Chapter 3: Equality Representatives: An Evolving Form of Specialist Union Representation

This chapter discusses the role and impact of equality reps, situating their emergence in a broader UK industrial relations context, particularly developments in internal union politics and external socio-political and labour market conditions. It is widely acknowledged that historically women and black and minority ethnic people had been under-represented in union governance, leadership and decision-making roles and structures which had led to neglect of equality issues on the union agenda. Equality reps were established in the early 2000s as a vehicle for injecting previously missing equality dimensions into the core member and employer facing activities of unions, namely worker representation and collective bargaining. The evidence shows that an overwhelming majority of the UK’s union members now have access to an equality rep. This represents major progress signalling that unions are now committed to the idea of pursuing equality and that they are prepared to commit valuable and somewhat scarce resources to this commitment. Furthermore, the evidence indicates that equality reps are having significant impact within workplaces and unions. Nevertheless, there are worrying signs that they are not fully integrated into workplace union negotiating and that equality is still sometimes only a marginal concern which is only exacerbated by the lack of statutory recognition for equality reps. Nevertheless, equality reps are still seen by many in the union movement as a critical resource for progressing the union equality agenda in the workplace and one worth retaining and developing further.