‘We will oppose Trumpian attacks on equality, inclusion and diversity’
In his blog, Hector looks at the attacks by Donald Trump on American federal workers and how this rhetoric is increasingly being mirrored by the Reform Party in the UK.
WOW is an appropriate acronym for the War on Woke strategy being pursued by Donald Trump’s administration in the US.
One day after taking office, Trump immediately ordered the termination “to the maximum extent allowed by law” of all diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) programmes. Indeed, all federal workers working on DEI programmes were placed on administrative leave.
It should be noted that a disproportionate number of workers in the US federal government are Black/African American. This “over-representation” has led many on the American right to believe that Black people get preferential treatment in the federal government.
A couple of months ago, the PCS national executive committee met online with Everett Kelly, president of our sister union in the US, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). Everett explained that his union membership is very diverse, and that some of his members have been fired because they attended diversity training arranged under Joe Biden’s administration. He was very clear that federal workers are hired on merit.
We now see Trump’s anti-DEI rhetoric infecting the UK. Rolls-Royce has announced that it plans to scrap its DEI programme and replace it with an Employee Voice Network. Meanwhile, the Reform Party leader Nigel Farage told staff working on DEI (or EDI, as it’s more commonly known in the UK) in local councils now controlled by the party that they should find another job.
More recently, Reform has claimed that the government spends £7 billion a year on EDI. Official figures show the actual spending in 2022–23 was just £27 million. This kind of exaggeration misleads the public and undermines the important work being done to ensure fairness and equality in public services.
EDI work helps ensure that everyone, regardless of background, is treated fairly at work and when using public services. These comments, imported from the US, highlight the lack of understanding of the importance of these roles performed by ordinary workers. They are in the workplace to hold the employer to account: to highlight inequality and ensure it is addressed.
PCS offers its full solidarity not only to US federal workers under attack by an increasingly authoritarian administration, but also to workers here in the UK who carry out important EDI work.