BAME Officer – Branch Role Description

The following description is designed to help BAME Officers understand their role.

Introduction

 The BAME abbreviation stands for Black & Asian, Minority Ethnic. There is a debate on the use of this acronym and some people use black in a political collective context, or PoC (People of Colour).

General Conference 2014 agreed that the BAME Officer role will form part of the model branch constitution. The following is not an exhaustive list and is meant for guidance. The role will include:

  • Promoting issues affecting BAME workers to the branch
  • Reporting to their branch/region on relevant
  • Escalating relevant issues where necessary. This should involve collaborative work with their respective Regional Leads and Equality Officer and if necessary the appropriate IR
  • Generally working closely with your Regional BAME
  • Acting as a general point of contact where necessary on BAME
  • Providing information to BAME members (liaise with the branch on this accordingly). Where possible, direct communication with BAME members is a good way to have effective outreach (newsletter etc).
  • Attending Regional and National Equality meetings, TUC or STUC Black Workers Conference (latter as a visitor if individual is not elected to attend via right through CWU elections)
  • Involvement and support of CWU campaigns against the Far Right, promoting rights of migrant workers and refugees
  • Compilation of motions to CWU General Conference (equality section). Individual should be versed in protocol applied for submission of motions – liaise with branch for info if unsure
  • Consideration to attend CWU Regional Leads meetings as an observer; permission from the National Officer should be obtained Also discuss with your branch if there are any fiscal elements required to attend, as this will be met by the branch, so authorisation will be required before attending.

Further recommendation:

Arguably the role will be as interesting and varied as the BAME Officer makes it.  Support from the branch is also required to help bring value to the role. Black History Month (BHM) is an area where branches can launch local initiatives to help raise awareness around BHM and the valuable role played by BAME people in history. Consider what education you can benefit from to help build your skills and knowledge. If the demographics are healthy enough, consideration should also be given to exploring the possibility of a branch BAME sub-committee.

Ultimately the Equality, Education & Development Department and our National and Regional Leads are committed to helping our BAME Officers, along with all the other equality strand Branch Officers.

Any queries should be sent to equality&education@cwu.org