Equal Opportunities Independent Review

Section 3

BACKGROUND TO THE CWU

The CWU

The CWU is a major union in the UK and is the six largest in the country with links across Europe and the world. The union currently draws the bulk of its membership from three main employers - there are some 150,000 in the Post Office, 100,000 in British Telecom and 3,500 in the Alliance & Leicester/Giro Bank.

BT and The Post Office

There are two initial points however that we note in terms of the organisational cultures as reflected by BT and the Post Office. First, on the one hand, both industries are potentially at the forefront of new industry and "cutting edge" technology, and theoretically will be innovative and dynamic employers. On the other hand both organisations have long and strong traditions which can be a positive factor in some ways but can also be negative with a reluctance to change or adapt to new or different approaches and ideas.

Second, both BT and the Post Office have placed a considerable emphasis on equality and diversity in recent years, and nationally have been "champions" in the development and progression of equality within the work place.

The CWU and Equality

The CWU over the years has taken several initiatives on equality, following on from earlier initiatives taken by the Union of Communication Workers and the National Communications Union. It has a range of equal opportunity policies and procedures in place and for example makes clear its commitment to equal opportunities for all its members inside the union, in society and in the workplace. It states specifically:

No discrimination in relation to race sex marital status any disability religion sexual orientation political affiliation ethnic or national origin or age in accordance with the CWU rules and specifically rule 2.1(d). It states that this list is not intended to be exhaustive.

In relation to its membership the CWU has set up an extensive structure to deal with equality issues. The Equality Opportunities Committee for example is a standing committee of the National Executive Council ("NEC") it has four advisory committees:

Ethnic Minority Advisory Committee;
Lesbian and Gay Advisory Committee;
Disability and Special Needs Advisory Committee; and
Women's Advisory Committee.

The role of the advisory committees is to advise the National Executive Council's Equal Opportunities Committee on any issue which is relevant to the section of the membership they represent and which is within the remit of National Executive Council.

In addition, the annual conference and other conferences held by the union have consistently discussed and debated issues around equality. In recent years conference has supported a number of initiatives and taken a strong stand on equality issues. For example the recent Rules Revision Conference held in March 2000 carried the following motion: It deleted the existing rule 2.1(d) and replaced it with:

"To actively oppose racism, sexism, and all forms of discrimination based on race, creed, religion, age, political affiliation, disability, marital status, sex or sexual orientation, in industry the union and society and general. To this en d the CWU will actively oppose any organisation political or otherwise whose aims are racist or fascist The CWU will also actively identify any cause or barrier to enable it to eradicate institutional discrimination within its own organisation. This will include elements of positive discrimination in favour of women and racial minorities until such time as the union is satisfied that its structure reflects and supports the gender and racial balance of the members which it represents."

The trade union also has an Equal Opportunity department based at Headquarters which carries out a range of work including, advisory and briefing work, representational work, and the provision of general advice for members of the union.

Overall then the trade union has a strong equal opportunity policy in place, has a number of systems and procedures developed to support this, and has an infrastructure to support these initiatives. There is also a strong commitment by the union as expressed from the conference floor on equality issues.

The review: what was explored:

In carrying out our discussions with members and staff at all levels and particularly in our meetings in the group discussions throughout the country, while not wanting to be over-prescriptive, there were certain themes that were explored. Very briefly these included the following:

Culture: Was the union seen to be approachable or was it seen to be remote?
Employment and representation: Were ethnic minorities, women, gay and lesbian people represented at the various levels within the union?
Barriers: Were there barriers, formal or informal, to the involvement of various minority groups on the branch or at HQ or the NEC?
Needs of members: Were the needs of all members reflected by the union at the national and especially the local and regional level, or did they appear to be geared towards a section.
Communications: How did these work in practice? Did people know what they needed to know?
Standard of service and support: Questions were asked about the kind of backup and information that members received from headquarters and also from their branch.
Training and development: What type of training was provided on equality, was this adequate, was this helpful, was it easily available, did it meet the needs of members?
Role of employers: What was the relationship with employers in respect of equality, what sort of cases arose for employers in terms of equality, how were they dealt with?

Inevitably other areas were also raised and discussed and these along with the issues above provide the basis of this report.

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Introduction