Campaigners urge Bristol businesses to tackle black pay gap
Curiosity UnLtd launches initiative to address pay disparities
Civil rights campaigners in Bristol are urging local businesses to commit to eliminating the black pay gap, as part of a city-wide initiative launched by Curiosity UnLtd, a Bristol-based think tank and campaign group.
The campaign highlights the disparity in pay for people of African Caribbean descent, with Bristol's black pay gap currently standing at 24.1 percent, higher than the national average of 19.8 percent. For black women in Bristol, the pay gap rises to 26.5 percent.
Curiosity UnLtd is advocating for businesses in Bristol to take part in the #CountMeIn Challenge, which encourages employers to measure ethnicity data, report the pay gap, and act to close it.
Julz Davis, Disruptor in Chief at Curiosity UnLtd, emphasised the broader implications of the pay gap. "That doesn’t just show up in a pay packet. It shows up in employment records it shows up in health statistics and outcomes. It shows up in schools and educational outcomes, policing outcomes, in housing," Davis said.
He continued: "This isn’t just about the pay packet. I think this is something that has been growing painfully large leaving a festering wound that needs to be treated. We see Bristol as being the civil rights capital of the UK and you can’t have a civil rights capital that has a pay gap of the size that we do we’ve got to reduce that we’ve got to lead by example as a city."
Davis added, "We’re talking about growth here we’re talking about wealth. We’re talking about equitable economic inclusive policies that generates better outcomes for all of Britain’s citizens."
With mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting on the horizon, campaigners hope the initiative will pave the way for meaningful changes to economic justice in Bristol, a city with a rich civil rights history.