We send our solidarity from UCU to the Black, Asian and minority ethnic members of our union throughout this action and beyond.  The industrial action that we are taking together is aimed at resolving problems that impact our Black, Asian and minority ethnic members often more acutely.  Some of us research and teach about the inequalities in society based on race, but it is interesting that often we do little to address that very inequality in our own communities and we even maintain it through our own processes and culture.

You will know there are data (e.g. UCU, HEA, NUS, UUK) that show inequality in university working conditions for Black, Asian and minority ethnic members in terms of workload, precarity, recruitment, pay gaps, promotion, and disciplinary processes.  Of course, all of these affect the career choices we have and create ongoing wellbeing issues for our Black, Asian and minority ethnic members as well as impact on the pension that will support that person at the end a career of working hard.

We also recognise that these lead to unequal conditions that impact the learning environment for our students and again we have data that show the disproportionate effect on Black, Asian and minority ethnic students, of which the awarding gap (UUK, NUS) is an example. Black, Asian and minority ethnic international students are seen as an important income generator for the university, but they are not being providing with the education and ability to challenge this inequality.

We at Cardiff UCU are starting work with other unions both on campus and across the nation, with Wales TUC to take actions as recommended in their Anti Racist toolkit and with the Senedd on its aspiration to be becoming an anti-Racist Wales.