10 September 2012
The government has embarked on its short and speedy march to an unequal and unjust society by its swingeing cuts to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), Unite, the country's largest union, warned today (Monday, 10 September).
Unite assistant general secretary, Diana Holland told TUC delegates in Brighton that due to funding cuts the EHRC will have lost three-quarters of its staff and two-thirds of its funding by 2014.
Diana Holland asked:“Will there be 75 per cent less discrimination and 66 per cent less inequality as a result? No, there won't be.”
Diana Holland exposed the hypocritical rhetoric behind the coalition's“bizarre, twisted logic”.
“As they press ahead with these devastating cuts, ministers continue to claim that equality is 'fundamental' to the coalition government.
“The message from this trade union movement must be loud and clear. All those struggling against discrimination and inequality are not on their own.
“We know that none of the social and economic advances have been handed to us on a plate. Every single one, including the EHRC, has been struggled for and won.
“We need to come together again as an all-embracing alliance to fight these policies like never before – from the 20 October march for the future that works, and beyond.”