fact. Race and racial categories are constantly changing and vary over time and location as power relationships and social constructs change.
Eurocentric racism uses ‘White’ as the model of humanity for the purpose of establishing and maintaining privilege and power. Eurocentric racism is historically linked to European colonialism.
Castes can be defined as hereditary, endogamous groups that are assigned specific occupations and governed by strict hierarchical relationships. Dr. BR Ambedkar, the famous Dalit leader and the principal architect of the Indian constitution spoke about the “graded inequality” of the caste system in which the caste system is not merely the division of labour. It is also a division of laborers … Each class being privileged; every class is interested in maintaining the social system.”
In 2001, at the UN World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, the word “descent” was added into the UN definition of racial discrimination. Dalit activists argued for this addition, as descent and occupation are key aspects based on the caste system as it exists, not only in India, but in areas of South Asia, East Asia and West Africa.
Ethnicity, like race and caste, is a social construct. Ethnicity divides people into social groupings based on person’s cultural identity, which may or may not include a shared language, customs, migration patterns, nationality, culture, religious expression, history, or ancestral geographical base.
Nationality is based on a person’s belonging or identification with a particular nation.
Religion is both separate from, and may intersect deeply with, race in many ways around the world. According to the United States professor Khaled Beydoun, “Anti-Muslim hate and bigotry in the west … has brought about the conversion of Islam from religion to race, which as a result spawns a popular perception of Muslims as exclusively Arab, and in turn blinds many from seeing Islam as a multiracial and ethnic faith group.” The definition of anti-Muslim racism put forward for debate in the British parliament in 2019 states that anti-Muslim racism “is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”
Colourism is the privileging of light skin over dark skin. Colourism exists because of racism. In 2020, a petition in a campaign against skin whitening creams in India gathered nearly 15,000 signatures within two weeks.
In 1937, Dominican Republican soldiers murdered between 9,000 and 20,000 Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent, who are generally of a darker complexion. In 2013, the Supreme Court stripped anyone with Haitian parents of their Dominican nationality. This left more than 200,000 people in no-man's land, without the right to Dominican nationality despite having been born there, and no right to Haitian nationality.
“Brazil has many colour lines – a gradation from light to dark with many colours in between and dozens of possible racial/ethnic categories related to skin colour … but exclusion and inequality remain. Between 2012 and 2018 the number of Brazilians who identify themselves as Black has increased almost 30%. Author and activist Djamila Ribeiro explains “[a]lthough we didn’t have legal apartheid like the US or South African, society is very segregated – institutionally and structurally … Due to this myth that everyone is mixed, even Black people in Brazil sometimes have had difficulty seeing themselves as Black. Here it is not only about where you came from, it’s the way you look – so if you look White, you will be treated as White, even if your parents are Black.”
Colour-blindness can be used to minimise or deny the existence of racism. Researchers Beth Ahlberg, Sarah Hamed, Suruchi Thapar-Björkert and Hannah Brady note that in Sweden, “the neoliberal restructuring and silencing of racism has resulted in an ideology of colour-blindness which makes racism even more invisible because it removes any suggestion of white supremacy or white guilt from personal thought and public discussion while legitimizing the existing social, political, and economic arrangements which privilege whites.”
Black is often used to identify the multiplicity of the African diaspora globally. It is contested in its use. People of Sub-Saharan African descent living in white-dominated societies, and indigenous peoples of Oceania are more likely to identify as Black.
In both the United Kingdom and South Africa, Black has been used to identify non-white peoples. The British University and College Union uses the term Black in a political sense to refer to people who are descended through one or both parents, from Africa, the Caribbean, Asia (the Middle East to China) and Latin America. It refers to those from a visible minority who have a shared experience of oppression. The word is used to further a sense of solidarity and empowerment.
People living in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in nations that are dominated by majority Black and Indigenous cultures and institutions, are likely to identify by nations and ethnicities. The Congolese writer, Vava Tampa, states that “Africans had to be dehumanised in European society to facilitate their enslavement, colonisation and exploitation of their land; hence the label “black”, because calling them African (or their Yoruba, Benga, Shanti, Igbo, Mandinka or Kongo names) recognises their humanity, history and culture.” Eniola Anuoluwapo Soyemi writes from Nigeria about the need to remove ourselves from the framework that racism proposes and “put ourselves back at the forefront of our own narratives; as it was before.”
In the Arabian Peninsula, prior to the abolition of slavery, 10 to 18 million Black Africans (an Indigenous Bantu-speaking people known as the Zanj) were enslaved and transported from Sub-Sahara Africa. Only some distinctive Afro-Arab communities survived, due to the death toll from forced labour and the assimilation of children into the owner’s families. A Zanj rebellion began in 869 in present-day southern Iraq and lasted 15 years. In Iraq there are currently 1.5 million Afro-Iraqis, descendants of the Zanj, identifying as both Black and Arab who are fighting discrimination and seeking legal minority status.
Panashe Chigumadzi writes that “[t]he indifference to the missing Chibok girls in Nigeria, the country with the largest black population on the planet, is as much linked to the unpunished police shootings of unarmed black people in America as it is linked to the murder of black mine workers demanding better wages in South Africa as it is to extra-judicial killings in Kenya. All of these different attacks on black bodies – whether on African soil or outside of it – is not unrelated to white racial capitalism and coloniality which is sophisticated enough not to need the presence of white bodies to function. This is after all why … Africans still prize White intellectual labour and cultural output as supreme (whether we admit it or not). It is why a fluency in the colonising languages of English, French, German, Portuguese, instead of our own indigenous languages, remains the true marker of not only educatedness, but sophistication and worldliness across the continent …. All of us are suffering coloniality, it’s just that the white bodies in South Africa and the United States make it easier to visualize.”
Races, castes, religions and ethnicities mix in each person, family and culture and challenge racial categorisations. The words and concepts we use to identify ourselves change as we change, both individually and collectively. We may identify our own races and ethnicities in different ways as we age and face different life experiences.
What words and concepts are used to describe race, caste, nationality, religion and ethnicity in your country and region?
How does colourism impact the lives of workers in your communities?
How does colourism intersect with racism?
Is colour-blindness part of the narrative around race in your country or region?
How does it affect your anti-racism work in the union?
Countries vary widely in how and if they track different racial, ethnic and Indigenous groups on their census, and the census categories often change over time. We are our own experts in how these social constructs play out in our unique lives. Sharing our stories as to how we each identify can help make connections and build community in a way that statistics and opinion-sharing alone does not do.
In 1930 the US government designated Mexican as a racial category in the federal census and then then removed it. In 2020, a US journalist, Graciela Mochkofsky, asked a few friends and colleagues how they identify and how they manage the current US census questions. “A colleague said that when he filled out his census form, he marked himself as Hispanic when asked about ethnicity, but left the race box blank. ‘I identify as a Borderlander, but the census doesn’t capture that, so I adopt Hispanic as a public and social identity,” he explained. He would like to mark mestizo – “part indigenous, part European – as his race, but there is no such option. A Dominican friend said that she marks Hispanic/Latino and adds Dominican, but marks “other” in the race category and is frustrated because she is not allowed to add more: she’d like to mark herself Black and also Taíno, but “they won’t understand what that is.” A third friend said that she marks Hispanic/Latino and Puerto Rican, but, even though in Puerto Rico she is seen as white, she leaves “race” blank because she thinks that choosing white would be identifying with the hierarchies of a white-supremacist ideology.”
The European Centre for Intersectional Justice reports that “census data on race in France and Germany can only be collected through proxies such as “migration background” or “geographical location” which only partially captures race. The collection of equality data is a contentious topic in Europe, given the ways in which such data have been (mis)used in the past. Current political developments cannot guarantee that such data would not be instrumentalised for racist ends.”
The census categories in the People’s Republic of China have been determined by the state in direct conflict with how ethnic minorities and nationalities identify themselves. Many groups are not recognised, and others are denied legal rights due to how they are classified. There are 56 officially recognised ethnic minorities in addition to the Han majority.
What is included in your country’s census? Why?
How do you identify your race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, caste or culture?
Does the way you describe yourself change in different situations or over time?
What are your racial, caste, religious and/or ethnic backgrounds? Are these backgrounds important to you? How do you see yourself in terms of race, caste, religion, migration status, and ethnicity and how do others see you?
What are the races and ethnicities of your immediate family? Your extended family?
How did you receive your name? Does your name connect you to significant ancestors, culture or meanings?
What do you most enjoy about being a member of your racial, caste or ethnic groups? What do you like least about being a member of your racial, caste or ethnic groups?
Has the way you or others have identified your race, caste and/or ethnicity changed over time? How and why?
What are the race, religion, caste and/or ethnicity of your two closest friends?
If your friends are of different races, castes and ethnicities than you, have racial, caste or ethnic differences affected your friendship? Do you talk about race, caste and/or ethnicity? Why or why not?
If you friends are of the same race, caste and ethnicity, has racial and/or caste or ethnic sameness played a part in the development of the friendship? Are you more comfortable with persons of the same racial, caste and ethnic background?
How diverse is your environment (work, school, religious group, neighborhood, social circles) in terms of race, religion, caste or ethnicity? Why?
What can you do to learn more about racial, caste and ethnic identities other than your own?
Racism is defined as a system of power and advantage based on race/ethnicity.
Racism is different from racial prejudice or preference because it is systemic and embedded in our institutions and structures of power.
Angela Y. Davis wrote the following in “Freedom is a Constant Struggle: “If we don't take seriously the ways in which racism is embedded in structures of institutions, if we assume that there must be an identifiable racist who is the perpetrator, then we won't ever succeed in eradicating racism.”
Racism can be deliberate, or it can be unconscious. It can be visible or hidden. Racism intersects with other forms of oppression at the workplace and in society.
Review the information on the three types of discrimination in the Tool Box section on Discrimination, Intersectionality and Implicit Bias.
Identify and discuss an example of each of the following three types of racism that you have seen or experienced:
Are any of your examples from your workplace or union? Why or why not?
Review the information on Intersectionality in the Toolbox section on Discrimination, Intersectionality and Implicit Bias.
What other oppressions (such as gender) intersect with race in your workplace and union?
How are workers who face more than one intersecting oppression (such as gender and race) impacted?
What actions that can be taken to support these workers?
Unconscious bias about race is far more prevalent than conscious prejudice and is often inconsistent with our conscious values. We ignore information that does not fit our current paradigm or framework. The author Ta-Nehisi Coates writes that “[r] acism is not merely a simplistic hatred. It is, more often, broad sympathy toward some and broader scepticism toward others.”
Review the information on silence and implicit bias in the section on Discrimination, Intersectionality and Implicit Bias.
Give an example of how silence and implicit bias interact with and reinforce structural racism.
Identify one or two steps that you can take to combat silent racism and implicit bias.
The term White was created by European colonial rulers and US slave owners in the 17th century. It replaced terms like Christian and Englishman to distinguish European from Africans and Indigenous Peoples. Whiteness was established as a legal concept in 1676 to divide workers after an armed rebellion of American indentured servants of European and African descent who had united against the colonial elite. Who was defined as White and non-White went on to change as colonialism and imperialism expanded.
White supremacy is a system of oppression designed to reproduce and reinforce the interests, wealth, and power of White people. What is normal, universal, benign, neutral, and good is considered white. Understanding White supremacy as systemic and structural oppression includes both a refusal to demonise White people and a call to act against injustice. Despite its privileges, there are White people who have rebelled against white supremacy since its inception.
The use of the word white supremacy in our anti-racism work and conversations is a reminder that all of us are dealing with a system and structures that privileges whiteness. White supremacy may be a new or an uncomfortable word. It describes the systematic and global reinforcement of whiteness as superior, and it links contemporary racism to its historical roots of colonialism, imperialism, and slavery.
White supremacy is deserving of detailed examination to counter the acceptance of whiteness as “the norm”. White supremacy can allow White people to live life without ever needing to be aware of their whiteness and how it might be impacting themselves and others.
Gloria Wekker’s book, “White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race”, examines the “innocence” of Dutch institutions and cultures and describes the “normalising, non-identity of whiteness” and the “aggressive national forgetting” of the Netherlands role in European imperialism and how this is intricately connected to the racializing of twentieth century migrant groups in the Netherlands.
Gastón Gordillo writes the following about the term White in Argentina: “The term ‘los blancos’ (the whites) is hardly if ever used in Argentina to name the people who claim European ancestry, for whiteness has long been assumed to be the generalized normal that does not need to be named. But by obsessively naming “los negros” as the non-white part of the nation, this common sense inadvertently admits that whiteness in Argentina is an ever-incomplete spatial project that generates frustration and often rage.”
Is the concept of white supremacy used at your union or workplace? Why or why not?
The author Robin DiAngelo looks at the following patterns of white supremacy in the United States and examines how these patterns create for White people an intolerance of racial stress, trigging a number of defensive moves that are designed to re-establish their familiar racial paradigms and power. These defensive moves may include the display of emotions such as anger, fear, guilt and behaviours such as argumentation, silence and exiting.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu speaks about the individualism of white culture, describing the African concept of ubuntu, which says “I am human because I belong” in contrast to Western individualism, which says “I think and therefore I am.”
This exercise comes from Peggy McIntosh, a white woman from the United States who was working against sexism when she began to realise the importance of her race.
Complete the exercise and note your reactions as you work with a list of privileges that you may or may not have.
Score 4 if the statement is always true for you
Score 3 if the statement is frequently true for you
Score 2 if the statement is sometimes true for you
Score 1 if the statement is rarely true for you
Score 0 if the statement is never true for you
Because of my race, religion, caste, nationality and/or ethnicity ….
What statements stood out for you? Why?
How can being aware of privilege benefit us?
How might you identify white supremist organisational and institutional culture and “norms” in the union?
What can you do to make a change or pivot out of the “norm” of white supremist culture to create space for other cultural norms?
Discuss whether any of the examples below apply to the organisational culture of your union.
The Minority Rights Group provides an online directory that gives reports by country. The reports include demographics, current issues and contacts for Indigenous and racialised peoples’ organisations. The non-profit organisation has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and observer status with the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights. https://minorityrights.org/
The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum (ILLPF) has member organisations around the world. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/world-indigenous-peoples-present-climate-action-commitments-unsg-climate-action-summit
Race class narrative
https://www.demos.org/sites/default/files/publications/Race_Class_Narrative_Handout_C3_June%206.pdf
Yasuko Takezawa on “Transcending the Western Paradigm of the Idea of Race”
http://takezawa.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/transcending-the-western-paradigm.pdf
Paola Bacchetta, Sunaina Maira and Howard Winant. 2019. Global Raciality: Empire, Postcoloniality, Decoloniality. https://www.routledge.com/Global-Raciality-Empire-PostColoniality-DeColoniality/Bacchetta-Maira-Winant/p/book/9781138391642
Aníbal Quijano. 1999. “!Que tal raza!”
repositorio.flacsoandes.edu.ec/bitstream/10469/5724/1/RFLACSO-ED48-09-Quijano.pdf
Directory of racial equity tools and definitions. https://www.racialequitytools.org/glossary
Mandred Berd and Simon Wendt. 2013. Racism in the Modern World. https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/BergRacism
Dr B.R. Ambedkar. 1936. Annihilation of Caste http://www.bapuculturaltours.org/i%20nostri%20e-books/annihilation%20of%20caste%20B00O7GHRYK_EBOK_2.pdf
Canadian Labour Congress. Islamophobia at Work
https://canadianlabour.ca/islamophobia-at-work/
The European Network Against Racism is a network of racial justice organisations at both the national and the European levels that unions can involve themselves with. https://www.enar-eu.org/ The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance is a human rights monitoring body. https://www.coe.int/en/web/european-commission-against-racism-and-intolerance The Centre for Intersectional Justice is a non-profit organisation engaged in making anti-discrimination and equality policy more inclusive and addressing structural inequalities more effectively in Europe. https://www.intersectionaljustice.org/
2009 Research report on COSATU’s response to xenophobia.
https://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/8_Cosatu_c.pdf
The California Faculty Association has compiled resources for union members in an online “Social Justice Study Hall”. www.calfac.org/social-justice-study-hall
Trade Union Co-ordinating Group. 2020. Trade Unions Fighting Racism and the Far-Right. https://www.tucg.org.uk/resources/and https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-12/TUC%20Rise%20of%20the%20Far%20Right%20FINAL.pdf
Education International. 2018. ToolKit: Promoting Integration of Migrants and Refugees in and through Education.
https://issuu.com/educationinternational/docs/toolkit.en_interactif
Adler, Lee, Maite Tapia, and Lowell Turner. 2014. Mobilizing Against Inequality.
https://www.leraweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=283:adler-mobilizing-against-inequality&catid=27:member-projects&Itemid=146
David J. Leonard. 2018. Equity vs Equality.
ces101fall2018.wordpress.com/2018/09/10/equity-versus-equality-triple-participation/
Australia Council of Trade Unions. 2020. Our Voice, Our Future: Priorities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Workers. https://www.actu.org.au/media/886577/our-voice-our-future-5-1.pdf
IndustriALL. 2020. Black Lives Matter – On our streets, in our workplaces, in our unions. http://www.industriall-union.org/feature-black-lives-matter-on-our-streets-in-our-workplaces-in-our-unions
National Tertiary Education Union of Australia. 10 Point Plan for a Post-Treaty Union and Reports on Culture Respect, Racial Discrimination, Lateral Violence and related policies. http://www.nteu.org.au/atsi/publications
Gloria Wekker’s book, White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race describes the “normalising, non-identity of whiteness” and the “aggressive national forgetting” of the Netherlands role in European imperialism and how this is intricately connected to the racializing of twentieth century migrant groups in the Netherlands. https://www.dukeupress.edu/white-innocence
The workbook “Me and White Supremacy” provides detailed guidance and support along with weekly readings and discussion questions for White affinity groups. The author, Layla Saad, is an East African, Arab, British, Black, Muslim woman who was born and grew up in the West, and lives in the Middle East. http://laylafsaad.com/meandwhitesupremacy
An in-depth resource for facilitating group discussions about anti-racism and creating discussions that are both safe and brave is “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Strategies for Facilitating Conversations on Race”, by Caprice Hollins and Ilsa Govan
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-strategies-for-facilitating-conversations-on-race_ilsa-govan_caprice-hollins/13892542/item/#edition=14267060
Robin DiAngelo researches how whiteness is reproduced in everyday narratives and is the author of the book White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism https://www.robindiangelo.com/
Peggy McIntosh, Peggy. 1988. “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See. https://www.wcwonline.org/images/pdf/White_Privilege_and_Male_Privilege_Personal_Account-Peggy_McIntosh.pdf
Tema Okun and Kenneth Jones. 2001. White Supremacy Culture. https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/white-supremacy-culture-characteristics.htmlhttps://coco-net.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Coco-WhiteSupCulture-ENG4.pdf
Dismantling Racism Workbook.
https://www.dismantlingracism.org/analysis-tools.html
