I AM proud that my union, Artists Union England, as one of the newest and youngest unions, has a strong track record in tackling and standing up to racism and for race equality with black representatives in leadership positions in it. 

I use the term black throughout this article in its broadest political sense to encompass those from the African and Asian diasporas which we use in the trade-union movement including both of my unions, AUE and PCS and at TUC level where we hold an annual black workers’ conference.

We recognise the importance of race equality, not least because black people experience institutional racism in the arts and culture sector. 

This historical racism has been amplified first by 10 years of austerity and now by the coronavirus pandemic.

Black artists face pigeonholing of their art and labelling — on one hand if they produce art that speaks to their lived experiences as racialised people or relating to their culture and identity, they are told their art is “too black.” Or on the other hand they are told that their art is only suitable for black audiences or for Black History Month.

Austerity has impacted disproportionately on black workers and this has meant that black artists face the effects of not just the racism that already exists but of cuts to funding streams and socially engaged work as artists — which a majority of AUE members are involved in. 

It was for these reasons that the TUC race-relations committee established the Roots Culture Identity art exhibition which has now developed eight years down the line into a collective as well as touring evolving exhibition. 

It was first established to meet one of the TUC Stephen Lawrence Task Group recommendations – to use the Marble Hall at the TUC HQ, Congress House as a space to promote the creative talents of young black people in recognition that Stephen had wanted to become an architect. 

I am proud to have co-ordinated  and curated this exhibition since its inception and I have sought to bring the exhibition to venues and institutions that have not always readily engaged in the lived experiences and creative productions of black people.

The coronavirus pandemic has hit our members in AUE hard, and many have fallen between the cracks when it comes to government measures — leading to deepening poverty as all work has dried up. 

This is even worse for our members who are black and women.

Many of our members are engaged in community art, working with vulnerable people, those who face discrimination and barriers and who bring a lifeline to those they work with through arts therapy, for example.

This is turn affects the most marginalised communities, including black, migrant and refugee communities and individuals who used the services provided by our members before lockdown.

Black and migrant workers are more likely to work precariously and in turn this means less job security, low pay, worsened terms and conditions and jobs more likely to be at risk.

Our sector is one of those that have been hardest hit by the pandemic, and the economic crisis to follow is already hitting black workers and those in the culture sector disproportionately, with members of my other union, PCS working at Tate Modern already facing threats to their jobs with a disproportionate impact on race grounds and forced to take strike action. 

This year’s TUC Congress will be a quite different event from previous ones as it will largely be virtual.

We chose to submit one of our two motions on Black Lives Matter, race equality and the impacts of coronavirus on black communities for several reasons.

Equality is supposed to be at the heart of trade unions.

The brutal murder of George Floyd by a police officer in the US led to global protests by the Black Lives Matter movement this summer and we issued a statement of solidarity with the family of George Floyd and the wider movement.

The past few months have been a painful traumatic time for all of us, but for black communities who have contracted and died from Covid-19 disproportionately and for those of us with a lived experience of racism, it has been tough, really tough — those protests are a rallying call for change, for recognition of our experiences and for action to tackling the root causes of the everyday, institutional and systemic racism we experience.

These are human-rights issues and AUE, in its short lifetime in comparison with many other unions, also has a proud track record of standing up for human rights. 

It was important for us to put forward a motion and recommendations that seek to address these issues, that show solidarity with black workers and communities and not just symbolically but in physical solidarity.

For many years in my roles as a human-rights campaigner, trade-union and community activist I have campaigned and sought to raise awareness of the legacies of enslavement and colonialism, and it is crucial that these legacies are addressed if there is to be real change.

I was proud to give this year’s International Slavery Museum’s Dorothy Kuya Memorial lecture to mark this year’s Unesco Slavery Remembrance Day – which was virtual so can be watched at mstar.link/SlaveryRemembrance.

In the lecture I talk about how those legacies have led to the oppression and discrimination we still face today, such as the Windrush scandal, deaths at the hands of the state, racial profiling, discrimination in the labour market and education and more, but also the everyday racism and microaggressions we encounter.

If the protests over the summer were the rallying call, then the trade union movement has a key role and a responsibility in answering that call and to engage with and support black communities and in particular young black people who have been leading protests in cities across Britain.

There must be nothing about us without us.