Equality Audit

24th July 2020
Circular No. NP/185/20
My ref: EO/-

TO: THE SECRETARY
ALL BRANCHES & REGIONAL COUNCILS

Dear Colleague,

EQUALITY AUDIT

At the Black and Ethnic Minority Members’ Conference 2018 a resolution was passed entitled “Equality Impact Assessment”. It asked for the RMT leadership to look at the impact of not having an allocated seat for a BEM member on the NEC on our BEM membership since the establishment of our B&EMM Advisory Committee. In trying to answer the question, this has started the discussion as to what do we know about our membership? Not just our BEM members but the other “equality” groups too (ie those with a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 such as women, disabled workers, LGBT+, and young members). What can we tell from the data we have?

I believe this has presented a challenge to the union as to what and how we record the data about our membership, particularly in regards to how we can analyse the figures in any meaningful way. Not only do we need to look at our membership, but the activity levels of our equality groups and how they are represented throughout the ranks of the union - our activists and officers should be as diverse as the membership we represent.

The data was compiled into a booklet which I had hoped to post to you, but as we have covid restrictions, please access it on our website via this link https://bit.ly/3fK73Zz I hope by sharing these figures with our advisory committees, branches and regions, we can engage with all representatives to look at who is active and how we are encouraging the involvement of all equality groups within the union. I welcome any feedback as equality monitoring is a key part of our organising strategy. Please direct this to our Equal Opportunities Officer, Jess Webb, on t: 020 7529 8821, j.webb@rmt.org.uk

Yours sincerely,

Mick Cash
General Secretary