BLACKPOOL'S Winter Gardens is to play host to an important conference to encourage better race relations.

With the theme of race equality through trade union recognition, the TUC black workers' conference, from April 16-18, will feature speeches from prominent members of the police, unions and the public.

Neville Lawrence and Suhkdev Reel, two parents whose children have been victims of racist murders, are among the speakers to address 400 trade unionists descending upon Blackpool.

The conference will also feature a speech from two of the trade union officials sacked by in-flight caterer LSG Lufthansa Skyshef last November.

Other speakers at the TUC black conference, to be held in the town's Winter Gardens, include Derick Heaven, Jamaican High Commissioner, George Johannes from the South African High Commission and Paul Wilson, chair of the Metropolitan black police association.

New TUC research looking at the position of black and Asian workers will be discussed along with topics ranging from institutionalised racism, immigration and role models for young black people.

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