This month we celebrate 25 years of EOR. In this, our 200th edition, we have reflections from our editorial advisory panel members.
These range from comments on the huge shift in social and cultural attitudes, to the persistent problems with the equal pay laws, the groundbreaking concept of reasonable adjustments in the disability legislation, the expansion of the business case for diversity and lessons to be learnt from Northern Ireland. Not surprisingly, a recurrent theme is the Equality Act 2010, which is on the whole welcomed, but not without some reservations about the missed opportunity to make further progress towards equality.
25 years of equality reporting
In addition to our advisory panel contributions, we have included comments from some of our subscribers, explaining why they use EOR. Many of their sentiments can be summed up by the comments of one of our panel members, Gloria Mills, who said:
“I would like to extend my congratulations to Equal Opportunities Review. I am an avid reader. EOR adds huge value in helping to address some of the social issues of our time. It provides incisive and cutting-edge analysis of issues, trends, reports and case studies, that helps shape legislation and strategies in the spheres of equality and diversity.
“It is my foremost source of reference for authoritative and reliable information on equality and diversity. For example, when I led a delegation to lobby the then EU Social Affairs Commissioner I was able to reference EOR’s first feature article on age discrimination (EOR 25 May/June 1989) to build a cogent case for legislation to prohibit age discrimination in employment.”
The contributions by our panel members, and the reflections by Michael Rubenstein in his Diary, provide powerful reminders of how far equality and diversity have progressed since EOR was first published in April/May 1985.
Community cohesion
An area into which EOR has not ventured before is the role of local authorities in promoting community cohesion. We have a feature by Debbie Coulter explaining how The Campaign Company (TCC) has been helping local bodies to develop communication strategies that reach out to all groups in their communities. She explains the theory that TCC has applied to ensure that local authorities can engage with all groups within society, and gives the example of the white working class as a disaffected group. Better communication techniques, she argues, can lead to improved cohesion.
Trade unions and objective justification of discrimination
How far can employers shift the blame for discrimination on to trade unions? Bronwyn McKenna of Unison explains the extent to which tribunals have accepted collective bargaining and collective agreements to support a justification defence in discrimination claims. She sets out the key principles emerging from the cases, and concludes that the more focused the negotiations and the greater the quality and depth of information made available to members, the more likely it is that reliance can be placed on it. She argues that one consequence is that union internal democracy will come under more scrutiny where employers attempt to draw the unions into their defence of claims brought against them.
Informal resolution of harassment claims
Both our case studies – Suffolk Constabulary and Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – have placed emphasis on the introduction of informal procedures to resolve conflict at the workplace arising from harassment or bullying.
In the case of Suffolk Constabulary, it has introduced trained mediators to help resolve complaints in-house. It also provides a range of options open to those who feel harassed, ranging from confiding in someone but taking no action to making a formal written complaint, with the victim of harassment deciding at which stage of the process they want to start.
At Barnsley NHS Trust, funding has been used to train harassment support workers who provide a confidential service to victims of harassment. These support workers are available across all grades and departments, and the victim can choose who they wish to speak to.
Subscribers to EOR Online can read the full text of all the articles mentioned above as well as our usual news, diary and case reports in Issue 200.
If you don't already subscribe to Equal Opportunities Review, you can find out more about EOR here, or else go ahead and subscribe to EOR here.