ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch's speech to Congress 2026

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Brothers and sisters, colleagues,

Trade unions are built on one simple idea: working people are stronger together than divided.

That idea is under attack.

Across Europe, the far right is on the rise  feeding on insecurity, on misinformation, on division. Its real agenda isn't the one it markets on doorsteps. It's not challenging the system that failed working people. It's reinforcing the power, the wealth, the grip of the tech bros bankrolling it.

And colleagues  in this fight, we are not bystanders. We are on the front line.

We are the democratic force that organises power in workplaces, in the economy, in society. We are the counterweight to the far right. Every time we organise, protect rights and build solidarity, we expose the lie and defend democracy itself.

That is exactly why they come after us. Trade unions are the vanguard of democracy  and the far right knows it.

The playbook is the same everywhere: migration scares, fear of the EU, climate denial, and fake pro-worker rhetoric from people who have never stood on a picket line in their lives.

So we are organising the fight-back  together.

We set that path in Barcelona last April, when union leaders from across Europe met at our Trade Union Assembly. Our Bread and Roses Action Centre is turning that strategy into action  and the TUC is one of its driving forces. Collective mobilisation is our sharpest tool.

Yes, it will be bumpy. Standing up to the far right always is. Confrontational, yes  but unifying, and necessary to every advance we've made since.

And everywhere, unions are fighting back: in the workplace, in the streets, in our campaigns, in our advocacy, in collective action.

Look at what the TUC is doing right here  social media that cuts through the noise and takes the far right's biggest lie head-on: that they stand for working people. They don't. And the TUC is proving it, sharply, cleverly, at scale. That's not commentary. That's combat  fought and won on the very ground the far right thought it owned.

Look at Norway. Ahead of their last election, Norwegian unions backed their own members to become influencers: trusted voices telling the truth about who benefits from strong unions, and who profits from division. The polls told one story. Working people, organised and amplified, wrote another. Progressives won.

That's not a one-off. It's a model. In Germany, in France, in Spain, across Europe, we are training our members  our movement's greatest source of power  to out-communicate the merchants of hate and division.

But communication alone doesn't win this. Delivery does.

Better, more secure jobs. Fair, living wages. Strong public services. An industrial policy that reaches every region, not just the winners. That is what it takes to fight off the far right.

Because austerity, the attacks on workers' rights, the hollowing out of public services, precarious work and the cost of living have deepened the instability the far right feeds on. That is a system rigged against working people. And people know it.

The most effective answer to the far right is a fair deal for workers, delivered in reality. Jobs, pay, working conditions, collective bargaining  these are the frontline of the fight for democracy, today more than ever.

Progressive governments have to show they are on our side : a strong, sustainable economy built on higher wages, quality jobs, workers' rights and real investment, with decisive action on the cost of living. Prove that a strong social dimension isn't a cost to economic progress  it's the foundation of it.

And take on the far right's deepest lie: that that the world is only made safe by turning the stranger, the migrant, the neighbour who looks or prays differently, into the enemy. Hate dressed up as patriotism, bullying dressed up as strength.

We say the opposite. Respect for every worker no matter what job they do no matter where they are from or who they love. Solidarity is are not a soft option. But it is our most effectively strategy.

That's why we launched Trade Unions for Peace last year. We meet again soon in Rome. And next year we start training Peace Ambassadors trade unionists equipped to make the case for solidarity over fear, wherever we organise.

Colleagues, the far right offers people someone to blame. We offer something better: strong unions, decent jobs, fair wages, public services that work — and a movement that knows how to tell that story and win.

So across every country, in a our languages  we will keep confronting the far right  at work, in society, in our democracies. We will win quality jobs, fair pay and conditions. A trade union rights in every workplace, collective agreements with wages you can live on, rights you can rely on, and workmates who stand up for  dignity for all. Strong public services. Fair taxation and investment in our future.

Because the future isn't owed to whoever shouts loudest about the past. It belongs to whoever can actually picture the future and then has the organised power to build it.

We've done it before. We will do it again.

No pasarán! Solidarity forever.

Thank you.