Trades Councils

Trades Union Councils bring together unions to work and campaign around issues affecting working people in their local workplaces and communities. Trades Union Councils aim to:

  • raise public awareness of rights at work and the union role in enforcing those rights.
  • promote organising and recruitment drives to build union membership.
  • support union and community campaigns for dignity and respect in the workplace and beyond.

With the threats of racism and fascism, changes in the labour market and debates over the future of public services, the trade union voice in the community is as important as ever. The capacity of trades union councils to provide a local response and to organise trade unionists into coalitions with other progressive forces is crucial. They do this by providing services which keep local trade unionists up to date with developments within the wider trade union movement, and by taking up relevant local industrial and community issues.

How Trades Union Councils work

Trades Union Councils consist of trade unions or branches of trade unions which meet within the area covered by that council, or which have members working or living in the area. A union branch will normally affiliate to the trades union council in the area in which it meets. Each branch will then send delegates to the trades union council's meetings. These branches pay an affiliation fee. Their delegates elect officers from amongst themselves to represent the views and priorities of the constituent branches and to take responsibility for working for and supporting the policy of Congress and the TUC General Council. This is because trades union councils are registered with the TUC, rather than being entirely independent bodies. The Annual Conference of Trades Union Councils takes place over a May weekend.

For more details about Trades Union Councils, you can read the TUC's guide, Unions in the Community. You can also see an A-Z list of Trades Union Councils.

To download a copy of the Trades Union Councils logo visit our logo downloads page.


The most recent documents available on this subject are:

2013 Directory of Trades Union Councils and County Associations

The on-line version of the 2013 Directory of Trades Union Councils and County Associations has now been published on the TUC website. The directory contains the contact details for all registered trades union councils and county associations in Engla...

4 March 2013
A new logo for Trades Union Councils

The TUCJCC wanted something that people inside and outside the union movement would instantly recognise as meaning trades union council. So it asked trades union councils to design one.

19 December 2012
A-Z of Trades Union Councils

We have compiled a list of links to Trades Union Councils across the UK.

7 December 2012
Model Rules for Trades Union Councils and County Associations of Trades Union Councils

The Trades Union Councils Joint Consultative Committee has decided that the rules and guidance should give clearer guidance to those wishing to establish trades union councils or to new officers of trades union councils and county associations about ...

8 November 2012
2012 Directory of Trades Union Councils and County Associations

Find the contact details for trades union councils in your area

26 October 2012
A web site for every Trades Union Council

Leftspace and the TUC have developed a dedicated area of unionsinthecommunity for trades union councils all around the country which, once activated, will give each trades council and county association a unique web address and an area of the website...

24 October 2012



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