Senior figures from Sheffield City Council have again committed to rooting out racism at the authority, at an event organised by UNISON today (Tuesday).
The Race Equality Commission assessed the council to be “institutionally racist” and introduced a three-year improvement plan to change culture, structures, processes, policies and systems.
UNISON City of Sheffield branch arranged today’s event at Sheffield Town Hall for UNISON’s Year of Black Workers – and also invited the council to sign the union’s anti-racism charter.
Both the leader of the council and the chief executive attended to demonstrate the council’s commitment to tackling racism.
Speaking at the event, Sheffield City Council chief executive Kate Josephs said: “Sheffield’s an amazingly diverse city. We’re really proud of that and it’s something we want to celebrate, but we know we’ve got more to do to become more inclusive and to tackle and end discrimination.
“We employ thousands of people, deliver services and act as a leader in the city – and because of that, we recognise that it’s our responsibility to drive to be an anti-racist organisation.
“It’s great to be here with colleagues from UNISON who are driving forward their Year of Black Workers, and we’re really happy to be partnering with them.”
Sheffield City Council leader Tom Hunt said: “We’re committed to becoming an anti-racist organisation.
“The way in which we’re going to do that is together with our staff, by listening to their lived experiences of what it’s like to work here – and make the changes we need in order to make sure no staff member suffers discrimination.
“I really welcome UNISON’s leadership through their anti-racism charter.”
UNISON City of Sheffield joint branch secretary Camilla Sherwin said: “Senior figures from Sheffield City Council attending this event is a really encouraging sign.
“Hopefully this is the first of several steps towards the council achieving its aim of getting rid of institutional racism.”
