Sheila Bearcroft speech to Congress 2009
Sheila Bearcroft keynote address to Congress 2009
Speech by TUC President. Liverpool, Monday 14 September 2009
Congress, It is a great honour to stand before you both as lay member, and as the first Welsh woman ever to be TUC President. And it's fantastic to be here in Liverpool, a great trade union city, for what is the highlight of our year.
Colleagues, as I'm in charge this week, can I begin with a very simple house rule? The owners of any telephones going off during Congress will be subject to a strict but fair system of fines - based, of course, on ability to pay. A £5 fine for lay members. A £15 fine for union employees. A £50 fine for politicians.
And let me make one thing clear: they won't be allowed to put that on expenses. In fact all proceeds will go to a charity very dear to me: Brick Pakistan. A charity for bonded labourers, many of whom are children, who work in the brick manufacturing industry. All monies collected could help build a very different future for some of the most vulnerable workers anywhere in the world.
Colleagues, I want to start today by saying thank you to all those people who have made this such a memorable year for me. Thanks to the TUC staff and members of the General Council.
Thanks to everyone at the GMB for their support throughout the year - in particular my regional secretary Alan Garley, who has always been totally supportive and an excellent mentor; and of course my general secretary Paul Kenny, who has been unstinting in his support and unwavering in his commitment to everything I have done.
And thanks to all of you for giving me the privilege of representing this movement.
I've been proud to travel to Ireland, Spain and Holland on behalf of the TUC, and I few weeks ago I was in Zimbabwe. A deeply moving experience - and let the message go out from this Congress that every Zimbabwean worker can count on our solidarity and our support.
Last but not least, let me thank Mark Serwotka, not just for sharing my Welsh sense of humour, but for bearing the brunt of it. To me, Mark is the Ryan Giggs of the trade union movement. Welsh, good looking, and one of the finest left-wingers of his generation.
Congress, when I left school at 15 without any formal qualifications, I could never have dreamt that one day I would stand before you as I am now. But everything I have achieved, as a working-class woman, I have achieved because of our movement.
I've worked in a variety of jobs: in a shop, in a food processing factory, in a carbide works, and in a textile plant. And throughout my working life - wherever I've worked - I've experienced first hand the true value of workers joining together to speak with one voice.
That's why I got involved with the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers back in the late 1970s. Three decades on, and I'm convinced there's never been more need for strong, effective trade unions than now.
And what matters most of all is not what happens here in this conference hall - but what happens on the ground. In our offices and factories, shops and schools, power stations and prisons, hotels and hospitals, town halls and transport hubs: in the workplaces that make up Britain.
That's why the work of our 250,000 lay reps - the unsung heroes of our movement - is so hugely important.
They are the difference between a job lost and a job saved. Between a worker treated fairly and a worker exploited. Between a workplace where safety, equality and learning matter - and a workplace where they do not.
So let me pay tribute to the work our activists do - day in, day out.
Not just supporting colleagues; not just speaking up for workers; but making our movement what it is - the largest voluntary organisation in Britain today.
Congress, this is a hugely difficult time for all of us. The recession is having a devastating impact on the jobs, living standards and aspirations of the working people we represent.
The public services we all rely on are facing a decade of cuts, thanks to the mess greedy bankers have caused and also the billions the government has squandered on expensive consultants and needless reforms.
And some of our most vulnerable communities are being preyed on by the cynical opportunists of the Far Right. The election of two BNP MEPs in June was a deeply disturbing development. And it must be us - the trade union movement - that leads the way in the battle against racism and fascism. We have a long and distinguished history of speaking up for all working people, regardless of colour or creed - and we are not about to give up on that now. Let it be the politics of hope, not the politics of hate, that shape our future.
But while we face some pretty big challenges here in the UK, let us not forget the wider struggle of working people right across the world. The consequences of the economic crisis may be bad here - but they are worse elsewhere. Measured not in numbers and statistics - but in the brutal calculus of starvation and squalor.
The theme of Congress this year is 'end global exploitation', and together we must keep fighting for a global economy that puts people and planet first. Out of the wreckage of the neoliberal crash needs to come a new and very different kind of globalisation. Where fairness comes before a fast buck, sustainability comes before shareholders, and public services come before private excess.
And as we rebuild the world economy, let us take this unique opportunity to remove once and for all the abomination of child labour. I'm proud to have worked closely with a number of anti-exploitation charities over the years, and there's one story that will always stick in my mind. The story of two young girls in Pakistan, barely more than five years' old. Denied the chance of an education, forced instead do dangerous, back-breaking work in the carpet manufacturing industry, and repeatedly raped by their bosses.
They featured in a video produced by one of the charities the GMB supports. And I'll never forget the look in their eyes, the look of hopelessness, nor how they said that they would rather be dead. But the story did not end there. Because thanks to the work of that charity, those two girls are now free - enjoying the basic human rights we all take for granted.
So we are not powerless to act. Together, we can change things for the better.
You know, this year we celebrated the anniversary of the moon landings. A moment of hope for the world: when we saw just what science, technology and human endeavour could achieve. But if we can scale those heights, then four decades on surely it can be within our gift to take children out of work and put them into school.
Let us be clear about this. Education is a right, not a privilege - whether in Britain, in Pakistan, or anywhere in the world. So let us none of us rest until the ugly scar of child labour is eradicated - permanently and irreversibly - and every child is free to achieve their true potential in life.
Congress, what unites all our campaigns is one very simple principle: solidarity. The core belief that together we are stronger; that you are my keeper and I am yours; that we do not walk by on the other side.
That's what makes me proud to have devoted my working life to this movement. That's what makes me proud to be a trade unionist. And that's what makes me proud to stand before you today. Thank you, and have a great week.
Stay Updated
Want to hear about our latest news and blogs?
Sign up now to get it straight to your inbox