Impact of TUC and other Trade Union Initiatives on Staff

Impact of TUC and other Trade Union Initiatives on Staff Diversity and Equality 1
IMPACT OF TUC AND OTHER TRADE UNION INITIATIVES ON STAFF DIVERSITY
AND EQUALITY
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Impact of TUC and other Trade Union Initiatives on Staff Diversity and Equality 2
Impact of TUC and other Trade Union Initiatives on Staff Diversity and Equality
Question 2: Evaluate the impact of TUC and other trade union initiatives to support
equality and diversity in creating successful working environments for all staff.
Introduction
The trade unions and employers in the United Kingdom (UK) are handling an
increasingly diverse labour force that requires extensive and effective policies to promote
diversity and equality of all employees. There are greater percentage of women and persons from
the black plus minority ethnic communities in the labour force than any other than in the history
of the UK. Trade unions have long advocated for equality and diversity and their memberships
more diverse as the populace and society has greatly changed. The goal of the initiatives
developed by the trade unions are geared towards promoting fairness, equality in addition to
diversity in the place of work to promote the welfare of all the employees in diverse workplaces
in the UK. Tesco has been a company in the United Kingdom that promotes the works of TUC
since its supports the activities on the union. Trade Union Congress (TUC) has been
instrumental in promoting equality and diversity in the workplace for many years through its
initiatives and legal frameworks and it has achieved tremendous results in the last few years. The
paper will assess the impact of Trade Union Congress (TUC) and other trade union initiatives on
equality and diversity of all staff (Bacon & Hoque, 2011, pp. 388).
Company Evaluation
Ryanair is an Irish-owned airline that was established in 1985 by Ryan family to compete
with Aer Lingus and British Airways on Ireland routes. Trade unions have been in confrontation

Impact of TUC and other Trade Union Initiatives on Staff Diversity and Equality 3
with the company. Ryanair is currently Europe’s biggest low-cost airline and it has been one
been controversial because of its outspoken boss and constant hostile relationships with
organized labour. In addition to utilizing industrial relations law plus the civil courts, the pilots
union has been entailed in a more pioneering way of challenging Ryanair, via the establishment
of the Ryanair European Pilots Association (REPA). In the recent years, TUC despite the hostile
environment looked increasingly to the European Union (EU) for legislative levers to utilize in
maintaining plus retaining the influence in the workplaces as in the case of Ryanair. TUC has
been successful in addressing equality issues in the many workplaces in the UK and has
continued to champion to the rights of workers. One notable example is Ryanair, where TUC
resolved workplace poor practices that had continued to affect the employees. The union
campaign against poor employment practices brought poor and abusive employment practices to
public attention. Ryanair’s chief executive officer, Michael O’Leary was named as the 2018
Worst Boss in the world because of promoting unfair employment practice where their has been
9 strikes in Europe a workers who work for the airline believe that the company was unfair in its
practices. One year ago the company through the efforts of TUC recognized pilot unions-British
Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) and increased the pay of employees by 20 per cent
(Padraic, 2017, pp. 1).
This forced the company to develop employees that promoted equality and diversity.
TUC has considerably expanded individual employment rights, especially in the vital anti-
discrimination and diversity jurisdictions. TUC has continued to acknowledge the need to
promote equality in the workplace for all the employees by influence equality positively that
entail promoting effectual implementation along with the delivery of the current annexe of

Impact of TUC and other Trade Union Initiatives on Staff Diversity and Equality 4
equality law in the fields of flexible working hours, sexual orientation, disability, religion and
belief and age (Alberti, 2016, pp. 74).
Assessment of TUC and other trade union Initiatives on Equality and Diversity of all Staff
Trade Union Congress (TUC) is a primary federation for organized labour in the UK and
still has an irresistible majority of the unions along with their density. However, it membership
has declined from just more than 12 million in 1980 to 6.4 million in 20056 and 5.8 million in
2015. Certainly, membership numbers of TUC are not a source of alarm. TUC in its history has
only managed to organize one strike in its extensive history-in 1926 to give support to the
striking miners. This strike was not an achievement after the union officials called it off
following nine days and excluded several groups from taking part in the strike. However, despite
these challenges that continue to face TUC, it has developed strategies that have become
instrumental in eliminating discrimination and workplace problems in many workplaces in the
UK in the recent years. With more than 15 decades in unionism, TUC has faced numerous
challenges amid some success stories that have been achieved. The Trade Union Congress’s
strap line is ever-changing environment of work for good that apparently arrests some of the
problems that faces its goals of promoting workplace equality and diversity (Gregory & Milner,
2009, pp. 122). When the Trade Union Congress was established 15 decades ago, employees
were organizing into trade unions to improve their work conditions, but this has not changed.
The union has been experiencing declines in its memberships that has been seen to reflect the
declining trend of members in unions in then UK in the recent years (Bennett, 2009, PP. 445).

Impact of TUC and other Trade Union Initiatives on Staff Diversity and Equality 5
Equality Act 2010 has a fundamental act that has guided the actions of TUC in many
occasions in addressing issues of discrimination in the workplaces. The act is a landmark piece
of legal framework where TUC had long championed that has given the union a unified legal
framework and introduced some vital measures to promote equality (TUC, 2009a, pp. 12). The
TUC Equality Audit 2011 that emphasized on trade unions’ endeavours to guarantee equality
plus fair representation within their structures in addition to services to members demonstrated
that unions acknowledge their own responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 along with the
need for action to meet them. The Equality Act 2010 is a merger of the previous anti-
discrimination laws that provides a comprehensive legal foundation to makes sure individuals are
safeguarded from discrimination and those individuals that face discrimination can take action.
The Equality Act 2010 has been instrumental for both the workers and employees in guiding safe
workplace and prohibits any form of discrimination that is likely to affect the employees. Under
the act, the employer should consider making “reasonable adjustments” for disabled workers or a
job applicant in the company. TUC has relied on Equality Act 2010 to launch complaints on
grounds of discrimination and has become successful in many lawsuits against some employers
that have discriminated employees on recruitment. The act has played a leading in promoting
equal pay in the workplace between men and women where the act emphasizes that employers
should give equal treatment to women when it comes to pay (Heery, Hann & Nash, 2017, pp.
801).
In addition, one specific union initiative where the government has continually supported
financially was the Trade Union Congress’s equality representative initiative. Thus, the equality
representative initiative has been lauded for its contributions towards promoting equality in the

Impact of TUC and other Trade Union Initiatives on Staff Diversity and Equality 6
workplace. TUC through the equality representatives have been instrumental in providing
information to the employees on equality policies and provide support and help to the members
that wish to scrutinize harassment or discrimination complaints plus their representation of
members within the grievances process. This has made tremendous changes in ensuring that the
employees have the right information and they get the needed support and assistance that they
need to take legal action. TUC has continued to raise awareness on equality and diversity issues
of the employees by offering the appropriate employees that possibly increases the likelihood
that workers will pursue equality, as well as diversity-related complaints. This has been evident
at Tesco as employees have taken their complaints to TUC and get assistance (Bennett, 2009, PP.
446).
Consequently, this has been seen to bring the equality and diversity concerns, like
harassment and discrimination to the awareness of the employers that can consequently respond
through enhancing the equality and diversity practices to stop such challenges from resurfacing
in the prospect. TUC has consistently trained its equality representatives so that they can handle
diverse issues in regard to diversity and equality in the workplace (Simms & Holgate, 2010, pp.
158). The equality representatives promote equality and diversity since they have the needed
expertise and commitment in administering counselling services. In addition, they have the
responsibility of offering guidance and advice to the employers seeking to develop equality
policies sin the workplace to deal with issues related to diversity and equality (Hodder &
Houghton, 2015, pp. 176). Therefore, TUC has succeeded in assisting employers develop
equality and diversity policies in their workplaces and this has greatly reduced issues that were
very rampant in the UK workplace. The recent developments by TUC have been seen to

Impact of TUC and other Trade Union Initiatives on Staff Diversity and Equality 7
demonstrate its key role in promoting equality in the workplace. The union has succeeded in
fighting workplace diversity and equality as it is evident in the case of Ryanair (BIS, 2009a, pp.
301).
Furthermore, TUC through the diverse initiatives has been creating forums with the
employers that educate them on the need to create an environment that upholds equality and
diversity. These programs have been vital in ensuring that the employers get the necessary
knowledge and develop a workplace that eliminates discrimination. In many instances, TUC
encourages the employers to adopt selection and recruitment policies that will ensure that they do
not discriminate the minorities, but recruit under the minority programs. The programs promoted
by TUC are geared towards allowing the representatives and employers and in some cases the
employees to share a platform that will entail exchange of thoughts and experiences and
endeavour to overcome shared problems (TUC, 2009b, pp. 23). This has been successful since
there are certainly several forums where experiences are pooled with an endeavour to exchange
information and advance policies and practices on equality and diversity in the UK workplace.
Many organizations need knowledge that will help them equip their employees with the
knowledge to ensure that they respect diversity and equality while working (Hoque & Bacon,
2010, pp. 9).
Conclusions
The growing challenge of employee diversity and changing labour market requires new
approaches by the trade unions. Despite the many challenges that TUC faces, there are many
achievements that has been attained in the last decades because of the commitment to promote

Impact of TUC and other Trade Union Initiatives on Staff Diversity and Equality 8
diversity and equality in the UK workplace. The equality representatives have been instrumental
in promoting the agenda of TUC in ensuring that the employers promote policies and practices
that enhance equality and diversity given the changing labour market in the UK. The last three
decades has seen a changing labour force in the UK that demands new approaches to be used by
the unions to promote equality and diversity in the workplace that has become a major challenge.
However, the government should provide a more thriving environment for TUC and other trade
unions to ensure that they commit themselves in promoting policies and practices on equality and
diversity in the workplace (Ewing & Hendy, 2017, pp. 25).

Impact of TUC and other Trade Union Initiatives on Staff Diversity and Equality 9
List of References
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Impact of TUC and other Trade Union Initiatives on Staff Diversity and Equality 10
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