Letter: Hard-won justice for black Britons

Sir: The photograph in today's Independent of the black London Transport workers who have just won their racial discrimination claim is truly a 'picture of shame' for contemporary Britain.

The tribunal's award, welcome though it may be, can only go a small way towards compensating for the hurt and humiliation suffered at the hands of their employer by these black workers. It is a national disgrace that black Britons should have had to organise themselves and go through lengthy and expensive proceedings to establish elementary justice for themselves at the workplace.

The case for fair and just treatment at work is a challenge both to trade unions and employers. Today there are thousands of black people suffering similar discrimination, unseen and unheard by the world outside their workplace.

Neither business nor unions have any grounds whatsoever for complacency on this important issue. We must accept our responsibility and act to root out racial discrimination at work, or else any talk of a 'classless society' will remain little better than an insult.

Yours sincerely,

BILL MORRIS

General Secretary

Transport and General

Workers Union

London, SW1

6 April