TUC Black Workers’ Conference 2015 started yesterday and runs through to Sunday.

This year is a special one because it marks the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Race Relations Act. Yet many black workers are asking not how far we have come since then, but how many gains have been reversed in recent years.

There are many blatant examples of racism in our society. Migrants and black people are being scapegoated for austerity.

They encounter race discrimination in the labour market and beyond, they face disproportionate cuts and austerity and they suffer more from casualisation, zero-hours contracts, low pay and poverty.

Many black families are having to fight for their very survival, struggling to make ends meet. All of these issues have made society more racist.

With the general election looming we are witnessing an increasingly toxic debate around migration and race, creating an even more hostile environment for migrant workers and those who are the children and grandchildren of migrants. These people have contributed positively to British society.

The TUC race relations committee is proud to have supported the Movement Against Xenophobia “I am an Immigrant” poster campaign and the TUC hosted the launch this week, attended by some 400 people.

The posters feature a range of migrant workers, including a number of prominent trade union activists, and seek to challenge the negative narrative around migration.

They now feature in London underground stations, billboards and national train stations across Britain.

This year’s conference title is Fighting for Decent Jobs, Decent Hours and Decent Pay.

The first motion on the agenda will be moved by my union PCS and is on race equality in the workplace and in society. It calls on the TUC and unions to defend black workers and resist further erosion of legal rights, ensure that the next government makes progress towards race equality and renew our commitment to race equality at work and in wider society.

All the motions on the agenda point towards the increasing race discrimination, disadvantage and under-representation faced by black people in the labour market, service provision and wider society.

There is a call for the reform of the Equality Act 2010 in order to strengthen protection against race discrimination. Motions also call for the ending of zero-hours contracts, challenging Ukip (in particular its anti-immigrant stance), tackling extremism and hate, challenging discrimination in performance management systems, racial profiling and the criminal justice system, disproportionate stop and search, reparations for the African (transatlantic) slave trade, standing up for and fighting cuts to education and mental health inequality.

A running theme will be young black people and the effects on them of austerity, cuts and discrimination in the labour market.

Increasingly black workers — and particularly young black workers — are facing precarious casual forms of work such as zero-hours contracts as the only option. This means that they cannot save, plan for the future or rent a home. They struggle to make ends meet and survive from one week to the next.

To respond to these concerns the TUC Race Relations Committee has arranged a panel debate on black workers and casualisation.

There will also be four workshops: 50 years on from the Race Relations Act 1965, organising in a hostile environment, young people and the labour market and the Immigration Act.

Speakers will include TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, Operation Black Vote director Simon Woolley and Helen Barnard from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The committee will also launch a new mentoring scheme for black trade unionists or aspiring union activists which will help to overcome barriers to participation in the trade union movement at higher levels. Mentors will be drawn from members of the committee and other senior black trade unionists will also take part.

This is the third year that the TUC will be hosting an art exhibition, curated by me to coincide with the conference, showcasing the art of predominantly young black (BME) artists together with some of my own work. 

Roots Culture Identify runs until May 1 in the Marble Hall at Congress House. It is hosted by the TUC race relations committee and the private view is sponsored by employment lawyers BDBF.

The exhibition is held annually as a result of the TUC Stephen Lawrence Task Force which stated that the Marble Hall should be made available to showcase the talents of young black people.

Young black people are affected more than others by cuts and austerity, but young black artists also face institutional racism in the arts and culture sector — specifically cuts to arts funding.

The exhibition is available to book for other venues throughout the year and we would very much welcome hosts for it from the trade union and wider labour movement.

A screening of Looking for Claudia Jones will be followed by a panel discussion with participants in the documentary and with an audience Q&A led by the director Nia Reynolds.

The film documents the influence of Claudia, a towering figure in UK and US politics in the second half of the 20th century. She is an important figure in the black radical tradition and was a campaigner for freedom, through her communist beliefs.

She founded Britain’s first Black newspaper, The West Indian Gazette, and the Afro-Asian Caribbean News. And she was one of the founders of the Notting Hill Carnival as a community-led response to the Notting Hill race riots of 1958.

There will also be fringe meetings organised by Black Activists Rising Against Cuts, PCS and RMT on the themes of race discrimination in the labour market, challenging the politics of hate and division and reparations.

This year’s fundraising social will raise money to combat the Ebola crisis. Public Service International has set up an aid fund to assist workers impacted. You can contribute at www.world-psi.org/en/issue/Ebola.

• Zita Holbourne is on the PCS national executive and the TUC race relations committee. She is also co-chair of anti-cuts group BARAC UK and a member of the Movement Against Xenophobia steering group.