South West London and St George’s signs UNISON’s anti-racism charter
South West London and St George’s made a further public commitment to active anti-racism last month by signing the Unison anti-racism charter during its March Board Meeting.
The charter aims to tackle workplace racism in the public sector and commits organisations and their leaders to challenging racism and having a clear and visible anti-racism programme of initiatives and actions. The newly-signed Unison charter will sit alongside the Trust’s existing commitments to active anti-racism through its “anti-racism: values into behaviours framework”.
The charter includes promoting a diverse workforce, addressing the impact of racism on staff wellbeing, and regularly reviewing strategies to improve racial equality, diversity, and inclusion so the organisation can reflect the communities it serves.
UNISON London regional secretary Sara Gorton said: “This is an important step by the Trust and a significant one towards tackling racism in all its forms and creating a safer, fairer workplace for all staff.
“Signing the charter is just the start of this work, and we will continue working with the Trust to turn these values into meaningful change across the organisation.”
Vanessa Ford, Chief Executive of South West London and St George’s said: “We want our Trust to be a place where everyone feels they belong, where we are all safe to bring our whole selves to work or care. And yet, despite the progress we have made together, racism and discrimination still exist in society, and in our organisation. We are committed to being an actively anti-racist organisation which challenges racist behaviours and works against racial prejudice to ensure that patients and staff are treated with kindness, respect and civility.”
“We are proud to be signing the anti-racism charter in partnership with our Unison colleagues. This is one of many important initiatives and actions that we are taking to achieve this goal.”
Dr Ranti Lawumi, Chair, and Jacqueline Codrington, Deputy Chair of the Evolve staff network said: “Unison’s anti-racism charter is another powerful way to signal that tackling racial discrimination is a serious priority for our Trust - as it should be for all NHS Trusts. It is simply not enough just to talk about being to be anti-racist or to be non-racist”.
“We all know that actions have a greater impact than words alone. Evolve is looking forward to working with our leaders and staff in the Trust to support our programme of initiatives, which will take us further along the path to becoming a truly anti-racist organisation.”
