THE TUC report Living on the Margins highlighted how black workers have been disproportionately affected by the increase in part-time, zero-hours, low-paid and insecure work.

The TUC race relations committee is hosting a fringe meeting today (12.45pm, Meeting Room 15) to look at ways in which changes in working patterns and in the contractual relationship between employer and employees has had a negative effect on black communities. It will examine how trade unions can help to organise successful campaigns across all communities to fight for decent jobs, decent hours and decent pay. Speakers at the meeting include Professor Sonia McKay and the general secretaries of Unison and the CWU.

The growing trend for employers to only offer zero-hours contracts has had a detrimental impact on young black people in particular.

Working on zero-hours contracts means that they can’t plan for the future and makes it impossible to start renting a home when they don’t know if they will get enough work from one week to the next. It’s exploitation on top of the multiple discrimination faced by young black people in the labour market.

Racism in the labour market is not always subtle. Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (Barac) is frequently approached by people seeking advice and support because of race discrimination in recruitment and employment. One example is a young black man, a recent first-class honours graduate who spent several days preparing thoroughly for a job interview with a national company. He was told just six minutes into his interview that it was concluded. He was subsequently told that was unsuccessful and he did not perform well in his interview — an interview which was virtually non-existent. In the absence of any other explanation he could only conclude that he was rejected because of his race.

Another example is the young woman that enquired on Facebook if a nightclub had any part-time vacancies and received an online response saying they had vacancies but did not want Caribbean people working there. And there’s the young black man who faced a sign at the entrance to the staff canteen stating in derogatory and racist language that he was not permitted to eat in there. And the young woman who reported racial abuse by customers and was told by her manager that she must have provoked it so it is her fault.

This kind of experience is soul-destroying and trade unions must stamp on this terrible conduct by employers. Strong unions are essential but so are trade union representatives that are strong anti-racists and are trained and equipped to deal with race cases without bias or prejudice.

This year the motion voted by the TUC black workers’ conference to go to Congress was on police stop and search powers. Young African, Caribbean and Asian people are up to 33 times more likely to be stopped and searched than their white counterparts in England and Wales, with the figure increasing when it comes to stops made under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. We are criticising the deafening silence of politicians, policy-makers and police forces in failing to address this.

The motion calls on the general council to campaign to make police forces accountable for their stop and search figures and establish plans of action to change their culture. It calls for the TUC to become a vocal advocate on this issue.

Austerity and cuts have forced numerous race monitoring groups to close their doors due to lack of funding — organisations like the highly respected Newham Monitoring Unit (NMU) which I used to volunteer for on the emergency 24-hour helpline. Services like the one that NMU provided were a lifeline to those who are subjected to harassment by police or by racists. Their closure means that those most likely to be targeted are more vulnerable and less supported.

Last month while I was visiting a friend we were disturbed by wailing sirens. We were shocked on the quiet residential road she lived on to be greeted by several police cars and vans and over a dozen police officers detaining two young black men. I questioned the police, gave advice to the young men and monitored and documented the police throughout and after considerable time, intimidation and distress for one of the young men by the police carrying out a check on his mobile phone, he was allowed to go.

On talking to the young man I discovered that he and his friend had been stopped in their car and then searched not just once but twice. When I questioned the police as to why they had searched him twice, their response was that a female officer had first searched him and, unable to carry out a thorough enough search due to her gender, a male officer then had to search him. This was a nonsensical response because there were a dozen or more police present, the majority of them male.

I just happened to be there but I dread to think what might have happened if that young man had no advice or support and the police were not documented. It is even more important than ever, with cuts reducing monitoring units, that we stop and document it with our mobile phones when we see police stopping young black people. A series of young black men have been killed at the hands of the police and state, including Mark Duggan. Last month I participated in the annual vigil and a march from Broadwater Farm to mark the fourth anniversary of Mark’s death. Four years on, his family are still fighting for justice and answers.

Mark’s mother Pamela Duggan said: “It has come to light that the man who passed a gun to Mark before he was killed was not arrested weeks earlier, despite evidence that he was known to officers and had used the same weapon in another attack. If Trident acted more responsibly, Mark may not have been killed and Londoners would not have witnessed violent public disorder on the streets which traumatised our city. The family have launched a new petition calling on the Home Secretary to hold a public inquiry.”

You can sign that petition at http://chn.ge/1WczMYj.

Each TUC equality conference is allowed to vote for a single motion to go on the Congress agenda. With the exception of the motion from TUC black workers’ conference, there is barely any mention of racism and black communities in the motions on the agenda despite the tidal wave of deepening racism affecting black people as students, workers, service users and in communities.

The trade union movement has a key role and responsibility to challenge racism and defend black workers and communities, but this is not reflected in the conference agenda. With the worst cuts yet to come disproportionately affecting black people and other equality groups, this is a time to speak out about racism and stand up to racist attitudes and actions — whether they are committed by government, institutions or individuals.

On Monday I spoke at a fringe meeting organised by Stand Up to Racism and Unite Against Fascism opposing racism, the scapegoating of immigrants, Islamophobia and austerity.

Last weekend Barac, with Stand Up to Racism and others, organised a national day of action under the banner “Refugees welcome,” with a march and rally through central London and events around the country. The dehumanisation of refugees escaping persecution, war and poverty by politicians and pundits is indicative of the deepening racism we face, creating division and stirring up hatred.

The aim of the meeting was to bring together communities on the receiving end of racism, the anti-racist movement and trade unions to build a movement that can respond robustly to the unrelenting unleashing of racist abuse, rhetoric and scapegoating.

Migrant and black communities are not to blame for austerity, they are the victims of it. The Black Lives Matter movement has shown us that younger generations are not willing to sit back and accept racist attacks, police and state brutality and murders without a fight. Here in Britain young black people, like those in Barac’s sister organisation Black Out London, are leading campaigns to fight racism too. This gives us hope but it also saddens me that another generation has no choice but to fight racism in order to survive.

Our children and grandchildren deserve better than a life assigned to defending themselves from the onslaught of racism, hatred and injustice, and the trade union movement has a responsibility to stand up to racism — be it in the workplace or in communities. It must get its own house in order too by tackling underrepresentation and maintaining zero tolerance for racism in our movement. Black lives matter at work, they matter at school and university, they matter in access to housing and services and they matter on our streets and in our communities.

Zita Holbourne is elected to the TUC race relations committee, PCS national executive committee and the Movement Against Xenophobia steering group and is the co-founder and national co-chair of Barac. She is also a poet, visual artist and curator.