Two new documents have recently become available on the website. In the run-up to the merger it does not make sense to print any more NATFHE documents, so these two are, for the moment anyway, only available online. One is called A Quick Guide for Branch Equality Officers. This discusses the role, how it fits within branch structures and organising, and gives a summary of the main information needed for each equality strand. It can be found at www.natfhe.org.uk/?id=equick. The second is a Joint NATFHE/UNISON document, called Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender equality - An Issue For Us All. Negotiating and Organising Guidance for Members in the HE and FE sector. This provides comprehensive guidance, and is badly needed, as it is several years since Lesbian and Gay Rights at Work was updated, and so much has changed since then. This second document can be found at www.natfhe.org.uk/?id=878&entityType=Document.

Also among the Equality publications, the document Equality Legislation - Where We Are Now has just been updated again, and is dated Spring 2006.

After a very long-drawn out process, two more agreements reached in the Joint Union/AOC Equality Working Party have finally been ratified by all sides. One is on transgender equality, and can be found on the website at www.natfhe.org.uk. Even if you have no Trans members at the moment, do try to get this agreement adopted by your college and university. It is better to have an agreement in place in advance so it is there if it is needed. Personnel are likely to be happy to adopt it, as it covers complex areas of law that are little understood. The other agreement is on Equal Pay. This is obviously of major importance to all colleges, so ensure your college adopts it. It does commit to doing equal pay reviews in line with the EOC Code of Practice, and it promises that all staff, including hourly-paid and agency staff are covered by it. If every college actually implemented this agreement, the world of FE would be a fairer place. The Equal Pay Agreement can be found at http://www.natfhe.org.uk/?id=812&entityType=Document

Linda Danielis
University of Central Lancashire
(Editor's reply: Yes!)

Alton Dorkin is a young Jamaican gay man who has overstayed his time by two years. He has a partner who is a British citizen. They decided to look into civil registration of partnership, to see if this would legitimise Alton’s position in this country. I was approached in my capacity as the TUC LGBT Black rep at a meeting for Black LGBT members held in Brixton in January, at which I was one of the speakers. I informed Alton that the correct procedure was to identify himself to the authorities and claim the asylum route. He took my advice and did this. He was immediately detained, put on the fast track programme, put in the removal centre at Heathrow and issued with a removal notice to take effect in 28 days. I helped to find a solicitor for him, who did a splendid job.

Jamaican gay asylum seekers are nearly always refused asylum and even denied appeal rights. Alton’s appeal was based on the fact that he had been tortured.

The solicitor wanted me as the TUC’s liaison officer with J-Flag (the Jamaican LGBT solidarity organisation) to get J-Flag to confirm that Alton had been tortured, and they sent a 4-page affidavit signed and witnessed by a solicitor in Jamaica supporting his case.

The case then went to court, both to apply for bail and, as it turned out, for an asylum hearing. I was in court because I was acting as guarantor. To my surprise the Judge wanted to hear from me about how I and the TUC were involved in the case. I explained my role as a NATFHE Branch Chair at a college in Newcastle and how through my involvement in NATFHE structures I had risen to take on the role of the Black LGBT rep on the TUC LGBT Committee. I informed him of the TUC’s support for J-Flag, and my role as liaison officer.

The fact that Alton had the support of organisations seemed to decide the Judge both to grant bail and to adjourn the hearing on the grounds that the Home Office needed to explore this intervention.

The case was adjourned for a month and on Wednesday 29 March at 11.15 am Alton Dorkin walked out of the court rooms as a free man with exceptional leave to remain.

Hopefully, this will prove a turning point in the Home Office’s attitude to Jamaican gay asylum seekers.

Patrick Williams
Tynemet College

The Women’s TUC this year was again held at Eastbourne, from 8-10 March, and as always, was exceptionally cold and miserable. NATFHE sent a delegation of nine.

Our motion was on the gender equality duty and education and it was composited with motions from the other education unions, all of which saw this as the crucial issue for education this year. We had also submitted an emergency motion on the likely cuts in funding to the EOC this year, when they have so much to do in preparing for the gender equality duty. The EOC only receives half the funding of the other two commissions and any further cut is intolerable.

Members of the delegation contributed to a variety of debates, including those on youth and community work, freedom of artistic expression, equal pay, and the call for the women’s seats on the TUC General Council to be elected by the Women’s Conference, not by TUC Congress. The last was the only controversial issue. In other debates, many women spoke of their anger and frustration that we had to keep coming back to the same old issues over and over again, and that so little progress is made. There was anger too at the just-published report of the Women and Work Commission, which did not call for mandatory pay reviews.

The motion chosen to go forward to TUC Congress was on domestic violence. In the vote for the Women’s Committee, Mary Davis was re-elected with a very high vote. NATFHE was heavily involved in the organisation of a very successful fringe meeting of A Charter for Women. As always, we worked very closely with the AUT delegation (next year we will be one delegation), and kept up the tradition of a joint NATFHE/AUT song at the cabaret to the end.

Local elections will be taking place in many parts of the country on 4 May. Although they have never yet succeeded in winning a parliamentary seat, the BNP has succeeded in winning council seats in many areas and it could be argued that local elections are their prime target.

The BNP are describing these elections as ‘a referendum on Islam’. Even if they don’t win seats, a large vote for them would reinforce the sense of many British Muslims that they are not wanted here. A major factor in the BNP’s greater success at local level is increased voter apathy and even lower turn-out than in general elections.

To stop the BNP it is essential that anti-fascists vote. To this end, Unite against Fascism has produced an A4 colour leaflet, urging people to use their vote. NATFHE branches could help by distributing them locally. To order, phone 020 7833 4916.

The final version of the Age Regulations was put before Parliament in March, leaving very little time for employers and unions to prepare for October, when they come into force.

In draft form they were already a very weak and minimalist interpretation of what the European Directive requires, and the final version is even worse.

For example, it claims it is objectively justifiable to keep the age bands for a sliding scale of redundancy payments. It seems increasingly unlikely that the regulations fulfil the European Directive, but this will only be established if some organisation challenges the government by way of judicial review.

Despite their weakness, most employers seem to be very nervous about the introduction of the Age Regulations and are issuing advice about how to avoid discriminating on grounds of age. Both UCEA and the AOC have done so. The Joint Unions/AOC Working Party on Equality has almost reached agreement on Joint Guidance on Age Equality, and we hope to have it out to you before the regulations come into force.

It will certainly be worth challenging when you think age discrimination is occurring, if only because employers seem to believe the regulations have some teeth, whether they do or not. And we must use them vigorously to challenge the government’s very ageist approach to the funding of post-school education.

For more advice and information, try the following:
www.agepositive.gov.uk
www.acas.org.uk
www.efa.org.uk

• The TUC has been supporting the Disability Rights Commission in its work to prevent discrimination against disabled people - especially those with learning difficulties - through the adoption of chip and pin technology. Having failed to make progress with the banks, the DRC is now considering legal action if suitable cases can be identified. They have asked for help in identifying individuals who may have suffered discrimination through the failure of suppliers to accept alternatives to chip and pin. If you know anyone with a possible case, please contact the DRC helpline on 08457 622633.
     
• This is just a reminder that the CRE new Code of Practice on Racial Equality in Employment is in force from 6 April. It is substantially changed from the previous code, and all branches should have a copy. It, and the associated guidance, can be downloaded from www.cre.gov.uk.
   
• ACAS’s annual report on employment tribunal claims shows that 7.3% of claims are based on sex discrimination, 2.2% on race discrimination and 3.2% on disability discrimination.
   
• The EOC’s annual survey of women in powerful positions finds that women make up 11% of directors of FTSE 100 companies, 20% of MPs, 16% of local authority council leaders, 9% of the senior judiciary, 10% of police chiefs and 13% of national newspaper editors. To reach parity in parliament at the current rate of progress would take 200 years.
      
• A report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says that three out of ten disabled adults are living in poverty. While the proportion of children and pensioners living in poverty is going down, the proportion of disabled adults is going up.
        
• The EOC reports that only a third of large organisations have done an equal pay review in the last four years, and the number who intend to do so is dropping.
       
• A short film encouraging workers to ‘come out’ about their disability so they can continue to work effectively has now been released online. The Appointment follows the journey of Alan, a hotel manager, as he finds out he has diabetes. Alan is forced to think about how he needs to adjust his life and if some of those he employs could be facing similar issues. Copies of the film are available free of charge from the DRC’s helpline 08457 622 633 or can be viewed on the DRC website at: www.drc-gb.org/businessandservices/appointment.asp

Last year’s Annual National Conference passed a motion committing the union to ‘support the right of any person to come and live and seek employment in the UK for whatever reason’. The campaigning network ‘No One is Illegal’ has now published a pamphlet titled Workers’ control not immigration controls - A trade union programme of opposition to immigration restrictions. Copies are available from [email protected]

"When we knew what we knew
We did what we did
When we knew better
We did better"

Maya Angelou

Thanks to Sasha Callaghan, NEC disabled members’ rep, for submitting this quote

This is the very last edition of NATFHE’s Equality News, though it seems likely there will be a successor in UCU. In the five and a half years that we have been producing this newsletter, the equality agenda has been through convulsions.

In the summer of 2000, Section 28 was still in place, the Human Rights Act was not yet law, there was no legislative protection on the grounds of religion or belief, sexual orientation or age. Before 9/11 religion was barely recognised as an equality issue. The Race Relations Act remained unamended, and no-one had heard of positive duties to achieve equality, or dreamt up a single commission for Equality and Human Rights. Oh, and NATFHE did not have an Equality Unit!

There will be no standing still and there will continue to be major developments. There will always be equality news to report!