Trade unions and relations with black and minority-ethnic community groups in the United Kingdom: the development of new alliances?

Abstract

The paper argues that the role of voluntary sector bodies in black and minority-ethnic (BME) communities is a missing factor in much of mainstream industrial relations and race and ethnicity debates. There are gaps between trade unions and organised community groups within BME communities. These are significant issues, which question some of the more optimistic analyses of the subject of union renewal in terms of community unionism. The space of BME representation is much more complex and diverse than that discussed in terms of individual worker needs. Questions of representation need to be addressed not solely in terms of formal representation but also of broader understandings of relations and perceptions between actors. This dovetails with the debate on the role of other actors in relation to representation within industrial relations. The paper ends with a discussion of how linkages between traditional and new industrial relations actors such as BME community groups and trade unions are constructed in a variety of unanticipated ways which require an understanding of the politics of BME groups, their regional dynamics and the way industrial relations is viewed. The paper is focused on the experiences of the United Kingdom.