Latest TUC research finds racism, discrimination and harassment remain widespread for Black Workers.

The TUC has published a new report ‘No worker left behind’, building on earlier trade union studies, including ‘Is Racism Real?’ (2017), ‘Dying on the Job’ (2020), and ‘Still rigged: racism in the UK labour market’ (2022). In 2024 the TUC also published ‘’And then it clicked…’ a seminal piece of research looking specifically at Black women’s experience of sexual harassment in the workplace. Together, these reports track the experiences of Black workers over nearly a decade. The latest findings demonstrate that while there have been some improvements in reporting and accountability, racism, discrimination and harassment remain widespread and, in several areas, have worsened since 2020.

Key findings include:

Unfair treatment at work

Their survey found that Black workers face a range of unfair treatment at work, with the most common being:

• Given harder or less popular work tasks (45 per cent of all Black workers)
• Receiving unfair criticism (43 per cent)
• Being kept on temporary of fixed terms contracts (41 per cent)

Black workers are more likely than white workers to receive each type of unfair treatment that we asked about. Black workers are particularly more likely to report:

• Having a request for training turned down or development opportunities denied (36 per cent, compared to 26 per cent)
• Not being given sufficient hours (40 per cent, compared to 30 per cent)
• Being kept on temporary or fixed terms contracts (41 per cent, compared to 31 per cent)

Racism and harassment at work

Racism and harassment at work takes different forms, from exclusion to racist jokes to physical violence.

For Black workers, the most common forms or racism and harassment experienced at work are:

• Racist jokes or “banter” (41 per cent of all Black workers)
• Witnessing racist verbal of physical abuse (36 per cent)
• Racist remarks at you or in your presence (36 per cent)
• Verbal abuse at you or others (35 per cent)
• Questioning about your culture or religion in a way that was offensive or humiliating (35 per cent)

The TUC has made the following recommendations based on the survey:

The Government should:

• Legislate at pace to introduce mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting for employers with more than 50 employees and require action plans to address identified disparities.
• Strengthen enforcement of equality legislation by providing ring-fenced funding for the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
• Enforcement and regulation through the Worker Protection Act 2024 to require employers to prevent harassment where protected characteristics intersect
• Fully deliver and enforce plan to Make Work Pay including statutory rights for equality representatives

The full report can be accessed here