General Council Report 2020

1.1 Introduction 

In March 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic spread across the UK it became clear that the country was facing its greatest public health crisis for a century. On 23 March, the government introduced significant new restrictions limiting people’s ability to travel outside their homes, closing schools and shutting down large sections of the UK economy. Over the months that followed, tens of thousands of people lost their lives to Covid-19, with many more facing severe illness. Keyworkers put their own lives on the line to care for coronavirus patients and to keep key services and industries open. Rates of bankruptcy and unemployment rose sharply as the economic impacts of the pandemic began.

Throughout this period the TUC has sought to ensure that the voice of working people is at the heart of the government’s policy response, and to support unions in their vital work of protecting workers’ safety and livelihoods.

1.2 Jobs and the economy

In early March, as the scale of the potential hit to jobs emerged, the TUC published a report calling for the urgent introduction of a wage subsidy scheme, modelled on schemes across Europe. Following intensive discussions with the TUC and business groups, the chancellor announced the coronavirus job retention scheme (generally known as the ‘furlough scheme’). This committed the government to pay 80 per cent of the wages of workers who would otherwise be laid off because of the pandemic – up to a cap of £2,500 a month. The TUC then called for a similar scheme to support the self-employed – publishing a new report the following week and continuing urgent discussions with the Treasury, including a roundtable with unions representing self-employed workers. The self-employment income support scheme, covering 80 per cent of the incomes of lower-paid self-employed workers, was announced shortly after.

The TUC lobbied hard to ensure many insecure workers were eligible for one of the two main government wage-support schemes during the pandemic. However, large numbers remained ineligible and some employers refused to enter insecure workers for the schemes.

While neither scheme is perfect, both have provided vital support to protect jobs. At the end of June 2020, 9.3 million jobs had been furloughed – with workers’ wages paid through the job retention scheme, and £25bn paid out from the Treasury to support their employment. A further 2.6 million people had received support through the self-employed income support scheme, with a total of £7.7bn paid.

The TUC and unions remained in dialogue with the Chancellor and the Treasury throughout, securing significant improvements to the job retention scheme’s operation. These included the initial ability to run job rotation schemes, clarity that those on insecure contracts could be furloughed, an extension to the ‘cut-off date’ for entry to the furlough scheme and confirmation that union reps could perform their vital roles while on furlough. We also helped secure a clear statement that employers could use the furlough scheme to support the incomes of those who could not work because of health or caring responsibilities.

When the government moved to phase out the scheme we argued for measures to protect wages and jobs. We secured confirmation that as the Treasury moved to reduce the role of the furlough scheme, workers’ wages would not be reduced below 80 per cent of their normal rate, employers would be able to bring workers back on a part-time basis, and that employer contributions would be phased in only on a gradual basis.

Despite the significant role that both the furlough and the self-employed income support schemes have played in protecting jobs and wages, the TUC has argued throughout the crisis that a wider package of support is needed. We held two roundtables with the Chancellor, facilitated meetings between union leaders and Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, and organised regular meetings with business secretary Alok Sharma and his under-secretary Paul Scully. We have argued for further support through the furlough scheme – including for those excluded from the current scheme, who are shielding or have caring responsibilities, and for businesses that are viable but face cash-flow problems due to the virus.

The TUC remains concerned that the government will need to provide significantly more support to the economy to protect jobs. In early May, we published a set of proposals for a new jobs guarantee, setting out the need for funded, additional jobs for those at risk of long-term unemployment, especially young people. Later the same month we published A Better Recovery, launched at an online event with the TUC general secretary speaking alongside Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds MP. In June we published Rebuilding After Recession, showing that investment in low-carbon infrastructure had the potential to support 1.24 million jobs, and setting out how increased investment in public services should also be used to support employment. The report argued for new sectoral recovery panels and for the government taking equity stakes in companies. It also urged the government to put equality at the heart of its proposals for protecting jobs, ensuring that the structural discrimination faced by BME people, women, disabled people and other groups with protected characteristics was not worsened in recession. We continue to call for a national council for recovery to give unions and business a voice in shaping the post-Covid-19 economy.

Throughout, the TUC has argued that we need not only to rebuild the economy but also to build back better, with decent work as our priority. The coronavirus has exposed many of the inequalities in the labour market that the TUC has long highlighted: the systematic underpayment of key workers; the insecurity faced by those on zero-hours contracts, including a shamefully high proportion of the social care workforce; the lack of respect for workers who have spoken out about health and safety; and deep-seated racial inequalities that have led to a disproportionate number of coronavirus deaths among BME people.

1.3 Social security

As the pandemic has hit, the TUC has exposed three fundamental problems with sick pay: the three days that people have to wait before becoming eligible; the exclusion of two million people because they do not earn enough to qualify; and the shockingly low level of the benefit, which at £96 a week is worth just a fifth of weekly earnings. The government responded to the problem of the three-day waiting period in the March budget, announcing that those who were self-isolating due to coronavirus would receive sick pay from day one. However, the TUC continues to campaign to protect the two million people excluded, and to raise the level of sick pay to a level people can live on. We continue to set out to government the significant hardship that current sick pay policy causes for people at work, as well as the limits it places on the national coronavirus response.

During the pandemic, as people have lost their jobs or have fallen between the gaps in the job protection schemes, the government advised them to turn to the welfare safety net. The TUC has highlighted how this safety net has failed. For newly unemployed claimants, the basic rate of universal credit is worth only around a sixth of average weekly pay. We also continued to highlight the scandal of the five-week wait for the first payment of universal credit, and the huge financial suffering this has caused for claimants. As part of this work we surveyed workers on its impact.

In April, the TUC published Fixing the Safety Net: next steps in the economic response to the coronavirus crisis, a set of proposals to rebuild the social security system, including calling for a significant increase in the basic rate of benefit to £260 a week.

1.4 Special feature: Health and safety at work The TUC has placed the health and safety of workers at the heart of our coronavirus response. We have challenged both government and enforcement agencies to take action to prevent exposure to risk in every workplace. Our report on a safe return to the workplace set clear standards for all employers to follow, and the TUC and trade unions worked hard to improve very flimsy initial government guidance. We subsequently won important improvements, including a government expectation that employers publish their risk assessments, clear references to equality law and a direction for employers to consult with unions and workers. The TUC and unions were represented across many subsequent sectoral working groups set up to develop guidance on safe working practices. Deputy General Secretary Paul Nowak also represented the TUC on the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport cultural renewal taskforce. The TUC campaigned for additional resources for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and local authorities to enable them to respond effectively to Covid-19. We secured additional funding for the HSE to increase its call centre capacity, and continue to push for more substantial resources. Inspection capacity remains a key concern, along with the HSE’s decision to step back from proactive inspections at the start of lockdown. Unions raised specific concerns about the construction sector, in response to changes in guidance from Public Health England (PHE) on social distancing. Unions also questioned working practices in high-risk areas of the economy, including the meat processing sector, where significant spikes in coronavirus were experienced and the Food Standards Agency had significantly reduced its inspection regime. The TUC continues to push government to legislate to ensure all risk assessments are published online. Our ‘covid-secure’ website has shown that many employers are still falling short of minimum legal standards in health and safety. We also continue to make the case for new rights for union safety reps to be able to advise union members in all workplaces. As the government began to increase coronavirus testing capacity, the TUC published a report, Testing and Tracing for Covid-19, on fair testing and monitoring in the workplace. In discussions with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) minister Nadhim Zahawi MP, the TUC argued that low-paid workers in precarious jobs with little or no access to sick pay would not be able to afford to self-isolate. Unions reinforced this message in a roundtable with Baroness Dido Harding, chair of the NHS test and trace programme, who then echoed our concern publicly.

1.5 Protecting equality

In a response to the Women and Equality Select Committee, the TUC set out our disappointment at the government’s failure to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) during the pandemic. We argued that the impact of the pandemic, and the government’s failure to adequately assess the equality impact of its policy responses, risked setting progress on equality back decades.

We highlighted the negative impact of the pandemic on LGBT+ workers’ mental health, resulting from the breakdown of supportive community structures and possible confinement with hostile and discriminatory people, including family members.

We also gave voice to the experiences of disabled workers and released Covid-19 reasonable adjustments guidance for unions. In July we published a report, Job Security, calling for the extension of the job retention scheme for workers who had been asked by government to shield at home to protect themselves from the risk of coronavirus.

The TUC highlighted the over-exposure of BME workers to Covid-19 during the lockdown as a major factor in the disproportionate number of BME deaths. We launched a call to evidence for BME workers, asking them to tell us about their experiences of discrimination. Our report Dying on the Job, published in July, featured the real-life experience of racism that BME workers reported to us. Separately, we set out our concerns about the government’s failure to publish an important PHE report on the pandemic’s impacts on BME groups. The general secretary met the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to press that it prioritise work on race equality. The regulator subsequently launched a formal inquiry into the impact of coronavirus on BME people and we continue to call for a proper independent public inquiry into ministers’ mishandling of the crisis.

Throughout this pandemic the TUC warned that childcare issues were disproportionately affecting working mothers, widening pre-existing labour market inequalities. We called for a significant bailout for the childcare sector, to ensure that nurseries, childminders, breakfast and after-school childcare and holiday schemes were able to remain open with social distancing measures in place. Our report Forced Out: the cost of getting childcare wrong argued that without government action progress on women’s labour market participation could be lost.

It set out the scale of workplace discrimination experienced by new and expectant mothers, and the actions government and employers needed to take.

1.6 Sector interventions

Throughout the lockdown, the TUC played a key role in coordinating sectoral discussion between government and trade unions. Through the Public Services Forum, public sector unions have held several meetings with the cabinet office secretary and officials, raising a wide range of concerns directly.

The TUC challenged the government on its shambolic provision of personal protective equipment (PPE), which left frontline workers exposed when the pandemic was at its peak. Despite constant reassurances, the government has never had a meaningful or effective plan in this area. The two-tier conditions of employment in public services were also exposed, as critical support staff such as cleaners and security guards were not included in priority groups for PPE. Security staff were later found to be among those at greatest risk of coronavirus death. Unions made these points at a roundtable discussion the TUC convened with Lord Paul Deighton, appointed by government to lead a national effort to produce PPE for frontline health and social care staff. The TUC also called publicly for an independent, judge-led inquiry into the government’s failings on PPE.

Social care has been severely impacted by coronavirus. For years trade unions have been arguing that the sector is the poor relative of the health service, reflected in workforce terms and conditions. This underinvestment and neglect saw care homes receive inadequate or no PPE, and experience shockingly high death rates. The TUC supported unions to call for a new settlement for social care, setting out the need to provide good employment, pay, conditions and training for the workforce.

During the Covid-19 crisis we have facilitated regular, productive discussions between government and transport unions representing rail, bus, maritime and aviation workers. We have ensured union input into regulations on wearing masks and other safety measures, the management of fluctuations in service use during the pandemic, and other issues concerning staff wellbeing.

Public transport workers faced enormous pressure to maintain operations during the pandemic, and rail unions ensured risk assessment and risk management were prioritised. As passenger footfall increased with the easing of lockdown, rail unions continued to champion worker and public safety.

Bus drivers were among the occupational groups severely affected by coronavirus, with significant numbers of fatalities. Again, the TUC worked with unions to press for safe systems of work, and new measures were introduced to provide some protection. Transport unions have campaigned for the same death-in-service benefits that have been secured in the health sector.

Aviation was one of the first sectors to experience a dramatic downturn, with passenger numbers dropping by over 95 per cent within weeks of the lockdown. The TUC facilitated regular engagement with officials and ministers in the Department for Transport, making the case for urgent health protection measures and specific sectoral support. The economic impact of the virus will be felt for some time, with predictions suggesting it will take three to five years before passenger numbers recover to pre-pandemic levels. Tens of thousands of jobs remain at risk, as well as the sustainability of a critical part of the UK’s infrastructure.

Education unions have faced extreme pressure during the crisis. Many education workers continued to work to provide school places for key workers’ children and to support online education for those learning at home. Unions across the sector worked together to agree key safety measures to protect staff, pupils and the wider community from exposure to risk.

Government engagement with unions in the sector was poor, with health and safety guidance issued without meaningful consultation or presented to unions with insufficient time for a considered response. The government’s initial policy of achieving a full reopening of schools in England as early as possible was criticised by unions and other stakeholders as premature, given the heightened risks of the virus being transmitted among pupils and staff. In May, the TUC and education unions issued two statements outlining the measures needed for the safe wider reopening of schools. These statements also called for improvements to high-level strategic dialogue, including a taskforce comprising government, unions and education stakeholders. The TUC general secretary and education unions met with the secretary of state at the end of May to discuss these matters. In June the government established a new Covid-19 Response School Stakeholder Advisory Group, which is currently in discussions about agreeing the guidance for a wider reopening of schools in September.

Affiliated unions representing members in FE and HE also issued joint statements outlining the measures needed for the safe return of students to colleges and universities. The TUC has also highlighted the need for government to address the funding crises facing our post-school institutions.

Entertainment sectors, such as theatres and live music venues, have been particularly hit by Covid-19, with many fighting for their survival. The TUC has facilitated dialogue between entertainment unions and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to ensure that the voices of workers in the heritage, culture and entertainment industries were heard during the crisis.

1.7 Training and support for reps

TUC Education mobilised all its existing resources – and created new ones – to provide vital support and training for workplace union reps during the pandemic.

All 19 TUC Education centres were faced with the prospect of not being able to deliver in-person training for reps. In response, the TUC ensured that all centres could offer a summer term programme using the existing online materials for our three core courses – union reps one, health and safety one, and union learning reps one. By the end of April, 13 of 19 colleges had advertised a summer term programme, and by the end of May, 28 courses had started with over 350 reps registered.

The use of webinars increased dramatically after the lockdown. Between the start of lockdown and the middle of June, TUC Education delivered 13 webinars related to the pandemic, with over 8,000 reps taking part.

TUC Education also developed four microlearning sites to support reps on specific issues related to the pandemic. To date, these have been accessed by over 20,000 reps.

TUC Education also supported unions to continue to deliver training to reps. This involved e-learning, online provision and support for unions to deliver their own webinars.

Unionlearn responded rapidly to the pandemic and put in place a number of initiatives, including:

• a new Learning@Home page on the unionlearn website to promote a range of learning and training for furloughed workers, those working from home, and those made redundant
• supporting apprentices by producing a range of online guidance and resources to equip union reps and others to safeguard and sustain apprenticeships through the crisis
• a significant increase in the delivery of webinars since the lockdown, covering a range of topics on learning and skills, employment rights, and health and safety
• regular updates for Union Learning Fund project managers to support them to develop their learning and skills offer in the context of the pandemic.

2.1 Introduction

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a large shock to the economy, coming after 10 years of austerity that had weakened our public services, placed significant downward pressure on wages, and held back economic growth. Both before and after the pandemic hit, the TUC has argued that a new approach to the economy is needed that puts working people front and centre. We have called for workers’ voice to be more central to decision-making, through collective bargaining, in corporate governance, and as we prepare for the future of work. We have set out how we need more- and better-targeted public spending to support our key sectors, including the creative industries, manufacturing, and energy. And we have campaigned for a new deal for workers, with the decent pay, conditions and pensions that every worker deserves.

2.2 The Economy

The pandemic hit when economic growth was at its weakest for a decade. Annual GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2019 was 1.1 per cent; growth was last lower at the start of 2010 when the economy was coming out of the global recession. UK growth was at this point lower than the US (2.3 per cent), EU (1.2 per cent) and OECD as a whole (1.6 per cent).

TUC analysis showed that growth over the 2010s as a whole was the worst in two centuries.

Since the pandemic, the closing down of a significant part of the economy has meant GDP growth has collapsed. Over the four quarters to 2020 Q1, GDP fell by 1.8 per cent. But the key period of decline is likely to be over both March and April, when monthly GDP fell by a total of 25 per cent.

Ahead of the pandemic, the employment rate had continued to expand to a record 76.6 per cent. But pay growth was flagging: having reached a post-crisis high of 3.9 per cent in the middle of 2019 it had slowed to 2.9 per cent by February 2020. The TUC has kept these figures in perspective throughout, showing the post-crisis high was well below pre-crisis norms. Our commentary has emphasised that in-work and child poverty numbers are continuing to expand.

Since the pandemic, flash estimates based on PAYE data show the number of paid employees has dropped by 612,000, and median monthly pay has fallen by £65.

The critical issue is what happens next. Without further bold action from government, we risk huge losses of jobs and livelihoods and possibly the deepest recession since the 1930s. The OECD estimates that unemployment could hit 11 per cent this year. But this is not inevitable, and action taken now could prevent the despair of mass unemployment.

2.3 Collective bargaining and a new deal for workers

In September 2019, the TUC published a report A Stronger Voice for Workers: How collective bargaining can deliver a better deal at work. It argued that representation and voice at work is a fundamental right and set out research showing that collective bargaining delivers benefits for workers, employers and society. Drawn up following extensive consultation and discussion with unions, the report set out proposals to extend collective bargaining, including:

• unions to have access to workplaces to tell workers about the benefits of union membership and collective bargaining (following the system in place in New Zealand)
• new rights to make it easier for working people to negotiate collectively with their employer
• broadening the scope of collective bargaining rights to include all pay and conditions, and
• the establishment of new bodies for unions and employers to negotiate across sectors, starting with hospitality and social care.

The report was widely promoted, and helped inform the Labour Party’s proposals in the run up to the 2019 election.

Subsequent work has been guided by composite 5 and resolution 17. The TUC has worked with unions and employers in the social care sector to build support for a sector-wide workforce strategy as a first step towards sectoral bargaining and has continued to make the case for the report’s proposals, including the right to access to workplaces.

The TUC has campaigned throughout the year for a new deal for workers, guided by an Executive Committee working group chaired by CWU General Secretary Dave Ward, and in line with composite 7. To mark May Day, the TUC brought together unions in a joint statement, published in the Daily Mirror and across regional titles, to recognise the contribution of key workers, and to call for a New Deal, with jobs for everyone, decent pay, a strong safety net and fair terms and conditions. In July, the TUC held a major conference on organising, Organise 2020, with thousands of participants taking part in a range of online sessions across three days.

2.4 Social security

TUC work on social security continues to highlight the devastating impact of the cuts to the social security budget since 2010.

Separate analysis also showed that, taken as a whole, the tax and benefit reforms introduced by coalition and Conservative governments will make the bottom fifth of households poorer in 2021 than they were at the start of the decade. By contrast, the top fifth will be better off than in 2010.

The TUC has responded to a number of consultations, including the government’s ‘Health is everyone’s business’ that considered different ways in which government and employers could take action to reduce job loss related to ill health. Other consultations included the House of Lords inquiry into the economics of universal credit, the Work and Pensions Select Committee inquiry in to the five week wait in universal credit, and a Labour Party consultation on the future of social security after coronavirus.

2.5 Future of work and automation

The TUC’s work on the future of work and automation has been guided by resolution 19 and composite 6. The TUC was represented on the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) negotiating team that finalised a European Framework Agreement on Digitalisation. The agreement, which was signed in June, covers issues such as employment security, skills, artificial intelligence (AI) and the ‘human in control’ principle for when digital technology is introduced in the workplace. The agreement was reached with Business Europe, to which the CBI is affiliated, as well as SMEUnited and CEEP, the European local government employers’ association. 

The TUC has started a project focusing on the use of AI at different stages in the employment relationship. This will include consideration of new, coronavirus-related technologies, as well as other AI-powered technologies. The TUC established a new AI working group of affiliates to guide this work. An early output of this project is a video interview with AI experts Robin Allen QC and Dee Masters, exploring the increased use of technology at work during the coronavirus crisis.

2.6 Insecure work

The TUC has continued to fight against the prevalence of insecure work.

Our analysis showed that at least 3.7 million workers in the UK, around one in nine of the workforce, are in insecure work.  In every region of England and in Wales and Scotland, insecure workers make up at least 10 per cent of the workforce.

The coronavirus outbreak showed how vulnerable many workers are when times are tough.

There have been important trade unions wins this year for insecure workers. After years of pressure from trade unions, April saw the end of so-called Swedish Derogation contracts, which allowed employers to pay agency workers less than those they worked alongside. On the same day, rules requiring employers to supply a written statement of employment particulars to all workers on their first day of work, not just employees, came into force. 

The TUC worked with employment agency body the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) to produce a factsheet to make more agency workers aware of the changes, and to inform them of the rights that they already had.

The TUC responded to a government consultation on proposals to require minimum notice for shifts and compensation for cancelled shifts.  We insisted on robust rights in these areas but warned that an effective regime would require a ban on zero-hours contracts and the right to request a regular hours contracts.

We also noted that, in order to further protect the interests of vulnerable workers, trade unions need to play a larger role in the economy and began discussions with ministers and officials to make these points in the context of a potential employment bill.

2.7 The living wage, low pay, the national living and minimum wage, sick pay, and the labour market

The TUC has continued to make the case for a higher minimum wage, with all workers paid at least £10 an hour. Following submissions by the TUC and affiliates to the Low Pay Commission, the government announced an increase in the headline rate of the national living wage (NLW) to £8.72 an hour from 1 April 2020, a 51p increase that took the rate to 60 per cent of median earnings. Following union campaigning, the government also announced a new target for the headline rate of the national minimum wage (NMW) to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024, and a phased reduction of the minimum age for claiming the higher NLW rate from 25 to 23 in April 2021, and subsequently to age 21.

The TUC has continued to contribute to the work of the Living Wage Foundation, promoting the voluntary living wage as a minimum rate for the lowest-paid workers. TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady sits on the Living Wage Commission, which sets the rate of the living wage. The TUC has supported the Commission’s global living wage work, and its Living Hours campaign alongside a living wage.

2.8 Special feature: Industrial strategy, environment, energy, science and technology, sustainability and defence The TUC’s focus has been on a sustainable industrial strategy and on building back better after the Covid-19 crisis, highlighting the importance of an economic stimulus for a just transition to a net-zero carbon economy. We argued for an approach that promotes procurement through UK supply chains, building UK manufacturing capacity and jobs. The A Better Recovery report and the TUC’s wider work has also continued to make the case against outsourcing, including in the finance sector, in line with resolution 32. TUC activity in this area has been guided by resolution 1, resolution 2, composite 2, resolution 6, resolution 8 and resolution 11. The TUC has also embarked a major report on a just transition for the regions and nations of the UK. Evidence was taken from union officials in the North, North-West, Midlands, and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of the TUC, as well as from officials at the Wales TUC. This report highlights the specific just transition needs of different communities across the UK. Throughout our work on a just transition, we have highlighted the important role for the public sector in managing the move to a net-zero carbon economy. In December 2019, the TUC was represented at the COP25 UN climate change summit in Madrid, where we formed part of the ITUC delegation. Working with the Italian trade unions, the TUC has been planning a significant trade union contribution to COP26, to be held jointly by the UK and Italy. COP26 has now been postponed until November 2021, because of Covid-19, but trade unions continue to meet at the international level to coordinate our input to this make-or-break summit.  The Trade Union Sustainable Development Advisory Committee (TUSDAC) has continued to meet during this Congress year. Highlights include a meeting with the Director of Clean Growth at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Tim Lord. The TUC has contributed to Labour’s green recovery consultation. TUC Deputy General Secretary Paul Nowak and Northern Regional Secretary Beth Farhat have served on the IPPR’s Environmental Justice Commission, from which they argued the case for a just transition to a net-zero economy.

2.9 Creative industries

TUC work on the creative industries during this Congress year has been guided by resolution 12, resolution 27 and composite 16.

The TUC has attended quarterly meetings of the Federation of Entertainment Unions, to ensure that our work complements that of unions in the creative sector.

We worked closely together on pressing for support for the self-employed and additional funding to help the industry through the coronavirus crisis.

2.10 Pensions

Over the year, the TUC has continued to be the leading advocate for the interests of working people in the occupational pension system.

The TUC has been a strong voice for public sector workers, in line with composite 14. We condemned the government’s decision to suspend the public service pensions valuation process, which would have delivered improved pensions for workers. We also welcomed the Supreme Court ruling that changes to public sector pensions were discriminatory.

TUC officers met with Treasury officials to establish a process involving unions for developing measures to remedy age discrimination on a scheme- by-scheme basis. The TUC has lobbied government to restart the valuation process, ensure that no workers should be worse off as a result of remedy, and make sure that increased pension costs as a result of reduced discount rates are centrally funded. The TUC has also organised roundtable meetings to allow unions to engage directly with HM Treasury.

In response to Covid-19, the TUC engaged with the Pensions Regulator over regulatory easements to help employers cope with short-term financial pressures. The TUC has also written to the pensions minister to outline several concerns and seek assurances that auto-enrolment will not be suspended for any employers.

Across the year the TUC has continued to advocate to improve pensions for the low paid. This has included briefing around the Pension Schemes Bill to scrap the auto-enrolment earnings threshold and lower the age threshold, and increase minimum contribution rates. The TUC has also participated in a working group to develop and advocate for a solution to the tax anomaly that means many low-paid people do not benefit from tax relief.

We continue to support defined benefit provision. This has involved lobbying against plans for for-profit superfunds to consolidate schemes, and coordinating efforts to prevent new funding requirements encouraging employers to close schemes.

In line with resolution 43, the TUC has highlighted the discrimination in state reciprocal arrangements that deny state pension increases to many workers who live abroad in retirement.

The TUC’s annual pensions conference in March had to be cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but we have sought to maintain engagement and profile on these issues throughout this period.

2.11 Workers’ capital, corporate governance and executive pay

In November, the TUC published a report jointly with the High Pay Centre, puncturing the myth that shareholder primacy is justified by shareholders carrying the greatest risk in companies. The report’s analysis of dividends and share buybacks paid by FTSE 100 companies between 2014 and 2018 showed that companies protect and increase payments to shareholders, even when company finances are struggling. It also found that returns to shareholders across the FTSE 100 rose nearly seven times faster than the median wage for UK workers.

The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act passed through Parliament in May and June. The TUC liaised with unions, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) and the Labour Party to feed in union concerns about workforce interests.

The TUC has continued to coordinate Trade Union Share Owners (TUSO), an initiative bringing together union funds to collaborate over voting and engagement with companies. The TUC is an active member of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Committee for Workers’ Capital and participated in its annual meeting in September.

We coordinated feedback from global unions to the Workforce Disclosure Initiative’s (WDI’s) proposed methodology for company workforce disclosures. 

Our work on building a fairer post-Covid-19 economy has included the case for workforce voice in corporate governance, reform of shareholder primacy and wider corporate governance reform.

2.12 Migration

The TUC continues to call for a rights-based approach to migration to stop divide-and-rule undercutting, and to ensure all workers have dignity at work and decent jobs, regardless of immigration status. In October, the TUC held a roundtable with unions on the hostile environment and Windrush to develop union strategies.

In February the TUC expressed concern that published government proposals for a new points-based immigration system would introduce new time-limited visas for EU workers that would make them more vulnerable to exploitation.

The TUC used its position on the Home Office National Advisory Group to call for the new immigration system to enable all workers to claim employment rights, regardless of immigration status, and scrap the hostile environment legislation. We also continued to call for the Overseas Domestic Worker visa to be reformed to enable workers to change employers after six months to prevent exploitation.

In May, the TUC called on MPs to oppose the Immigration and Social Security Coordination Bill, which would remove EU citizens’ right to live, work and claim social security and healthcare in the UK, thus making EU workers more vulnerable to exploitative treatment as they would be at risk of losing their immigration status and ability to claim rights.

2.13 Decent work and supply chains

In October, the TUC discussed best practice on how to protect workers’ rights in supply chains with affiliated unions, global federations and others. The seminar looked at global framework agreements and the emergence of mandatory human rights due diligence laws, which the TUC is pushing for in the UK. The TUC and trade union members of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) successfully gained new commitments to a more interventionist strategy, including the ETI agreeing to lobby for ratification of International Labour Organization (ILO) standards.

3.1 Introduction

In January 2020, the UK left the European Union and entered negotiations with the EU on the nature of our future trading relationship. Our work in this highly volatile and uncertain period has been guided by the Congress 2019 General Council statement on Brexit, which reiterated the TUC’s three tests on workers’ rights, jobs, and protection of the Good Friday Agreement for any Brexit deal.

The TUC continues to press government to secure a decent trade deal with the EU. We know that aligning closely to EU rules is vital if barrier- and tariff-free trade in goods and services is to be retained, protecting jobs and rights and keeping our public services safe from enforced privatisation.

3.2 Political engagement

In Summer 2019, the new Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out his ambition to renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement that had been provisionally agreed between the UK and the EU in 2018. The deadline for agreement had already been extended, initially from March to April 2019 and then to the end of October 2019. This raised a significant risk that the UK might leave the EU without a deal.

In late August 2019, parliament was suspended, dramatically shortening the time available to debate the government’s Brexit response. The TUC called out this ploy to duck democratic scrutiny. In line with composite 4, we set out our support for any democratic initiative to stop a disastrous no-deal outcome.

In September, the TUC published Consequences of No Deal, a report highlighting the consequences a no deal would have for jobs, wages and different sectors of the economy as well as rights. In October, the TUC also launched a new guide for trade union reps on the government’s EU Settled Status scheme, seeking to build solidarity with EU citizens in the UK.

Eventually the EU and the UK agreed to a revised protocol for Northern Ireland, which paved the way for agreement on the overall terms of exit. In October 2019, the prime minister announced a Brexit deal had been achieved. The TUC assessed the deal’s scope and concluded that it could not be supported. 

However, following a general election in late 2019, the government won a new majority and the Withdrawal Agreement was ratified in January. On 31 January 2020, the UK ceased to be a member state of the EU and entered a transition period to last until December 2020. Negotiations began on the detail of our future trading relationship.

Along with the Withdrawal Agreement, the EU and the UK agreed a Political Declaration outlining the scope of the future partnership. The TUC called for a deal with the EU that protects jobs, rights at work and peace in Northern Ireland, in line with Congress’ position, confirmed every year since 2016. This is a stance also backed up by a post-election poll in December, which found that most voters – including Conservatives – wanted workers’ rights protected and enhanced.

Over this period the TUC general secretary has remained in regular contact with Michael Gove MP, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on a range of issues including UK-EU trade. We also continue to press the government on the lack of engagement with unions on the UK’s approach to the EU talks.

We have been in close contact with the Labour opposition. The TUC has met with Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rachel Reeves MP, and raised concerns with her around the UK’s lack of participation in EU procurement calls and the lack of government trade union engagement.

The TUC has also continued to work closely with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and sister organisations across Europe to make the case for workers’ rights and jobs in trade agreements.

3.3 EU-UK trade negotiations

Ahead of the publication of the UK and EU negotiating mandates in February, the TUC general secretary engaged with representatives from EU member states and the General Council spokesperson on Europe, Unite Assistant General Secretary Steve Turner, met with the EU chief negotiator. Both argued for a deal that protected jobs through tariff-free trade. They also set out the case for protecting rights through a legally binding ‘level playing field’ clause that would prevent EU-derived workers’ rights from being rolled back, as well as ensuring these protections kept pace with EU standards going forward.

The TUC general secretary also discussed these issues and the involvement of trade unions, both in the negotiations and the monitoring of the agreement’s implementation, with EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan.

In March 2020, negotiations on the future partnership between the EU and the UK started but were soon disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. From early on it became evident that the EU and UK had different objectives, notably on the level playing field. By the time the EU and UK held a high-level conference in June to assess progress, very little headway had been made: the UK restated its position not to seek an extension of the transition period and the prospect of no deal reared its head once again.

In July 2020, the TUC produced a new parliamentary briefing on the risks of no deal in the context of the pandemic, highlighting the employment rights most at risk including protections in case of insolvency, collective redundancies and information and consultation rights. In the context of a damaging recession, we also set out the importance of a good deal that protects jobs, rather than a no-deal outcome that would put employment at even more risk.

3.4 Trade and trade deals

The TUC has continued to call for a good deal with the EU to be the UK’s trade priority, to secure workers’ rights and support good jobs. We have highlighted the danger of the government pursuing trade deals with a number of other countries, such as the US, as a substitute for a good deal with the EU, as such deals would threaten workers’ rights and public services. In February, the TUC gave evidence to the House of Lords EU Internal Market Sub-Committee on the importance of including level-playing-field commitments in a future deal.

In line with resolution 15, the TUC campaigned to protect public services in all trade deals.

In March, the TUC released a joint statement with its US counterpart, the AFL-CIO, stating that any UK-US deal must contain effectively enforceable commitments to respect workers’ rights and exclude public services. The statement was clear that a deal must not contain any kind of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system and called for the UK government to prioritise a good deal with the EU.

In the same month, the government introduced its Trade Bill, which sought to make provision for the implementation of international trade agreements. The TUC gave evidence to the Trade Bill Committee in June, raising concerns that the Bill provides no representation for trade unions on the Trade Remedies Authority – the body that will oversee the UK’s anti-dumping measures; provides no role for parliament or unions in trade negotiations; and provides no guarantee that trade deals will contain exemptions for public services or enforceable labour standards.

In June, the TUC gave evidence to the Commons International Trade Committee to highlight the threats a US trade deal would pose to the NHS and other public services, as well as to workers’ rights and good jobs.

The TUC used meetings with Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss MP and Trade Ministers Conor Burns MP, Greg Hands MP and Ranil Jayawardena MP, as well as its position on the government’s Strategic Trade Advisory Group (STAG) (where the TUC is represented by Deputy General Secretary Paul Nowak), to push for trade union objectives in trade deals and for unions to be involved in trade negotiations. 

The TUC has also raised concerns that the government’s proposal to establish 10 freeports with looser regulatory requirements risks displacing good jobs and increasing tax evasion.

The TUC developed a joint statement with Japanese counterpart RENGO on the UK-Japan trade negotiations, releasing a joint statement when trade talks began in June. The statement called for the trade priority of the UK to be a deal with the EU and set out that any UK-Japan agreement should protect workers’ rights, public services and jobs.

TUC policy officer Rosa Crawford is a member of the EU Domestic Advisory Groups for the EU-Canada and EU-Japan trade deals, which push for strengthening of labour rights commitments in international trade deals.

3.5 Global trade

The TUC is working with its counterparts in the US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the East African Community countries with which the government has launched trade talks. We raised concerns with MPs on the Trade Bill Committee that post-Brexit ‘continuity deals’ – such as those with South Korea and Colombia – should have effective processes for enforcing commitments on labour rights, with trade unions empowered to trigger investigations into violations of rights. This builds on work undertaken by the TUC at EU level in its membership of EU domestic advisory groups (civil society monitoring bodies) for the EU-Canada and EU-Japan trade deals.

4.1 Introduction

Across the year the TUC has worked with unions to challenge discrimination and promote equality, and to make the case for decent rights and protections at work. We have worked to counter the rise of the far right, both in the UK and internationally. We have taken forward our work on class inequality, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the Covid-19 crisis on people in working-class jobs. And we have continued our lobbying and campaigning work on behalf of BME workers,  workers, women and LGBT+ workers, with a strong focus once again on tackling sexual harassment.

The TUC has also stepped up policy and campaign work around trade union and employment rights, including the right to flexible working. Health and safety remains a major priority, with our work in this area brought into sharp focus by coronavirus. And with the economy faltering in the midst of the pandemic, we are continuing to call for greater investment in workforce skills, including stronger rights for apprentices.

4.2 Special feature: Tackling the far right The rise in cases of coronavirus in the UK has been accompanied by an increase in racism and xenophobia. Incidents of hate crime against Chinese people in the UK increased threefold in the first three months of 2020. Islamophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories and false claims have been shared widely on social media, blaming Muslims and Jews for developing or spreading the virus. The far right has exploited the crisis to promote its divisive racist worldview. In this challenging context, and as set out in resolution 41, we have continued to develop and actively promote our online learning materials to build union reps’ knowledge and confidence to challenge far-right activity and views in the workplace. This has included new materials on holding challenging conversations, supporting reps to prevent far-right propaganda spreading by talking to people who have been influenced and getting them to question the far right’s lies. We have also developed online learning materials on antisemitism, rooted in our understanding of antisemitism as a form of racism. The materials will support reps to understand the historical context of antisemitism, identify it and positively challenge antisemitism when it occurs. The General Council supported the UN Day against Racism and Xenophobia through a digital mobilisation, with input from a range of countries. The TUC has been integrating its equalities and international work to challenge the growth of the far right, building international contacts with sister centres and unions. During TUC Congress 2019, we organised a roundtable of international guests to share strategies being employed by their respective union organisations to combat the growth of the far right. We are encouraging both the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to support the development of an international network of unions and centres to share strategies. In February, the TUC coordinated a union roundtable where speakers from Germany and Ireland presented their findings on the growth of the far right and workplace strategies to confront it. The TUC also supported an international panel at our women’s conference on the far right and misogyny. We continue to work with the DGB, the German trade union centre, to develop a joint pilot initiative to combat the far right in the workplace, and two sessions at the Organise 2020 festival focused on tackling the far right, with international speakers from Brazil, the US and Ireland. To inform our work in this area we have also commissioned a report on the internationalisation of the far right. 4.3 Addressing class inequality In line with resolution 35 on class inequality, the TUC has continued to highlight class-based discrimination and disadvantage. This has been particularly prevalent throughout the coronavirus pandemic, when those in working-class jobs have often borne the most risk but received the least reward. TUC analysis showed that four in ten people in key worker jobs – some 3.7 million people – are paid below £10 an hour. These jobs are disproportionately carried out by women, who are twice as likely as men to be in key worker occupations, and by BME employees. TUC research also showed that the lowest-paid workers have been least able to work from home. For example, in the accommodation and food sector, just 14 per cent of employees have been able to work from home during the pandemic, compared to 87 per cent in the information and communication sector. Occupational sick pay is also less available to those in lower-paid jobs. Across the economy, an estimated 26 per cent of employees (7 million people) get only the basic statutory entitlement. In caring and so-called ‘elementary’ occupations, this rises to over a third of all workers, leaving people with a tough choice between going to work when sick or missing out on vital pay. As we argued in our Building Working Class Power report, published at Congress 2019, these inequalities reflect the systematic undervaluing of working-class jobs. We know that the best way to improve pay and conditions for all workers is through strong unions and collective bargaining – and have put these arguments at the centre of our plans for economic recovery.

4.4 Employment and trade union rights

In line with composite 8, the demand for strong legal rights for trade unions, including the right to strike and picket, has been at the heart of the TUC’s work over the last year.

This activity stepped up ahead of the 2019 general election, when the TUC highlighted the need for a far greater role for collective bargaining as a means of securing better pay and conditions for workers. This included close engagement with the Labour Party on its employment rights plans.

We have also pressed for the establishment of new bodies for unions and employers to negotiate across sectors. There are several sectors where this could have a huge impact on conditions, including hospitality, social care and, as set out in resolution 29, seafaring.

We have also continued to push for strong enforcement of rights, meeting regularly with the Director for Labour Market Enforcement, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), HMRC and the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, pushing government to increase the resources for enforcement, including of employment agencies.

The TUC engaged with the certification officer about the challenges trade unions faced meeting the requirements of legislation and their own rulebooks during the coronavirus pandemic. We successfully pressed her to provide greater clarity about the certification officer’s approach to breaches.

In line with resolution 28, we have ensured that the interests and perspectives of self-employed workers have been reflected in our work. During the pandemic, we liaised with representatives of unions with large numbers of self-employed members, lobbied for wage support for self-employed workers, and called for the self-employed to have fair access to social security.

To continue to influence the political agenda while the country was in lockdown, our output included a series of video interviews with leading experts on labour law, the gig economy, artificial intelligence and labour markets.

The TUC has argued vociferously for electronic balloting for statutory elections, in line with resolution 23. In January, we convened a meeting with senior Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) officials and Sir Ken Knight, who produced a review of electronic balloting.

This was followed up by a letter setting out the case for the government, after an excessively long delay, to respond to Sir Ken’s 2017 report, commission pilots of electronic balloting and allow groups currently disadvantaged by the existing insistence on postal ballots to play a full role in unions’ democratic structures.

In June, we also wrote to Business Secretary Alok Sharma, arguing that a range of organisations already use e-balloting, which rendered the ban on unions’ use of this technology particularly anomalous.

In line with resolution 18 on Christmas and New Year working, the TUC used its Christmas press comment to insist that bosses should reward staff fairly for the inconvenience of working on Christmas Day and loss of time with their loved ones. It also drew attention to Usdaw’s call for shops to be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

The Conservative manifesto and Queen’s Speech committed to “encouraging” flexible working and consulting on making it the default unless employers have good reasons not to. Prior to this, as part of its consultation on “proposals to support families”, Beis consulted on whether there should be a requirement for employers to consider advertising jobs as flexible.

In line with composite 9, we believe the most effective way of making flexible working the default is to move away from an individualised request-based system towards an organisation-wide duty. The TUC believes employers should be prompted to look at job design, rather than trying to shoehorn flexibility for individuals within roles and workplace cultures that are fundamentally inflexible.

Following extensive consultation with unions, the TUC responded to the Beis consultation by recommending that government should introduce a duty for employers to offer flexible working as the default by advertising all jobs as flexible from day one (unless there are exceptional circumstances preventing it). This new duty should be accompanied by a significant strengthening of the existing legislation extending the right to request to all workers, from day one in the job, and giving employers much narrower discretion to reject requests.

We campaigned for a day one right to flexible working as a member of the FlexForAll coaliltion along with the Fawcett Society, the Young Women’s Trust, the Fatherhood Institute, Gingerbread, Pregnant then Screwed and MotherPukka. Our petition gained over 30,000 signatures.

The TUC represented unions as part of a Beis flexible working taskforce, using our membership to argue for day one rights for all workers to flexible working.

4.5 Tackling sexual harassment

The TUC continued its high-profile #ThisIsNotWorking campaign, supported by an alliance of unions, women’s and LGBT+ organisations and civil society groups, working together to highlight the inadequacy of the current legislative framework around tackling sexual harassment. Along with the alliance, we continue to call for a new duty on employers to ensure all workers are protected from sexual harassment and third-party harassment, regardless of their employment status.

The 2020 HeartUnions week focused on ending sexual harassment at work. Reps across the country took part in a large-scale organising campaign to demand employers embed a preventative approach to sexual harassment in their workplaces.

In line with composite 10, the TUC worked with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to support negotiations and the adoption of Convention 190. The UK government supported both the Convention and its non-binding recommendation at the International Labour Conference (ILC) in 2019, and we have been working with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to agree a firm commitment to ratification.

4.6 Securing equality

Across the year the TUC Race Relations Committee worked on a range of race equality issues, prioritising its efforts to improve the organisation and recruitment of black workers. The Race Relations Committee and TUC continued to highlight the problem of racism in the UK. In line with resolution 34, the TUC has continued to lobby for ethnicity pay gap reporting, responding to a consultation on this in October 2019.

The Race Relations Committee has continued to campaign for justice for those who suffered as a result of the Windrush scandal and for the dismantling of the hostile environment. In January, the TUC convened a meeting of Thompsons solicitors and affiliated unions to discuss how to use the Windrush Compensation and Social Security Bill as a means of highlighting the lack of compensation received by victims. The TUC also produced a briefing calling for the Windrush compensation scheme to be administered by an independent agency rather than the Home Office, and for Parliament to discuss the basis of the scheme.

In July, the General Council agreed to revisit the work of the TUC’s Stephen Lawrence Task Group and establish a new initiative to address institutional racism at work and in society, and within our own trade union movement. The new group will start its work after Congress 2020.

In line with resolution 37, the TUC continued to call for gender pay gap legislation to be strengthened, including for reporting requirements to be accompanied by mandatory employer action plans and for smaller employers to be required to report their pay gaps. In March, the TUC published new analysis showing that the UK’s persistent gender pay gap means women effectively work for free for two months a year. The report highlighted larger gender pay gaps at regional and sectoral level.

In January, the TUC published new analysis that found one in five workers are subject to pay secrecy clauses. We demanded a ban on these clauses and argued for stronger collective bargaining rights, so that trade unions can ensure transparent and fair processes for setting pay.

In line with resolution 42, we continued to organise against the gendered nature of poverty, highlighting the impact of gender inequality at work and changes to the social security system that have disproportionately impacted women and girls, particularly disabled, BME and migrant women. The TUC Women’s Committee held a successful event focusing on the practical steps trade unions can take to eradicate period poverty and tackle the menstruation taboo in workplaces.

The TUC has continued to highlight workplace issues faced by disabled workers. We have run a national campaign calling on government to introduce mandatory disability pay gap reporting, along similar lines to gender pay gap reporting. We highlighted that 4 November is the day in the year when disabled workers effectively stop being paid and start working for free. And we have exposed the double discrimination facing disabled people, as they are less likely to be employed, and when they are they earn less than their non-disabled peers.

In line with resolution 55, the TUC called for the creation of a new National Independent Living Support Service (NILSS), enshrined in law, co-created between government and disabled people. We set out the need for the service to be underpinned by a new universal right to independent living, and highlighted our support for NILSS in our lobbying work.

The TUC has also continued to promote the social model of disability, particularly during Disability History Month, when we launched an online learning module on the topic.

4.7 Health, safety and regulation

During the year, the TUC has campaigned to ensure that the health, safety and welfare of workers is protected by strong union organisation and a network of health and safety reps with access to high-quality guidance and advice.

The response to coronavirus dominated our work, with the TUC producing resources for affiliates and health and safety reps on mental health, safer working, working from home and PPE, in line with resolution 33. In response to composite 11, we continued to call for Health and Safety Executive (HSE) statistics into work-related deaths to include suicide as well as other work-related fatalities currently not included. We also called for a legal responsibility to be put on employers to protect mental health, and developed new resources for union reps on organising around mental health.

The TUC produced further resources to support workplace activists. The weekly health and safety e-bulletin Risks was published throughout the year, alongside an intensive series of webinars focused on the response to coronavirus.

In the run-up to International Workers’ Memorial Day in April 2020, the TUC focused on campaigning for safety from coronavirus exposure in the workplace. We called for a public inquiry into government negligence on PPE, and remembered the lives of workers lost due to Covid-19 and other work-related injury and illness. Our work was informed by resolution 26. The Organise 2020 summit also featured several sessions on health and safety, including one on encouraging more women to take up the role of health and safety rep.

In line with resolution 66, we continued to work with affiliated unions on the impact of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, supporting demands for the removal of combustible cladding.

The TUC continued to work with the HSE during the year. We were represented on its board by Accord General Secretary Ged Nichols, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Director of Employment Relations and Union Services (ERUS) Claire Sullivan and TUC Head of Organisation, Services and Skills Kevin Rowan. The TUC was on the board of the work and health programme, which this year has considered mental health as well as the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The TUC continued in the role of secretariat to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Health and Safety and the sub-group on asbestos, engaging with parliamentarians and sector organisations on a range of issues.

The TUC is represented on the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) by Karen Mitchell (RMT), Doug Russell (Usdaw) and Daniel Shears (GMB). The three TUC nominees played an active role in the work of the Council. TUC nominees also sat on a range of other external bodies, including the Council for Work & Health. The TUC continues to work closely with the Hazards campaign, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, and other organisations in the health and safety field.

4.8 Skills

Over the past year the TUC has continued to campaign for greater investment in skills to support economic growth and help more workers achieve their full potential. While the impact of Brexit and automation remain a concern, the onset of the pandemic brought about a new scale of challenge for the economy and our skills system. In response, the TUC has put jobs and skills at the heart of its demands for government to deliver an ambitious policy package to address the economic fallout from Covid-19.

In recognition of the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on the job prospects of young people, these proposals include an education and training guarantee for everyone aged 25 and under, comprising an apprenticeship, a place at college or university, or other training options delivered as part of a new jobs guarantee programme. Our proposed skills package would also give everybody a new right to retrain, backed up by personal lifelong learning accounts. These would be partly funded by bringing forward the government’s commitment to invest £600m per annum in a new national skills fund from 2021.

General Council members and TUC staff are represented on a range of skills bodies. Kevin Rowan, head of organisation, services and skills at the TUC, is a member of the Strategic Transport Apprenticeship Taskforce.

4.9 Apprenticeships

The TUC has supported some recent apprenticeships reforms, especially measures designed to improve quality such as the regulations applying to off-the-job training. Despite this, 70 per cent of apprentices are still not receiving formal off-the-job training in line with the regulatory minimum, according to the latest government survey. Apprentices are also around ten times more likely to be underpaid than the average worker due to widespread contravention of the minimum wage, according to a new analysis by the Low Pay Commission (LPC). And wide-ranging research, including by the TUC, has pointed out that under-represented groups continue to face major barriers to accessing the best apprenticeships.

To tackle these challenges, the TUC has called for measures to strengthen enforcement of employment and training rights of apprentices, boost wage levels, improve equality of access and guarantee a minimum progression to a level 3 apprenticeship for all young people. The TUC submission to the last government review of the levy called for it to be flexed to allow employers to use their funds to provide high-quality pre-apprenticeship training programmes where appropriate.

The TUC also published an analysis showing that apprentices in many parts of the country are unfairly denied public transport travel discounts that are made available to all students. The report called on the government to deliver on a commitment it gave in 2017 to introduce a national travel discount for all apprentices.

Unionlearn has produced a range of resources to help unions negotiate with employers to boost the number of high-quality apprenticeships that are accessible to all, and to safeguard and sustain apprenticeships through the current crisis.

4.10 Adult skills

Throughout the year, the TUC highlighted key deficiencies in our adult skills system, especially very low investment levels. Government spending on adult skills has fallen by 47 per cent in the last decade, the volume of employer-led training is down by a staggering 60 per cent since the end of the 1990s, and employer investment in training per employee is half the EU average. According to a recent OECD report, the UK also lacks the national social partnership arrangements that underpin high-quality skill systems in many other countries.

A new report by the Industrial Strategy Council, Rising to the UK’s Skills Challenges, agreed with this analysis and the need for policymakers to tackle these deficiencies urgently. This report also highlights the key role unions play in boosting access to high-quality learning and training at work, including the vital contribution of unionlearn.

The TUC submission to the 2020 Budget called for specific new entitlements to boost training levels, including: a right to time off to learn; access to mid-life reviews; and a learning account for all workers. Throughout the year we continued to collaborate with the government and the CBI to oversee the design and development of the National Retraining Scheme, including supporting trialling of the online Get Help to Retrain service.

The TUC has also continued to call for measures to make basic digital qualifications free at the point of access, and has welcomed the rollout of the new basic digital skills entitlement later this year.

The recent devolution of the adult skills budget to parts of England has resulted in some benefits, including better alignment of provision to local needs and allowing more focus on disadvantaged groups. However, there have been some unintended consequences from a postcode-based skills funding system, which has introduced avoidable further barriers to participation for many learners.

5.1 Introduction

The coronavirus pandemic put public services in the spotlight, with public attention focused on the important roles of key workers across the economy. While this recognition was welcome, public services went into the crisis weakened by years of cuts, pay restraint and privatisation. This has created major shortages of equipment and staff, and capacity issues in key areas. Despite the heroic efforts of public sector workers, austerity undermined the country’s response to the crisis.

No sectors were in a weaker position than social care and local government. The TUC has campaigned and lobbied for a new settlement for both these critical sectors, in line with resolution 65. This built on earlier work highlighting the extent of the damage caused by spending cuts, including our analysis of the disproportionate impacts on councils in deprived areas.

5.2 Education

Over the past year the TUC has worked closely with affiliated unions on policy and workforce issues relating to education in line with resolutions 56, 57, 61, 62 and 63, and composites 13 and 17. The input of all the education unions has informed the work of the General Council on education policy and wider campaigning on public services.

The General Council has endorsed some of the key recommendations of the review of post-18 education and funding chaired by Philip Augar, in particular proposals to: make investment in the FE estate and workforce a priority; provide a fully funded entitlement for all adults to achieve a minimum level three qualification; and increase financial support for adult FE and HE students through maintenance grants and bursaries. However, the TUC has consistently stressed that government would need to take forward a much more ambitious approach than that set out in the review.

During the past year the General Council has continued to give its support to the Love Colleges initiative coordinated by FE employers and unions. This campaign calls for increased investment in further education and a fair pay deal for all FE staff. Paul Nowak, TUC deputy general secretary, is a member of the Independent Commission on the College of the Future that is being coordinated by the Association of Colleges. The TUC facilitated two roundtable meetings involving the further education unions and the director of the Commission, and also submitted written evidence.

5.3 NHS

The TUC continues to campaign for a publicly owned, fully-funded NHS in line with resolutions 46, 49, 50, 51, and 52. We also continue to call for parity of funding between its constituent services, particularly mental health.

The TUC took part in the NHS’s 72nd birthday celebrations, supporting an online rally and using social media to demand more than weekly public clapping for the NHS and its staff.

This followed our analysis of shortfalls in doctor numbers and government failure to meet staffing promises.

Mental health has remained a priority, supported by the TUC Disabled Workers’ Committee and the TUC Young Workers’ Forum. Together with campaigners such as Keep Our NHS Public, the TUC helped to organise a mental health crisis summit in September 2019.

We have applied the lessons from the NHS Social Partnership Forum’s work on bullying and harassment, working with Cabinet Office and public service employers to apply good practice across the public sector. The coronavirus crisis has underlined the need for NHS and social care staff to be able to raise workplace issues free from intimidation.

In line with resolution 47, the TUC continued to call for all NHS charges for migrants to be dropped. As well as working with groups such as Maternity Action, we raised concerns with MPs in our lobbying on the Immigration and Social Security Coordination Bill, adding to the pressure on government. In May, the government announced that NHS charges would be dropped for NHS and care workers. The TUC will continue to campaign with unions and allied groups for the charges to be dropped for all migrants.

In line with resolution 53, the TUC has continued to highlight mental health support services at work and in wider society, including inadequate perinatal maternity care.

5.4 Social care

The Covid-19 pandemic has been the ultimate stress test for adult social care. Structural issues that trade unions have highlighted for decades – insecure contracts; low pay; privatisation; inadequate funding – have made the impact of Covid-19 on the sector much worse.

In line with resolution 54, the TUC has been working with affiliates to develop a trade union vision for social care. We have made the case for sustainable funding, market reform and integration. We are also demanding comparable terms and conditions with NHS staff, underpinned by a sectoral collective bargaining agreement.

For May Day 2020, the TUC published analysis showing that 7 in 10 care workers earn less than £10 an hour. We published a joint statement with commissioner representatives on the need for adequate PPE, proper testing and safe hospital discharges into care homes. We are working with partners in the sector to agree a new deal for the workforce, including a new national skills and accreditation framework tied to a pay and grading structure.

5.5 Privatisation

The Covid-19 crisis has exposed how years of marketisation and outsourcing have weakened our public services and put the safety of workers and the public at risk. This has been evident in the PPE ‘crisis within a crisis’, caused by fractured and unwieldy supply chains that resulted from decades of outsourcing and offshoring. 

Ending and reversing privatisation and outsourcing has been central to the TUC’s public campaigning on public services in the last year. Composite 12 formed the basis for a number of recommendations in our A Better Recovery report. This made the case for in-house provision except where there is a public interest case for contracting out. These recommendations were adapted for regional recovery reports, which argued that insourcing and social value procurement should be at the heart of local and regional recovery plans.

The TUC’s report for the International Day of Justice for cleaners and security guards exposed how outsourcing has weakened terms and conditions, as well as eroding service quality. The TUC also developed a practical guide for reps on how to negotiate insourcing in their workplaces.

In addition to this public-facing work, we have continued to make the case for insourcing during regular meetings with government, through the Public Services Forum and other channels. We have also advocated insourcing to parliamentary select committee inquiries and the Labour Party.

In line with resolution 48, we have continued to work with unions and health campaigners to prevent the outsourcing of NHS services through wholly owned subsidiaries. Following successful campaigns in Wigan, Leeds and mid-Yorkshire, in the last year Frimley Health Foundation Trust and Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust have abandoned plans for subsidiary companies.

5.6 Civil service

The civil service has played a crucial role in the coronavirus response, yet has faced inconsistent practices on safe working and the continuation of restructuring and redundancy programmes. The TUC has supported civil service unions in calling for these programmes to be suspended for as long as the crisis continues. We have emphasised this in meetings with ministers, and in oral and written evidence to the Lords select committee inquiry on the future of public services after the pandemic.

The TUC has called on HMRC to reconsider its reform plans in light of changing patterns of working post-coronavirus. We have also highlighted that a decade of staff cuts and under-investment left the DWP completely unprepared for the growth in Universal Credit claimants during the crisis.

5.7 Justice

In line with composite 15, the TUC has publicly supported calls to end and reverse the privatisation of probation. We welcome the recent decision by the Ministry of Justice to bring the rest of probation back into public ownership, following tremendous campaigning work by Napo, UNISON and all our justice sector unions.

We continue to work with criminal justice unions, through campaigns such as Joint Unions in Prison Alliance (JUPA), to ensure the sector guarantees the safety and welfare of all inmates and staff.

In line with resolution 67, the TUC supported the manifesto for justice. Although planned campaign work was disrupted by the general election and the coronavirus pandemic, we have continued to highlight the issues contained in the manifesto. Our submission to the Lords select committee inquiry on the future of public services after coronavirus also highlighted the parlous state of the justice system.

5.8 Public sector pay

Following a decade of pay restraint, public sector workers are still being paid on average £900 less in real terms today than they were in 2010.

The TUC has continued to campaign for fair pay for public sector workers. Our March 2020 Budget submission linked pay restraint to the crisis of recruitment and retention affecting swathes of the public sector. We set out the real-terms increases to departmental budgets that would be needed to ensure that public sector pay rises both keep up with the cost of living and begin to make good a decade of lost earnings. Our submission also reiterated our five tests for a fair pay deal for public sector workers: funded increases; fair pay awards across all public services; freedom for collective bargaining and genuinely independent pay review bodies; tackling low pay through the real living wage; and the restoration of earnings lost since 2010.

Better public sector pay has also been central to the TUC’s vision for recovery from the pandemic, including the wider benefits of a public sector pay increase in the context of severely weakened economic demand. We have also coordinated union responses to the McCloud judgment, which ruled transitional protection in public sector pension schemes discriminatory on grounds of age, and continued to make the case for fair pensions for public sector workers.

5.9 Transport

In line with composite 3, the TUC has continued to campaign for an integrated, green public transport system. We have continued to highlight the need for investment in rail infrastructure, supporting HS2 as well as local rail investment priorities. We have campaigned for publicly owned, integrated rail infrastructure and highlighted the impact of the current fragmented franchise system on both investment and ticket pricing. UK consumers continue to experience one of the most expensive railways in Europe.

The TUC continues to be actively engaged in HS2 and support union calls to ensure we get maximum benefit from the project, including full union access to and cooperation with all contractors involved. We are also lobbying for the project to deliver benefits across the country, as part of an integrated transport solution.

Local transport has featured in the TUC’s campaigning work this year. We have worked with local and combined authority leaders in the North-West and in Yorkshire and the Humber to re-regulate bus services and to make the case for public ownership.

6.1 Introduction

The critical importance of trade union organisation was evident throughout the coronavirus pandemic. From access to decent sick pay to job protection and safety at work, unionised workers were demonstrably better off than those not enjoying collective organisation. The rapid increase in union membership in key areas at the start of the lockdown shows that working people know this too. That increase follows another year-on-year net gain in union membership, largely as a result of a significant surge in women joining unions.

The new ways of working adapted by unions at the height of the lockdown also showed a capacity to innovate quickly and effectively, adopting digital technologies not only to recruit and to organise but also to provide an effective service for members in need of strong advice, guidance and representation.

6.2 Organising and union membership

Union membership in the UK increased for the third consecutive year according to trade union membership figures (see Figure 1) published in June by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis).

Between 2018 and 2019, union membership increased by 91,000, meaning that since 2017 union membership has increased by over 200,000. This increase was driven by union membership among women workers increasing by 170,000. There are now more women carrying a union card than at any time since 1995. Overall, there are 6.44 million union members in the UK.

Union membership increased in both the public and the private sectors, by 74,000 and 17,000 respectively, and the proportion of all workers who are union members increased to 23.5 per cent.

The proportion of workers covered by union collective agreements increased, and these workers continued to be better paid than workers who are not. Between 2018 and 2019, the union wage premium increased in the private sector to 3.6 per cent.

These are encouraging figures for a movement that, if it were ever in doubt, restated its importance and relevance during the pandemic.

These figures should also give unions confidence in addressing the challenges that remain. Too high a proportion of union members are in the public sector, when most people are employed in private sector jobs. Too many union members are also near the end, rather than the beginning, of their working lives. While less than a quarter of current union members are aged under 34, more than 40 per cent are aged 50 and over.

In line with emergency resolutions 1, 2 and 3 carried at Congress 2019, the TUC has continued to press for an environment in which unions can access workplaces and workers freely and without interference from employers and fear of intimidation. Through TUC Education, the training and support we provide to affiliates continues to support union capacity to organise and campaign more effectively.

6.3 Digital development

The TUC General Council has identified digitisation of union organisations as a priority in helping unions meet the challenges of recruiting and organising a new generation of members. A new role of digital lead member for the TUC General Council has been created, with joint General Secretaries Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney of NEU jointly leading for the GC in this area.

The TUC’s Digital Lab project has expanded since Congress 2019. The project aims to network together people involved in organisational digital transformation across TUC affiliates, helping them to identify and share best practice across unions and where there are transferable lessons from outside the movement. Following a survey of affiliates’ own digital journeys, the TUC Digital Lab published a report, Digital in UK Unions. This highlighted how different unions are approaching the challenge of digital and identified some areas where working together across the movement could help all unions make greater progress.

The TUC’s Digital Healthcheck tool was revised and reissued, to help affiliates conduct research for strategic planning around digital transformation. The interactive spreadsheet compiles a snapshot of a union’s current capacity across many areas of digital work, highlighting areas of strength and opportunities for development. Many affiliates have taken part in TUC Digital Lab workshops, sharing good practice around topics such as the use of data science in unions, service design, election campaigning online and working remotely.

The Digital Lab has also worked with several TUC affiliates on pilot projects aimed at developing learning on questions of common interest for unions. During the coronavirus pandemic the project has piloted covidsecurecheck.uk, a new service for identifying whether employers have published Covid-secure risk assessments.

The TUC’s Megaphone.org.uk project aims to support affiliated unions in expanding their digital campaigning and organising. The speed and reach of online campaigns make them well suited to establishing initial contacts for further organising with groups of workers, as well as for generating publicity and pressure for union campaigns. For example, a petition organised by BFAWU after pub chain JD Wetherspoon refused to pay its furloughed staff attracted more than 14,000 supporters and contributed to a U-turn from the company. By segmenting Wetherspoons’ workers among the supporters, BFAWU were able to use the campaign to bring over 700 workers into a series of Whatsapp groups for deeper organising conversations. This culminated in an online conference call to inspire supporting workers into taking up active roles in the campaign themselves.

It is a free service to all affiliated unions and can be used at many levels, from powering branch and regional campaigns to contributing tactics and publicity for national union activity.

6.4 TUC communications awards

Coronavirus restrictions meant that TUC trade union communication awards had to be cancelled this year. We anticipate running the awards as usual next year and having a two-year time span for the entries into the competition. Unions will be able to showcase their work from March 2019 to February 2021.

6.5 Young workers

There is no doubt that the impact of coronavirus will hit young workers hardest, a group already overrepresented in insecure work, with few opportunities to progress. Youth unemployment scars the prospects of young people, and the TUC is placing young workers at the heart of its critical work on employment, skills and a fairer economy, including calls for a government-funded job guarantee scheme.

Organising the next generation of members, reps and leaders remains of critical importance to the trade union movement. The TUC ran a number of Future Leaders programmes across the country and continued the Summer Patrol programme in Yorkshire’s cities. In January, we published The Missing Half Million report, drawing out learnings from the TUC’s WorkSmart project looking at how unions can transform themselves to be a movement of young workers.

The TUC Young Workers Forum continues to play a key role representing young workers through its priority campaigns. Its manifesto for mental health, launched during Young Workers’ Month in November, supported the TUC’s wider work on organising around mental health. Forum membership increased by a third from last year, with all equalities seats filled. Measures aimed at increasing meaningful participation for affiliates, in line with resolution 76, are ongoing as part of the TUC’s strategic governance review.

6.6 TUC Education

TUC Education continues to provide high-quality education and training for workplace reps. Unions with members in major public and private sector employers send reps for training. Almost all unions take part in the programme, which is recognised for integrity, quality and innovation.

During 2019, the number of reps trained was 36,739. Broken down across the different types of course that TUC Education supports, the figures were 3,472 on core courses (classroom); 2,096 on core courses (online); 6,290 on eNotes; and 24,881 on short courses.

One of the biggest organising challenges facing the trade union movement is to find and train a new generation of workplace union reps who reflect the diversity of trade union members. According to the last Workplace Employment Relations Survey, more than half of union representatives are aged 50 and over. This means that without action we stand to lose more than half of our existing reps over the next 10 to 15 years.

At Organise 2020, the TUC’s festival of ideas on union organising, TUC affiliates signed an organising pledge that committed the movement to “enthuse thousands of activists from all backgrounds to become new workplace reps, offer them training within the first six months and train every new rep in their first year”.

TUC Education stands ready to meet this challenge. We plan to publish how many reps have attended each of our stage one reps’ courses, and how long they waited to attend training. We will use the number of reps trained on stage one courses this year as a baseline against which to measure progress.

In 2019, the number of reps attending TUC stage one courses (including classroom and online) was 4,156. The breakdown across each of the three stage one courses was: Union Reps One – 2,331; Health and Safety One – 1,424; and Union Learning Reps One – 401.

Funding

The TUC programme of training for union reps is delivered UK-wide and the same qualifications are accessed and delivered to union reps in London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow and Cardiff. In recognition of the wider benefits for the economy, the government has provided a 50 per cent co-funding contribution for TUC Education union training courses. This is manged nationally and administered directly by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to partner further education (FE) providers.

From August 2019, Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and the Greater London Authority (GLA) took on responsibility for the Adult Education Budget (AEB) for their areas. This has presented challenges to the TUC as we seek to continue to fund our trade union education training programmes. Recruitment to college-based programmes is not geographically based: union reps are often recruited through union networks or by workplace. As a result, our own internal enquiries show that between 50 and 60 per cent of reps attending a college-based course are from outside of the geographic catchment of those colleges, potentially excluding them from area-based funded programmes in the future.

The TUC continues to lobby government to provide equal access for all reps to our national programmes in England with an ESFA national funding stream alongside the devolved AEB. In the meantime, we continue to work with colleges and MCAs to produce local solutions.

Our offer to reps

Our strategy for supporting and enabling union reps to access trade union education continues. Ensuring that as many reps as possible have access to flexible training opportunities continues to be a focus of TUC Education work. Developing materials to support face-to-face training opportunities for reps, and further developing our online, blended and e-learning offer, are priorities. The TUC is seeking to ensure as many reps as practicable are accessing trade union education and securing appropriate paid release to do so.

Several approaches have been developed to enable union reps to access informal opportunities for education and development, both online and face to face. TUC national and regional offices continue to organise various demand-led briefings, including health and safety training days, supporting learners’ events, tackling the far right, and anti-austerity campaigns.

Flexible fully online programmes sit alongside classroom courses, providing up-to-date resources for reps. Programmes and resources can be accessed by reps as soon as they take office and can be used by experienced reps to refresh their skills and knowledge.

eNotes continue to be a great resource to help reps keep up to date on key workplace issues. These self-contained e-learning modules include a mixture of text, video and quizzes, and can be accessed from PCs, tablets or smart phones when required.

The use of webinars to reach union reps with interactive briefings remains popular. Over 30 are available from the TUC Education website tuceducation.org.uk

Review of support to reps, officers and organising

The Changing Workplaces Survey of Union Representatives was commissioned by the TUC in 2019 to measure the impact of TUC Education in supporting workplace representation. We also wanted to find out who our reps were and what it was they needed from unions and the TUC to be able to carry out their roles effectively.

The project was conducted by Exeter University and consisted of four stages: desk research; focus groups involving union reps; stakeholder interviews with senior officials from the TUC; and an online survey that had 3,800 respondents. Taken together, this work provided the TUC with a valuable insight into the activities, experiences and needs of workplace union representatives.

The main findings of the survey were:

• Representing individual members in disciplinaries and grievances is the single biggest activity carried out by reps. A significant number are using their own time to carry out their role.
• Respondents spent an average of 10 hours per week (paid and unpaid) on union activity. Almost a quarter of reps spent four hours per week on disciplinaries and grievances and this area of work was regarded as the most important issue, dealt with by 47 per cent of respondents.
• More than three out of four reps said that they used their own time for rep work. While 86 per cent of respondents said that they received some facility time, 43 per cent said that they did not have enough and most of these reps said that they needed a lot more time.
• Most respondents to the survey said that they were either fairly or completely confident in their own skills and knowledge (73 per cent).
• The top five training and support activities identified by respondents were mental health, handling grievances and disciplinaries, collective bargaining, health and safety-related activities and organising.

The TUC has used this analysis to create a workplan consisting of seven separate workstreams that will run over the next two years.

Union Professionals and Organising Academy

In 2019, the TUC trained 283 union officers via its Union Professionals and Organising Academy programmes. During the year, the TUC undertook a survey of officers to inform the future development of the Union Professionals programme. In response, the TUC will be introducing new subject areas into the programme, among which will be a new digital unions course.

6.7 Skills at work

Supporting more workers to access high-quality learning and skills, especially those who face barriers at work, is at the heart of the vision for the union learning agenda. Over the past year, union learning has continued to add value to union membership and individual unions have successfully delivered on this agenda with the support of the Union Learning Fund (ULF) and unionlearn. More recently, the trade union movement has combatted the impact of the coronavirus pandemic by negotiating for high-quality apprenticeships, skills and retraining in line with the principles in resolution 4 and composite 1.

In the year to March 2020, unionlearn supported a total of 189,100 learners via the union route. ULF projects accounted for 79 per cent of this total by supporting 149,500 learners, which was 13,500 more than the targets set in their operational plans. The learning and training delivered by ULF projects is diverse, including: 37,700 English and maths learners; 25,000 ICT learners; and 30,200 people undertaking continuing professional development courses. In addition, 12,400 apprentices were either recruited or supported by unions running ULF projects in this period.

Unionlearn is responsible for managing ULF projects, including the annual assessment and award of bids, regular project monitoring, and a range of direct support activities for unions. Over the past year, 20 ULF projects were approved, amounting to £9.8m.

Over the years independent evaluations have demonstrated how union-led learning and training transforms lives. For example, these studies tell us that 70 per cent of ULF learners would not have engaged without the support of their union and large numbers achieve their first qualification through this route. Engaging in union-led learning also significantly boosts union membership – a quarter of ULF learners are not union members when they start a course, but one in two subsequently go on to join a union.

Unionlearn supports union learning through a wide range of other initiatives and more information on this is available in the separate annual report on its activities, which can be found at unionlearn.org.uk

6.8 Trades councils

FBU General Secretary Matt Wrack stood down from his position as General Council lead for trades councils this year, with his role taken up by General Secretary Steve Gillan (POA). We have seen a modest increase in trades council registrations, which now stand at 150, thanks to the work of regional reps.

Trades councils have been active in key campaign activities, including Sheffield Needs a Pay Rise, combining to resource a local organiser in key low-paid sectors in Sheffield. Many trades councils have supported local anti-racism campaigns and organised events to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day. A number of trades councils moved events online to mark International Workers Memorial Day, and have played a key role in HeartUnions Week. Many were involved in industrial activities – from working with BFAWU on the McDonalds’ campaign to supporting unions opposing Rolls-Royce job cuts. Funding cuts to the Chesterfield Unemployed Workers’ Centre motivated campaign and fundraising work on behalf of this important community resource.

6.9 Global union organisations

The TUC belongs to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the OECD’s Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC).

The ETUC executive met in October, December, February, March, June and July. TUC members of the executive committee are TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady (also on the steering committee), General Council Europe spokesperson Steve Turner, and General Council members Mary Bousted and Dave Prentis. The Pan-European Regional Council general assembly met in December: Frances O’Grady, Steve Turner, and General Council international spokesperson Tim Roache (until his resignation) were the TUC members.

The TUC attended the ITUC General Council in Brussels in October and the ITUC Human and Trade Union Rights Committee during the same month. The TUC attended the ITUC Executive Bureau’s virtual meeting in May. ITUC General Council titular members were Frances O’Grady and previously Tim Roache (until his resignation as general secretary). TUC Senior International Policy Officer Mariela Kohon is Frances’ first alternate and TUC General Council race spokeperson Gloria Mills is her second alternate. The ICTU’s David Joyce is the second member’s first alternate and Gail Cartmail the second alternate. ITUC Executive Bureau titular members are Frances O’Grady, with Mariela Kohon as her first alternate and Tim Roache as her second alternate (until his resignation as general secretary).

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady represents the TUC on TUAC.

6.10 Special feature: Global solidarity The TUC has continued to implement its international strategy, informed by a network of union international officers. We have developed our work to combat the growth of the far right (see the section ‘Tackling the far right’ for more information on the international aspect of this work). We continue to support sister centres in Somalia and Zimbabwe in their struggle for decent work, media freedom and an end to trade union repression. Letters were sent and solidarity actions held to protest abuses against trade unionists around the world, including in Bolivia, Chile, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, The Philippines, Ukraine and others. The TUC contributed to, and participated in, the Latin America conference in November. We hosted a speaker, and TUC representatives spoke at sessions on Colombia, Brazil and Chile. We also organised eight international sessions as part of Organise 2020, hosting speakers from Brazil, Colombia, Palestine, Spain, Turkey and others, as well as two international sessions at the annual Tolpuddle Festival. Brazil In October, the TUC held an event on Fighting Bolsonaro with the international secretary of the Brazilian Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) Antonio Lisboa, and we have regularly written blogs highlighting the situation. A planned General Council delegation to Brazil had to be postponed due to Covid-19, but we have continued to build links with the CUT and its allies. The TUC coordinated a meeting with the Brazilian Embassy in January to express concerns about increased repression. Imprisoned former President Lula was freed in November after an international campaign for his freedom that included the TUC. Colombia In line with resolution 73, the TUC participated in events to highlight the situation in Colombia and has continued to provide funding to Justice for Colombia. We supported the ITUC’s international day of action promoting the implementation of the peace agreement. The TUC also supported an ITUC report on the state of the peace process, used to highlight the Colombian government’s failings, to OECD members. In December, we held a meeting with the Colombian ambassador, affiliates and Justice for Colombia to discuss the human rights crisis, with ongoing murders of trade unionists, social leaders and former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) combatants. Cuba In November, the TUC hosted a delegation of Cuban trade unionists and a celebration of the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC) and the 60th of the Cuban revolution. During this event we joined the delegation in condemning the blockade, in line with resolution 74. Palestine In line with resolution 75, the TUC has written to the foreign secretary to oppose plans by the Israeli coalition government to annex parts of the West Bank, which have been facilitated by President Trump’s Middle East Peace Plan. Annexation would breach international law, violate Palestinian rights, and prevent a just and lasting peace based on a two-state solution with respect for the collective right to self-determination. We have called for trade unions to have a role in the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement monitoring human rights records and in triggering investigations when there are violations of those rights. We continue to work closely with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, including supporting its conference. Turkey During the ITUC General Council in October, the ITUC adopted a statement on the Turkish attack on the Kurdish population in North East Syria and the TUC supported a solidarity photo action to accompany the release of the statement. This was also supported by a letter in the Guardian by General Secretary Frances O’Grady denouncing the Turkish attack on the Kurds. The TUC continues to support the Freedom for Ocalan campaign. We have developed relationships with our sister centres in Turkey to highlight the abuses of Turkish trade unionists, and published a blog to coincide with the NATO summit in London in December.

6.11 ILO campaigning

In line with resolution 72, the ILO accepted in 2019 that health and safety should form part of the fundamental principles and rights at work, and the TUC has been working through the governing body to shape how this is realised. We have been collaborating with the ITUC and other partners to push for employers, as well as governments, to be accountable in the UN system for breaches of workers’ rights.

Following TUC reports, the ILO raised serious concerns about UK government funding and support for the Health and Safety Executive. The ILO’s annual conference was cancelled due to Covid-19, but the ILO built on its 2019 declaration on the future of work by setting out a vision for the world of work after the pandemic.

6.12 International development

The TUC has continued to advocate for the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda to be central to international development and meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We have called on the Department for International Development (DFID) and development finance institution CDC to ensure UK aid is used to deliver decent jobs, with meaningful engagement with sister unions. The TUC has publicly expressed concern about the merger of DFID and the Foreign & Commonweath Office (FCO), emphasising that UK aid should be used to end poverty and promote equality, not to serve national interests. In June, the union international officers’ network held a roundtable, chaired by the TUC’s international development spokesperson, Unite Assistant General Secretary Gail Cartmail, with the shadow DFID Team.

6.13 TUC Aid

TUC Aid trustees have agreed that projects will support the TUC’s international strategy and be delivered in alliance with trade unions and trusted organisations to increase available project funds and ensure project management is closer to the ground. Trustees met in September, January and July, though Covid-19 has disrupted project delivery. Current projects are: building the capacity of East African trade unions to advocate for trade deals that deliver decent work and support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, part-funded by the Trade Union Unit Charitable Trust; supporting Guatemalan banana workers’ union SINTRABI to establish new unions; and research into human and trade union rights violations in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) with the ITUC, ITUC-Africa and national centre TUCOSWA.

Recently completed projects include nearly 200 members of Ethiopia’s national centre CETU and its affiliates being trained as disability champions. In Bangladesh, 75 female members of affiliates to the national centre NGWF were trained in labour laws, equal rights, leadership, health and safety, and collective bargaining.

6.14 Wales TUC

Wales TUC has continued to work with the Welsh government to progress the concept of Wales as a ‘Fair Work Nation’. A key aspect of this has been the development of a Social Partnership Act that places a duty on public bodies to work in social partnership. It would also require public bodies to produce a procurement strategy to promote fair work. This has the potential leverage of the £6.3bn that the Welsh government spends each year on products and services to drive change in the private sector.

We have also worked closely with the Welsh government on its response to Covid-19. We have fought to ensure workplace safety and promote quality jobs and worker voice as part of the economic response. We published our A Green Recovery and a Just Transition report, which details our policy priorities on tackling climate change.

We have developed toolkits on autism and the workplace, mental health and older workers and we have conducted surveys on sexual harassment and mental health. Equalities work has also been central to our Covid-19 response, and we have created equality guides based on protected characteristics and briefed the Welsh government on the equality impact of the pandemic across each protected characteristic.

In February, Wales TUC General Secretary Martin Mansfield was seconded to the Welsh government for a period of 18 months to support the political processes associated with Wales becoming a Fair Work nation. Shavanah Taj of PCS was appointed acting general secretary for this period.

6.15 Regional TUCs

Our regional offices have continued to take forward key campaign priorities at a local level, working with sub-national administrations in an increasingly fragmented and asymmetric set of governance arrangements. Working with unions, regional secretaries have sought to influence combined and local authorities and other public bodies and have secured commitments and agreements for local skills funding to support trade union education. This mitigates the impact of devolving the Adult Education Budget.

Regional TUCs have been influential in promoting the Great Jobs Agenda in the North-West, north of Tyne, West Midlands, Sheffield and London authorities, with local administrations seeking to use their procurement powers to secure better-quality employment in their areas. The TUC’s A Better Recovery report has also formed part of our local lobbying work through our regional offices.

Innovation and hard work enabled the Tolpuddle Festival to go ahead online, with lots of political debate, union discussion and a wide array of music and culture. Throughout the lockdown period, regional councils and executive committees have continued to meet virtually. We have maintained and developed important work on diversifying our reps base, through leadership programmes for women and young workers. Our regional offices have also worked hard to support anti-racism campaigns and to build strong networks to challenge racism and fascism, supported by our new education materials.

7.1 Developing the TUC

The TUC has great staff and robust systems, put in place following significant internal developments in our digital infrastructure over recent years. During the coronavirus crisis, we’ve continued to deliver on unions’ behalf – just in a different way.

Our people, learning and development

Our people are at the heart of everything we do. We are an Investor in People, reflecting our high standards of people management, and this year we also achieved the Good Work Standard.

As the coronavirus pandemic took hold, some of our staff were sick, some lost loved ones and everyone had to adapt to the unprecedented pressures of lockdown. Most TUC staff worked from home. We took advantage of the government’s job retention scheme to furlough some staff whose jobs were directly affected, for example in our Congress Centre function.

We introduced new ways of communicating to ensure we stayed in touch with all our staff. Conscious of the difficult personal conditions and heavy workload placed on many staff, we were careful to monitor and consider mental as well as physical health during the crisis. We introduced a number of additional flexibilities to help our staff remain productive.

We introduced some new internal communications methods to ensure that our staff stayed up to date with the TUC’s programme and how the unfolding situation affected their work. Although some training courses were put on hold due to lockdown, we’ve made good use of online sessions.

Before supporting staff to start returning to workplaces, and working with our health and safety reps, we carried out a risk assessment of each workplace and considered staff’s personal risks.

We continue to look carefully at vacancies as they arise, with a number of posts being re-shaped to ensure they best meet the demands on the TUC. In June and September 2020, joint Heads of Equality and Strategy, Alice Hood and Nicola Smith, left the TUC, both for new posts at the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Alice had over 10 years’ experience, and Nicola spent 13 years at the TUC, leading the Economic and Social Affairs Department as well as equalities and strategy. Their judgement, skills, wisdom and commitment to the TUC and our values will be missed.

IT strategy and information services

In January 2020, we completed our programme to move to a new suite of tools to help us work cross-departmentally and improve our security and data protection compliance. Because the system uses cloud technology, it has become progressively easier for all staff to work remotely, with the final team being enabled in January. A major project for 2020 has been a new, faster intranet, which we launched in summer 2020. This was a significant achievement given nearly all our staff were working remotely at this time.

The information line supported nearly 7,500 public enquiries in 2020, of which 65 per cent were from people who wanted to know how to join a trade union. That’s an increase of 11 per cent who were looking to join a union. Because of worries about safety and job security, the signs during lockdown are that 2020 will drive even more people to find out about union membership.

Congress House improvements

Following our strategy to make the best possible use of Congress House, we continued to let new space in our refurbished office space, The Rookery. We are still assessing the impact of coronavirus on our lettings.

Congress Centre – a valued venue

The TUC and its affiliates have enjoyed the wide range of meetings, conferences and events facilities hosted by Congress Centre. These facilities are under increasing demand and 2019 was a bumper year for us. We delivered events from conferences to fashion shows.

We broke our targets in Q1 of 2020 but were delivered a heavy blow by the coronavirus lockdown. We are well placed to take advantage of any upturn as we are experienced in hosting hybrid online/physical events and we have worked through social distancing plans. We continue to monitor the market closely and explore new promotional methods to maximise value from the facilities.

7.2 Affiliations and mergers

There were no affiliations or mergers to the TUC in 2019–20.

7.3 Congress awards

Congress awards have been suspended this year. Very few nominations were received as unions have understandably been occupied in dealing with the challenges of the pandemic.

7.4 Congress

The 2019 Congress was held in Brighton. The Congress carried 49 resolutions, 17 composites and three emergency resolutions. It also agreed statements on Brexit and the TUC Campaign Plan 2019–20.

7.5 General Council

At the time of writing, the General Council has held seven meetings during the Congress year. At the first meeting, held jointly with the outgoing General Council of the 2019 Congress, Ged Nichols was elected as chair and he will preside at the 2020 Congress. It was agreed that the Executive Committee should be composed of the existing members, with the addition of Tony Dale and Claire Sullivan.

In December 2020, Isabelle Gutierrez and Jane Loftus joined the General Council, following a byelection in Section D. In April 2020, Tim Roache left the General Council and Executive Committee. In May 2020, Seán McGovern sadly passed away.

During the course of the year, key themes in the General Council’s work have been coronavirus, the December 2019 general election, Brexit, and the campaign for a new deal for working people.

The General Council lead responsibilities for the year 2019–20 have been as follows:

Overall responsibility as lead spokesperson for the TUC

The general secretary,
Frances O’Grady

Senior representative throughout the Congress year

The president, Ged Nichols

Specific areas of responsibility

Digital
Mary Bousted and
Kevin Courtney

Disabled workers
Seán McGovern (until May 2020), current vacancy

Employment rights
Tony Burke

Environment and sustainable development
Sue Ferns

Europe
Steve Turner

Health and safety
Liz Snape MBE

International development
Gail Cartmail

International relations
Tim Roache (until April 2020), Kevin Courtney (from July 2020)

Learning and skills
Mary Bousted

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights
Maria Exall

Public services
Dave Prentis

Race equality
Gloria Mills CBE

Trade union councils
Steve Gillan

Women
Philipa Harvey

Young workers
Charlie Gray

Following consultation with affiliates, the General Council continued to make improvements to the TUC’s strategic governance, agreeing changes to the equality committees and the Young Workers’ Forum and conferences, and the Trades Union Councils Joint Consultative Committee (TUCJCC). The General Council has decided, from 2020–21 onwards, to bring together the statutory conferences on a tighter timetable to align more closely with the Congress year. The General Council also agreed changes including new statements of purpose and standing orders for the advisory committees, seeking to improve the reporting relationship between the committees and General Council, increase clarity around their role and remit, improve conferences and ensure more and better input into TUC campaigns.

7.6 Conferences

Women’s conference

This year’s Women’s Conference was held from 4 to 6 March at Congress House. The conference, chaired by Susan Matthews of Unite, debated a wide range of motions covering menopause and menstrual equality in the workplace, ending gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work, and winning a new deal for women workers. Conference heard international speakers reflect on the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and from journalist Samira Ahmed on her historic equal pay win.

Young Workers, Black Workers, Disabled Workers, and LGBT+ Workers conferences

All these scheduled conferences were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Interim arrangements for the election of new committee members and for the submission of a motion to TUC Congress 2020 were agreed by the TUC Executive Committee. The committees also agreed positions on all union motions that had been put forward to conferences.

Trades Councils Conference

As with other statutory committees, the Trades Councils Conference was unable to go ahead. The TUCJCC agreed interim measures to select a motion for the Congress agenda, to select a trades councils delegate to Congress and to cover TUCJCC elections. All motions were remitted to the committee to establish a trades councils programme of work for 2020–21.

7.7 TUC finances

The annual statement of accounts and balance sheet as at 31 December 2019 is set out in Appendix 3. It shows a total surplus across all funds of £2.566 million, including asset revaluations and FRS 102 pension accounting adjustments. The operating surplus on ordinary activities of £662,000 comprises a deficit of £223,000 on the unionlearn fund and surpluses of £460,000, £181,000 and £244,000 on the administration, development and Congress House dilapidations funds respectively.

Following a tender process, we changed auditor this year. Our new auditor, Crowe, has advised us to make a number of adjustments to our accounts. These are explained in note 17 to the accounts.

Development fund

In 2019, 10 per cent of the affiliation fee was allocated to the development fund, alongside some external funding, and was used to promote new work and General Council initiatives. This was used to support a variety of projects, with the main initiatives being:

• winning for more workers
• a new deal for working people
• rebuilding a UK that works for working people after Brexit.

The development fund, representing all non-unionlearn externally funded projects together with projects funded by the affiliation fee, showed an operating surplus of £181,000.

Statement of accounts

The administration fund (covering day-to-day office running expenses and staff costs) produced a surplus on ordinary activities of £460,000, while unionlearn funds produced a deficit of £223,000. The development fund is shown above, while the dilapidations fund showed that £536,000 was spent on the upkeep of Congress House during the year and £780,000 was transferred to the dilapidations fund from the administration fund.

During 2019, our calculated FRS102 pension scheme position moved from a £10,674,000 surplus to £10,297,000. This negative movement of £377,000, together with the operating surplus of £662,000, the gain of £220,000 on sale of investments, net revaluation and deferred tax gain of £2,061,000, has increased the funds of the TUC from £82,386,000 to £84,952,000.

Prospects and developments

A budget for the 2020 administration fund has been agreed by the General Council. This showed a projected surplus of £629 but, as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown measures, at the time of writing this no longer appears achievable. The General Council approved a nine pence (3.13 per cent) increase in the affiliation fee to £2.97 for 2020. The Executive Committee agreed to set up a working group to look at the formula for the TUC affiliation fee in the context of wider trade union finances. This work was suspended by agreement until later in the year in the light of the Covid-19 emergency.

The TUC has retained its Fair Tax accreditation.

7.8 TUC Library

Located at London Metropolitan University, we attract a wide range of researchers interested in both the history and the current activities of trade unions, industrial relations, labour history and adult education.

We have five pop-up exhibitions available for loan. The latest is on the history of young workers and trade unions. The other four are: 150 years of the TUC; the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike; the Impact of the Russian Revolution on the Left; and the relationship between American and British labour movements.

Our educational history websites – The Union Makes Us Strong; Workers’ War; Winning Equal Pay; and Britain at Work – contain image archives and oral history and can all be accessed fromunionhistory.info

TUC Library can be found on social media at:

blogs.londonmet.ac.uk/tuc-library

facebook.com/tuclibrary

pinterest.co.uk/tuc_library

twitter.com/TUC_Library

Contact TUC Librarian Jeff Howarth to arrange visits and inductions at:
London Metropolitan University
The Wash Houses
Old Castle Street
London E1 7NT
tuclib@londonmet.ac.uk
020 7320 3516

The appendix includes:

• Attendance 
• Committee membership 
• Accounts
• Disputes between unions 
• TUC rules and standing orders 

Download Appendix (PDF)