Motion on Being Black in the UK Music Industries Passes at STUC Black Workers’ Conference

The MU called on the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) to lobby the Government to improve pay gap reporting, ensure Black histories are taught in schools, and to make diversity monitoring a legal requirement.

Published: 14 October 2022 | 12:03 PM

Numerous hands raised as if in support of a motion. — The motion was passed unanimously at the STUC conference. Photo credit: Shutterstock

The 2022 STUC Black Workers’ Conference took place once again at the Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel in Glasgow. Conference was co-chaired by the MU’s Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Officer Diljeet Bhachu – who stood down from the Black Workers’ Committee at conference – alongside Khadija Mohammed from EIS.

MU Scotland and Northern Ireland Regional Committee member and activist Graham Campbell was nominated to join the Black Workers’ Committee for the forthcoming year. Graham attended conference as a delegate, moving the MU’s motion on Being Black in the UK Music Industries, which was seconded by NUJ.

MU delegate and regional activist Graham Campbell moving the MU motion, taken by Diljeet Bhachu

The motion was passed unanimously, and called on the STUC to raise awareness of the need to decolonise MA Music Therapy training curriculums and entry requirements to produce more Black practitioners. The motion also called on the STUC to lobby the Government on:

Introducing mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting for companies with over 50 employees
Widening gender pay gap reporting to include companies with over 50 employees
Making diversity monitoring that includes freelancers a legal requirement
Supplying funding to develop services equipped to deliver culturally appropriate and accessible care
Making the teaching of Black histories, achievements and cultures mandatory in Scottish schools.

NUJ delegate layla-roxanne hill speaking in support of MU motion, taken by Diljeet Bhachu

Conference also passed motions on menopause, racism in sports, Islamophobia and immigration, amongst other topics. Conference heard from guest speaker Pinar Aksu from Maryhill Integration Network on the rights of asylum seekers and refugees, with regards to accessing employment and trade union support.

STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer addressed conference on Saturday 1 October, and on Sunday, Kadi and Ade Johnson, the sister and brother-in-law of Sheku Bayoh, spoke to conference alongside a screening of the short film ‘A Portrait of Sheku Bayoh’. Conference and the STUC voiced their continued support for their campaign for Justice for Sheku Bayoh, encouraging delegates to attend the ongoing public inquiry into Sheku’s death while in police custody in 2015. The short film can be viewed online for free.

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