Green Party Trade Union Group Statement Black Lives Matter

Green Party Trade Union Group Statement Black Lives Matter

 Sunday 9 August 2020

Martin Luther King once said that: ‘True peace is not the absence of tension. It is the presence of justice’. As eco socialists and active trade unionists within our party we find these words to be both true and a template to strive for within the communities we seek to serve.

Our active support alongside the internationalist struggles of people of colour has been amplified in recent times by the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement and brought into sharp focus the need for our general membership, organising groups and leadership to be able to give clearer offerings of support going forward. Not least because these matters are all too often left for only a handful of activists to work upon but which clearly resonate within our understanding of what a just Green future might hold for everyone through a progressive position on matters of equality.

The disproportionate impact of Covid19 on BAME workers who are often in precarious jobs with poor working conditions and low wages has highlighted the need for trade unions to organise in such workplaces in order to ensure  workers’  have decent wages and to safeguard their health  and safety.

As a party we hold speaking ‘truth to power’ as our watchword so we call on everyone to join in both the interrelated debates and production of clear understandings that will both inform and guide our membership and our interaction with our wider communities. By doing this we will provide the nurturing space from which we can all both see and learn, because we absolutely know that ‘an injury to one is an injury to all’.

Beccy Sawbridge  Equalities Officer pp Green Party Trade Union Group