General Council Report 2022
TUC mission statement
The TUC brings together more than five million working people who belong to our 48 member unions. We support trade unions to grow and thrive, and we stand up for everyone who works for a living. Every day, we campaign for more and better jobs, and a more equal, more prosperous country.
Introduction - Frances O'Grady
Working people are in the midst of a cost-of-living emergency. Inflation is at a 40-year high and millions of families are struggling to keep their heads above water. Shamefully, workers once lauded by ministers as pandemic heroes, now rely on debt or food banks to get by. As top pay, profits and shareholder dividends soar, our number one priority as trade unionists is to win a fair deal for workers.
Global hikes in food and energy costs – not wages – are driving rising prices. But this crisis is also made in Downing Street. Had our wages just kept pace with the OECD country average since the financial crash, UK workers would now be earning an extra £4,000 a year. But over a decade of Conservative austerity, benefit cuts and weak rights at work have hammered families’ financial security. The government has no plan to tackle the crisis or the UK’s sorry record on investment in skills, productivity and the transition to net zero.
Boris Johnson promised ‘a high wage economy’ but instead his political choices have seen pay packets, and the share of total wealth created going to workers, shrink.
But while the government wages divisive culture wars in a desperate attempt to distract from its own failings, trade unions are stepping up to the plate. In June, tens of thousands joined the TUC’s We Demand Better national demonstration, calling for action on the cost of living, stronger rights and a new deal for workers. The protest in London, and town hall meetings around the country, marked the launch of a programme of action to fight back.
The TUC is demanding a higher minimum wage, fair pay agreements – starting with social care – and a decent pay rise for all workers. While ministers partied, key workers put their health on the line to care for us. It’s time we cared for them. And everyone who works for a living deserves fair rewards. We’re also fighting for a greener, fairer and more equal economy with a boost to universal credit, more collective bargaining and tax hikes on wealth – not workers. It’s time to level the playing field for the real wealth creators.
With prices rising much faster than wages, we’ve seen an upsurge in industrial action. Nobody takes strike action lightly but when employers won’t negotiate, workers are left with no choice. Hundreds of thousands of workers have voted to take industrial action to win a fair deal. The TUC‘s new Solidarity Hub is helping unions to boost democratic participation in ballots and step up support from the whole movement and our communities too.
We’re also demanding better work. The scandal at P&O Ferries – where the permanent crew, paid the union rate for the job, were unlawfully sacked and replaced by agency labour on poverty pay – met widespread condemnation. But despite promising more than twenty times to bring forward an employment bill, ministers have not lifted a finger to strengthen workers’ rights. The TUC’s call for a ban on fire-and-rehire, zero-hours and false self-employment, in favour of positive flexibility so workers can balance work and family life, has won popular support. And we’ll resist any attacks on EU-derived rights, as the government sets its sights on so-called burdens from Brussels. When government wants people to work even longer and harder for less, it’s high time to say enough is enough.
Thanks to the success of the NHS vaccination programme, life is gradually returning to normal for many. But it’s not over yet. The TUC is campaigning for those suffering from long Covid and for those who are clinically vulnerable. And the resilience of our overworked public services could be tested again by new variants. Lessons must be learned. Together with the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice and other allies, the TUC succeeded in its campaign for an independent public inquiry into the government’s mishandling of the pandemic. Unions are at the forefront of the fight for investment in public services, the priority of people over profit and stronger health and safety at work. We are also organising to end the structural racism that saw Black and minority ethnic workers more likely to be employed on insecure contracts in overcrowded workplaces with poor ventilation, to miss out on proper PPE, and to suffer ill-health and die.
With Covid-19 shining a light on terrible injustices in our society, equality remains a central focus for the TUC. We continue to expose the causes, and consequences, of the barriers facing disabled workers, LGBT+ workers and women – including the scourge of sexual harassment. Meanwhile, our Anti-Racism Task Force will present a manifesto to Congress, including recommendations on organising, bargaining, policy and campaigns, and the imperative that unions lead by example. Diversity is strength.
As the terrible war in Ukraine drags on, our commitment to internationalism, solidarity and peace is more important than ever. Trade unions have campaigned for rights to safe routes and asylum for all people fleeing conflict, rape and persecution. We’ve highlighted how the global poor are suffering most from food shortages resulting from the war. We’ve worked with trade unions globally to counter the threat of the radical right and fascism. And around the world, from Brazil to Colombia, Turkey and Palestine, we’ve championed the cause of working people and their unions.
This is my final Congress as TUC general secretary. I’m proud to have spent my working life serving the cause of organised labour. Whatever our background, at its heart trade unionism is all about friendship between working-class people. And the comradeship, courage and resilience of our reps and officers is second to none.
Next year will be a crucial year for our movement. Let’s encourage each other, stay strong and organise for our future. Keep the faith and we will win for working people.
Solidarity,
Frances O Grady
Introduction
TUC work to support union reps to develop the knowledge to challenge employer and government responses to Covid remained a high priority throughout the year. Webinars, guides and tools for reps were popular.
Our focus also shifted to the longer-term impacts of Covid and we continue to campaign for long Covid to be formally accepted as an industrial illness and disability in line with resolution 8. And, along with our affiliates, we will be playing a full role in holding the government and its agencies to account for how the coronavirus pandemic developed via a public inquiry.
Health and safety
The TUC campaigned to ensure that the health, safety and welfare of workers is protected by strong union organisation and a growing network of health and safety reps with access to high-quality guidance and advice. We produced a range of resources to support workplace activists; webinars focused on ventilation, working in extreme temperatures, the safety of pregnant workers and lone workers.
In response to composite 1, the TUC has called for Covid and long Covid to be recognised as an industrial disease and a disability, publishing evidence on the link between Covid-19 infection and fatality with certain occupations, surveying thousands of workers with long Covid on their experience in work. We joined the call for universal access to occupational health services, supporting the Society for Occupational Medicine’s campaign. In support of composite 1, we launched a new training course, From Resilience to Resistance: organising on work-related stress.
Responding to resolution 45, the TUC launched work focusing on the health and safety of Black workers. A roundtable of Black union leaders, activists, safety reps and union health and safety leads informed a research project, comprising focus groups and surveys of workers. Similar work encouraging women to take on the role of safety reps has begun, following resolution 48, with research aimed at understanding the barriers women experience and the safety issues that intersect with gendered experiences of work.
We continued our call and campaign for Statutory Sick Pay to rise to the real living wage, and to be made available to all workers, in response to resolution 23. Reflecting composite 7, the TUC campaigned for and secured strengthened health and safety rights for pregnant women, challenging the Health and Safety Executive’s employer guidance and forcing an update: all employers must now conduct individual risk assessments for pregnant workers.
The Union Health and Safety Specialists network met throughout the year. This forum discussed developments within occupational health and safety and shares best practice and issues of concern.
In the run-up to International Workers’ Memorial Day in April 2022, the TUC focused on the requirement for safety regulation to be included in the Covid-19 public inquiry, in response to composite 9.
We have continued in our call for the strengthening of regulatory bodies, and for more funding to the cash-strapped Health and Safety Executive.
The TUC continued in the role of Secretariat to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Occupational Health and Safety and the Sub-Group on Asbestos, engaging with parliamentarians and sector organisations on a range of issues and campaigns. This year the APPG co-sponsored research into asbestos presence in public buildings, with members providing political support in parliamentary questions, motions and in the media.
Claire Sullivan from CSP and Ged Nichols from Accord continue to serve as employee representatives on the board of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The DWP has not filled the third trade union seat since Kevin Rowan left the board in October 2021
The Covid public inquiry
The Covid-19 inquiry has been set up to examine the UK’s preparedness and response to the pandemic, and to learn lessons for the future. With the publication of the final terms of reference in June 2022, the independent inquiry has now been formally established under the chair of Baroness Hallett.
The TUC has confirmed that it will apply for core participant status in the public inquiry as the representative body on behalf of all affiliated unions, as the most effective way of securing a broad range of trade union engagement in the inquiry while optimising resources.
If granted, the TUC would act as a conduit to affiliate union engagement in the inquiry, with unions playing the lead role in the relevant parts of the inquiry. The TUC itself would engage on its own terms in those parts of the inquiry directly relevant to its own role in the pandemic.
As a representative body core participant, the TUC would ensure fair, balanced and inclusive engagement of affiliates across sectors. We have set up a working group of unions to inform the TUC’s approach as the inquiry progresses. We will consult with our statutory committees to ensure the voice of members disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, particularly women, BME and disabled workers, are centred in all work around the inquiry.
Working in partnership with our legal representatives – Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC of Doughty Chambers and Thompson’s Solicitors – and through our trade union working group, we have to date focused on engaging with the consultation on the terms of reference, a key stage in the process.
The TUC will continue to liaise with unions, through the working group and TUC committees, focusing on assembling evidence for the inquiry to look at:
- the impact of the pandemic on members in workplaces
- identifying the contributing factors – government policy, legal framework, inspection and enforcement and employer behaviour (at a corporate, sectoral or workplace level)
- the supporting evidence available – what we can utilise and who is best placed to represent that to the inquiry
- what change we aim to achieve in respect of government policy, the legal framework, inspection and enforcement and employer behaviour.
1.1 Introduction
Over 2021, the UK and world economies continued to recover from the large-scale reduction in economic activity caused by lockdowns to confront the pandemic. The UK economy regained its pre-pandemic level of GDP at the turn of 2022.
The furlough scheme demanded by trade unions helped to protect jobs and prevent against a surge in unemployment across the economy. However, compared to pre-pandemic levels, employment is still down in many industries, especially manufacturing, energy extraction and supply, and finance and insurance. The biggest gains in employee jobs are in activities most closely related to the pandemic, such as health, public administration, IT, ‘professional, scientific and technical’, and ‘administration and support’.
Self-employment jobs have fallen sharply, so that total employment is still down by more than one quarter of a million on the position ahead of the pandemic. Some sectors have reported labour shortages, as workers in sectors dominated by poor terms and conditions have in some cases not returned to these jobs in the wake of Brexit, and there is some evidence of older workers withdrawing from the workforce.
A significant challenge for workers has been the global rise in inflation, triggered by problems in global supply chains, and bottlenecks in transport and energy markets in particular.
Despite many unions successfully negotiating or taking action to defend their pay, across the economy real levels of pay – that is pay once inflation has been taken into account – are falling.
Underlying pay growth is (at the time of writing in July) 4 per cent and is forecast to rise to 5 per cent. At best this will be half the forecast peak in inflation and real pay will decline by 5 per cent. This adds to the pain caused by the longest and harshest real wage squeeze in modern history.
The TUC has been arguing for a new approach. Workers cannot afford to absorb rising prices. Consumer confidence is crashing and the threat of a recession is just around the corner. Further pay cuts for workers could push us over the edge. Telling workers to take the hit while protecting wealth has led us into crisis after crisis; we need a new approach that puts workers ahead of wealth and a productive economy ahead of an extractive economy. As we set out further in this section of the General Council report, that means investing in UK workers, in the secure green energy supply we need, and in boosting jobs in the UK – in the public and private sector.
1.2 Pay and the national minimum wage
The TUC has campaigned to get wages rising across the economy through its Britain Needs a Pay Rise campaign. We have made regular media interventions, which have kept the pay crisis on the agenda as a central plank of the cost-of-living emergency. TUC analysis showed that energy bills increased 14 times faster than wages. We showed that insecure low-paid work is costing the Treasury £1bn a year. Ahead of the TUC national demonstration, we secured media coverage showing that workers have lost £20,000 since 2008 because pay has not kept pace with inflation.
The TUC has worked with affiliates to establish a new headline minimum wage demand of £15 per hour as soon as possible and the TUC has submitted evidence to the Low Pay Commission calling on the government to set out a plan to reach this target.
We argue that this should be underpinned by a return to normal pre-crisis wage growth of at least 3.8 per cent a year; and an increase in the minimum wage target to 75 per cent of median wages. The Low Pay Commission should continue to work in social partnership with unions to establish the most suitable path based on economic circumstances.
Throughout the year the TUC has made the case for a higher minimum wage, beginning with an immediate increase to £10 an hour. Following submissions by the TUC and affiliates, the government announced an increase in the national living wage (NLW) to £9.50 an hour from April 2022.
The TUC NMW Enforcement Group has met quarterly, bringing together unions, advice agencies and relevant government departments and enforcement bodies. Kate Bell continued to represent the TUC on the Low Pay Commission.
The TUC continues 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 pushed for increases to the living wage to be bought forward this year due to high inflation. Following this, it has been agreed that the next living wage rate will be announced two months earlier than usual this year.
1.3 Climate, energy and just transition
The TUC has campaigned hard for a swift and just transition to a net zero economy, intervening around the energy crisis, COP27, specific workplace issues and government policies including the Net Zero Strategy. In the context of the gas price crisis, we campaigned for a windfall tax on oil and gas profits to help pay for help with energy bills, for public ownership of energy, and for a coordinated public-sector led programme of home retrofits.
Responding to the issues adopted in composite 2, the TUC has undertaken a wide range of work. We successfully pushed government to launch a Green Jobs Delivery Group with trade union representation. We published analysis on the need to safeguard and future-proof 660,000 jobs in high-carbon industries by investing in decarbonisation, and supported lobbying and organising within automotive, aerospace, steel and other manufacturing sectors.We have also pushed for the construction of new nuclear plants, including coordinating letters and lobbying government to firm up commitments for Sizewell C. We conducted workshops and published a report on the need to create good jobs in low-carbon heating, covering the need for fair pay, collective bargaining and sectoral agreements. In our engagement with government and media interventions, we highlighted the need for greater investment in zero-carbon hydrogen to support a rapid transition for high carbon industries. And we ran workshops and made submissions to government and select committee inquiries promoting a carbon border adjustment mechanism.
We have also run peer-to-peer workshops for union officials on growing their networks of environment reps, provided resources and micro-learnings for reps, and profiled the work of reps in both media comment articles and TUC blogs. This was alongside a series of regional roundtables for affiliates to develop collective union demands to combined authorities on just transition, procurement and climate action.
In response to resolution 11, the TUC has expanded its internationalist and decolonial approach to climate justice, highlighting structural racism in institutions. We have taken steps to increase climate content in trade union education including publishing new materials, and advocated through the Green Jobs Delivery Group and Green Jobs Task Force for the education system to support the climate transition. In 2021, we conducted a baseline assessment and audit of affiliates’ publications and positions on the climate transition, and have searched for examples of best practice on sustainability.
In response to composite 3, we have commissioned a report on the need to expand and green public transport and pushed government and political parties for more investment in high speed rail connections and metro networks outside London.
1.4 Levelling up at work
The TUC published its response to the government’s levelling up agenda in October. Levelling Up at Work: fixing work to level up across the UK argues that low pay and insecure work are endemic across every region and nation of the UK and that unless this is addressed levelling up will fail. This requires creating an economy based on decent work, with reform of skills, corporate governance and procurement policies, strengthening collective bargaining, investment in green industrial policies, a pay rise for public sector workers and an end to outsourcing of public services.
Meetings were held with government, opposition politicians and other organisations both before and after the publication of the government’s Levelling Up white paper in February. The TUC commented that the white paper’s proposals failed to address the world of work, though it did contain a performance indicator on the proportion of jobs that are low paid.
1.5 Workers’ capital, corporate governance and executive pay
In September, the TUC hosted a union roundtable to feed into a Financial Reporting Council report on corporate culture. The report, published in December, included several quotes from union participants alongside a section on how trade unions contribute to engagement and a positive corporate culture.
A report from the TUC, Common Wealth and the High Pay Centre Do Dividends Pay Our Pensions? was published in January and showed that only a tiny proportion of UK dividends and buybacks accrue to UK pension funds and that pension wealth is very unequally distributed. The report argued for corporate governance reform and measures to promote collective bargaining.
Janet Williamson continues to represent the TUC on the ICAEW’s Corporate Governance Committee and the Wates Coalition responsible for corporate governance principles for large private companies. Research published in February showed that the Wates principles are the most widely adopted corporate governance code used by large private companies.
Trade Union Share Owners has led work with Unite coordinating investors to put pressure on Whitbread to pay the living wage.
The TUC and the High Pay Centre published a joint report on CEO pay in August. The report found that after a dip in 2020 caused by the pandemic, median FTSE 100 CEO pay rose sharply in 2021 to £3.41m – a 39 per cent increase on the 2020 level and 5 per cent higher than in 2019. The ratio of FTSE 100 median CEO pay to median full-time worker pay has now outstripped the pre-Covid level, rising from 107 in 2019 to 109 in 2021.
1.6 International trade
The TUC has advanced resolution 45 by using its positions on the government’s Strategic Trade Advisory Group, EU Domestic Advisory Group and DIT Trade Union Advisory Group to advocate for ethical trade that decreases inequalities between the global north and south.
The TUC met the UK government at the World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference in June to express concern that the government was actively undermining proposals by South Africa and India to waive international property rules that would allow global south countries to produce affordable versions of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.
The TUC campaigned with Indian unions to call for trade talks between the UK and Indian governments to be suspended due to concerns about widespread abuses of workers’ rights and civil liberties.
The TUC also opposed trade talks between the UK and Gulf States due to concerns about labour and human rights abuses and advocated against the UK-Australia trade deal and the UK-New Zealand trade deal as neither contained effective mechanisms to enforce labour rights or protect public services, personal data or food standards – as raised in composite 6.
The TUC and its US counterpart, the AFLCIO, took part in UK-US dialogue events with the UK international trade secretary Anne Marie Trevelyan and the US Trade Ambassador Katherine Tai in Baltimore and Aberdeen. The TUC pressed the UK government to follow the worker-centred trade agenda’ of the Biden administration which involves close engagement with unions. The UK international trade secretary affirmed that trade unions would be included in the government’s Trade Advisory Groups that are consulted on trade negotiations, however, this has not yet taken place.
We continued to campaign for the government to uphold commitments to the Level Playing Field in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) and expressed concern about the Brexit Freedoms Bill and other moves to water down rights. We held an event with Shadow International Trade Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds in January to launch a TUC-commissioned legal report on how workers can use the TCA and its review in 2026 to prevent attacks on rights.
The TUC released a joint statement with the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) in June expressing concern that the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill threatened the Good Friday Agreement.
1.7 Social security
Social security plays a vital role in supporting livelihoods.
We campaigned against the £20 cut to universal credit in October 2021, reinforcing our message that our social security system does not provide an adequate safety net.
We have continued to highlight the inadequacy and the design of universal credit, raised in resolution 31. The TUC working group looking a replacement for universal credit has produced its final report. This was presented to the TUC Executive Committee, and the findings were discussed at an event with the shadow secretary of state for work and pensions, Jonathan Ashworth.
In line with composite 6, the TUC continues to look at the rise in food poverty. We have met with groups including Feeding Britain, which develops projects such as affordable food clubs and school holiday food and activity schemes, to see if there are ways they could work with trade unions.
We continue to campaign on the need for decent sick pay for all.
Kate Bell also represented the TUC on an advisory group for the pilot for a basic income for care leavers in Wales.
1.8 Pensions
The TUC has continued to be a leading advocate for the interests of working people in occupational pensions, and for retired workers.
In line with resolution 30 we have campaigned for auto-enrolment to be extended and improved to better serve workers on low pay. This has included working with an industry and cross-political group to develop and promote a solution to the net pay anomaly that denies tax relief to some low-paid workers. We have also provided written and oral evidence on removing the auto-enrolment earnings trigger and improving saving rates to the Work and Pensions Select Committee, and worked with a range of stakeholders to campaign for higher contribution levels.
This year the TUC has focused particularly on barriers to accessing a decent pension faced by many women, and in May we launched the first annual Gender Pension Gap day to highlight this issue.
Gender inequality was one of the topics highlighted in our annual pensions conference, held in March, which also examined the development of collective defined contribution pensions, scheme investment in private equity and infrastructure, and the state pension age.
In line with composite 13, we have continued to campaign for improvements to the state pension and to public service pensions. We have facilitated ongoing engagement between unions and the Treasury over the McCloud remedy and provided consultation responses in favour of reforming the discount rate mechanism and against changes to the cost control mechanism for public service schemes.
We campaigned publicly for the triple lock promise to be honoured to preserve the value of state pensions. We also produced research exploring the impact of increases to the state pension age on older workers and used the independent review of the state pension age to argue against further increases and for stronger measures to support older workers.
1.9 Support for the arts and a new deal for self-employed workers
The coronavirus pandemic hit the self-employed hard, with the crucial creative industries particularly badly affected. The associated shutdown revealed just how inadequate the UK’s social safety net is for many modern self-employed workers.
There is an urgent need for reforms to allow self-employed workers access to much of the support that is given to those in employed work. Therefore, in line with resolution 23, the TUC formed a Self-Employed Working Group to develop the details of a new deal for the self-employed. This will focus on the needs for collective bargaining rights, stronger health and safety protections, sick pay, parental rights and a system of universal credit that works for self-employed workers.
We also ran a discussion, in line with composite 5, to explore the potential use of a form of universal basic income (UBI). This had input from unions for creative workers from the Republic of Ireland where a universal payment to artists – Basic Income for the Arts – is being piloted.
The TUC has advanced resolution 34 by calling for visa waivers for creative workers touring in the EU in meetings with European Commission and EU embassy officials in London. We are also working with sister unions in EU countries to raise the issue with EU governments.
In line with composite 14 we have opposed efforts to privatise Channel 4. The TUC General Secretary wrote to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as part of a wider campaign coordinated by We Own It.
1.10 Transport
On TfL, public transport in London is a vital service not just for employers and commuters in the capital but for the economy of the whole country.
In line with resolution 29, Fixing TfL’s Broken Funding Model, TUC colleagues have been active in supporting calls for a sustainable pay settlement for TfL, including producing blogs, reports and articles highlighting the vital role the service plays.
Firefighters put their lives on the line before, throughout and beyond the pandemic. In line with resolution 25, the TUC has supported colleagues in the FBU as they have resisted continuous attacks on their terms and conditions, including ensuring that their voices were heard on the national stage at the recent We Demand Better demonstration on 18 June 2022.
In line with resolution 28, we have supported colleagues in the maritime unions to fight back against attacks on their members, most recently by producing campaign materials, petitions and briefings to highlight the shameful sacking of hundreds of workers at P&O Ferries.
In line with composite 4 we contributed to the Department for Transport consultation on transport labour market and skills, highlighting the need for continued investment in adult learning and skills development and the vital role that unions should play in this process.
We have also produced a report highlighting the need for proper investment in digital skills training for adults and have commissioned a series of articles investigating digitisation in the public sector, one of which will focus on the need for upskilling on digital skills and the role of unions in pushing for this provision for their members.
1.11 Working time
The TUC has made multiple media interventions on working time. We highlighted excessive unpaid overtime for Work Your Proper Hours Day. We have continued to call for the creation of four more bank holidays, particularly during the additional Platinum Jubilee bank holiday.
For resolution 27, we researched workers’ experiences of accessing flexible working. We submitted our response to the BEIS consultation on making flexible working the default and got almost 6,000 members of the public to share their views. We have lobbied government and political parties for their support on policy calls to ensure fair flexibility for everyone and highlighted the risks of uneven access to flexibility without intervention, and provided guidance to reps on collectively negotiating for flexibility.
The TUC has continued to campaign for a shorter working week, in line with composite 18, by providing supportive media interventions particularly around the four-day week trial.
We have attended meetings of the Working Time Coalition to feed into this work.
2.1 Introduction
This year has seen an intensification of attacks on working people and their unions, from government attacks to the right to strike to the shameful behaviour of employers using fire-and-rehire tactics. There have also been attempts to divide working people through so-called culture wars. The trade union movement has been strong in resisting these attacks, fighting back against fire-and-rehire, and calling for new, stronger rights for workers and their unions.
The TUC has taken forward significant work on equality, continuing the vital work of its Anti-Racism Task Force, which reports at Congress this year, and working to strengthen the rights of women, disabled and LGBT+ workers. And we have made sure to address new threats to workers’ rights, including the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace.
2.2 Defending the right to strike
The past year has seen a concerted attack on union members and collective rights by both the government and some employers. The most blatant of these was the no notice sacking of 800 workers by P&O Ferries.
This amounted to the dismissal of unionised workers on decent collectively bargained wages and their replacement with agency workers on poverty pay. The DP World-owned operator ignored its legal obligations to consult with unions and notify the appropriate authorities.
Described as ‘fire-and-rehire on steroids’, it was the logical outcome of a system that gives workers little job security. This year there have been fewer high-profile attempts at fire-and-rehire, when workers are told to accept cuts to terms and conditions or reapply for their jobs on these worse terms. But the bully-boy tactic has not disappeared.
Meanwhile, despite professing opposition to fire-and-rehire, the government has failed to take robust action and even ensured that a private members’ bill that would curtail its use didn’t proceed through parliament.
In line with composite 7 and resolution 36, the General Council lobbied in support of this bill and has continued throughout the year to campaign for changes that will make it harder for bad bosses to dismiss workers in order to get their way.
Rather than use these scandals to boost worker protections, the government has attempted to further attack union rights, in particular the right to strike. The General Council led a union campaign against new powers for the certification officer and a levy on unions to fund her activities.
Meanwhile, measures were tabled in parliament to quadruple to £1m the maximum damages that an employer can seek against an ‘unlawful’ strike. The TUC has warned MPs that, when combined with onerous and complex laws on industrial action, this is a blatant attempt to scare workers from striking.
The TUC is also leading a campaign against statutory instruments tabled in parliament that will end the ban on employment businesses supplying agency workers to replace those taking industrial action. Such use of agency workers could undermine public safety and inflame disputes.
As noted in composite 11 and resolution 52, there is a huge risk that the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and changes to the Human Rights Act could lead to more action against unions.
The TUC submitted a robust consultation response to government proposals to change the Human Rights Act. It will continue to work with civil society groups to oppose the government’s dangerous changes.
2.3 The Anti-Racism Task Force
Since 2020, the Anti-Racism Task Force (ARTF) has set out to lead the trade union movement’s renewed campaign against racism at work and in the labour market in line with resolution 45. The ARTF will mark the end of this phase with a presentation of its work and findings at the 2022 TUC Congress.
The ARTF workstreams were organising, collective bargaining, public policy and unions as employers. Central to the work of the ARTF is the aim to further the work that the trade union movement does on anti-racism both for its staff and its members. Integral to this is affiliates’ engagement with Black members and senior activists to enable unions to formulate action plans that result in substantive change.
Task Force workstreams
Collective bargaining: This workstream has delivered a set of roundtables that has resulted in recommendations for the trade union movement on a strategic approach to race litigation cases. We have also explored representation in the workplace, and methods for unions to collectivise the experiences of individual race cases, in order to organise and bargain. The TUC has also delivered collective bargaining and ethnicity monitoring videos, guides and webinars for trade union reps.
Organising: The TUC regions and nations held taster sessions listening to the experiences of Black reps and activists on their training needs. The TUC has launched a model Black Education and Leadership programme in the south-west of England. The workstream has launched a comprehensive report into TUC regional equality and Black structures. Additionally, the workstream held a series of public events on trade unions' role in organising, membership and recruitment of Black workers.
Public policy: The TUC launched a report on racism in the labour market, proposing recommendations for employers and government in improving the working conditions of Black workers. The workstream played an important part in the TUC’s consultation on the terms of reference for the Covid Public Inquiry, centring on the experiences of Black workers during the pandemic. The workstream investigated building race-class solidarity through framing and messaging research conducted by the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS) thinktank. The taskforce has convened its first Anti-Racism Network, made up of civil society organisations working on policy and campaigns on race.
Unions as employers: The workstream conducted a trade union-wide recruitment, retention, training and progression survey and convened a network of HR staff from trade unions to build on sharing best practices and resources. We also commissioned a qualitative piece of research investigating the experiences of Black staff working for trade unions.
Legacy
As part of its work, the ARTF will publish a trade union anti-racism manifesto, which will present the trade union movement's shared commitments to racial justice, setting out measurable actions that trade unions are committed to delivering to progress racial justice for Black members, activists and employees in the trade union movement.
The plan will set out future commitments for the TUC to ensure a legacy for the work of the Task Force. An Implementation and Oversight Group will be established after Congress 2022. This group will be responsible for working with the Race Relations Committee and the General Council to oversee and monitor the implementation of recommendations from the Task Force.
2.4 Race equality
The TUC Race Relations Committee worked on various race equality issues, prioritising its efforts to improve the organisation and recruitment of Black workers and supporting the work of the ARTF with resolution 45 in tackling structural and systemic racism that black workers face. The Race Relations Committee and TUC continued the work to highlight the problem of racism in the UK, including online abuse, in line with composite 8, by supporting the Stand Up to Racism march and rally commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Racism on 19 March 2021.
In line with resolution 45, the TUC Race Relations Committee and the TUC have continued to campaign for the introduction of mandatory pay monitoring. The TUC, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission wrote to the government, calling on it to introduce pay gap reporting. The TUC also gave evidence to a special Women and Equalities Committee, which subsequently called on government to introduce legislation.
The Race Relations Committee and the TUC have continued to campaign for a public inquiry into the unnecessary deaths of Black workers in the pandemic in line with composite 10. The Race Relations committee is working with the TUC on a project to educate union members about the intersection of race and health and safety. The project aims to encourage more Black workers to become health and safety reps and campaign for ethnic data to be collected in work-related injury reporting.
The TUC and the Race Relations Committee have continued campaigning against the hostile environment. The TUC and other race equality organisations continue to call for a public inquiry and campaign for a proper Windrush compensation scheme that delivers reparatory justice for those who suffered because of the hostile environment policy. The Race Relations Committee continues to support campaigns against deportations and is working with asylum organisations to oppose the government's policy on deportations to Rwanda.
2.5 Women
Having been at the sharp end and on the frontline during the pandemic, women now face further disadvantage as the cost-of-living crisis escalates. We risk turning back the clock on the progress women have long fought for. Low-paid and insecure work, women doing the majority of both paid and unpaid care work, women facing discrimination in the workplace through a lack of flexible working, a lack of gender-sensitive health and safety in the workplace, and pregnancy and maternity discrimination, compounded for BME women, disabled women, young women, older women and LGBT+ women, all continue to demonstrate that the fight for women’s equality in the workplace is far from over.
In line with composite 9, the TUC continues to call for mandatory gender pay gap action plans, and wants more work on tackling the gender pensions gap. Removing the £10,000 threshold and lower earnings limit as well as introducing gender pension gaps reporting would all contribute to progress on closing the gap. Flexible working is essential if we are to tackle gender inequality and we continue to campaign for a day one right to flexible working and an advertising duty.
The TUC called on the government to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty and conduct Equality Impact Assessments in line with resolution 48. And we need a new deal for the childcare sector, both in terms of pay and conditions for workers as well as universal, free and flexible, high-quality childcare.
In line with resolutions 47 and 9 the TUC got the HSE to change its guidance about risk assessments for pregnant women and new mothers. But we know women continue to face discrimination in the workplace, including issues around the menopause, menstruation, fertility, endometriosis, pregnancy loss and a lack of support when returning to work for breastfeeding mothers. We continue to work with affiliates to develop model polices, education and awareness of these issues and lobby government and institutions for updated guidance, best practice and, where needed, legislative change.
Having won the duty to tackle and prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, the TUC will continue to work with stakeholders to ensure this legislation is as robust, resourced, and impactful as possible.
Within our own movement we will continue to support affiliates to tackle and prevent sexual harassment and the cultures that enable it in line with resolution 46. And we will continue to challenge the rollback of women’s rights across the globe and tackle the increasing use of misogyny by the far right.
2.6 LGBT+ workers
LGBT+ workers are facing an increasingly hostile environment in the UK. The government and right-wing media are using LGBT+ workers’ rights, and especially trans rights, as part of a deliberate culture war, with the goal of splitting working people.
Anti-trans groups seek to undermine progress on equality and inclusion in the workplace – progress that was hard won by trade unions. The current moral panic around trans rights echoes the panic around gay and lesbian identities in the 1980s, epitomised by Section 28 legislation.
A TUC-commissioned poll of HR managers exposed how many employers have failed to introduce policies to support LGBT staff. One in five (21 per cent) workplaces told the TUC they do not have any policies in place at all to support their LGBT+ staff at work. Only half (51 per cent) of managers surveyed told the TUC they have a policy prohibiting discrimination, bullying and harassment against LGBT+ workers in their workplace. Less than half (47 per cent) said they have a clear reporting route for workers to raise concerns about discrimination, bullying and harassment against LGBT+ workers – even though one in seven (15 per cent) managers had responded to bullying, harassment or discrimination against one or more LGBT+ workers.
The TUC is calling for government to consult with unions on a strategy to make sure workplaces are safe for all LGBT+ people. We are also calling for employers to ensure LGBT+ inclusion in the workplace through introducing inclusive policies and practices and in line with resolution 49 fighting the far and radical right.
2.7 Disabled workers
Disabled people were hit hard by Covid-19, and the pandemic also caused enormous mental distress. There are now two million people in the UK with long Covid and a TUC survey of those experiencing it showed over half had experienced discrimination or disadvantage as a result.
Disabled people are also facing a huge cost-of-living crisis, with two in five disabled workers pushed into financial hardship during the pandemic. Disabled workers were also twice as likely to have had to visit a food bank than non-disabled workers. While disabled people often face higher household costs than average, they earn on average £3,500 less a year – so effectively work for free for 52 days of the year.
The TUC is calling for government to close the disability pay and employment gaps by 2024. Government should enact a statutory requirement for employers to report their disability pay gaps and employment rates with action plans and regular monitoring.
We are also calling on government to ensure fair access for disabled workers to request reasonable adjustments, without being discriminated against for doing so. Employers should face a substantial penalty for non-compliance.
Government should also ensure stronger rights for people with long Covid, reform Access to Work so that it is sufficiently funded and available to disabled jobseekers, and scrap Work Capability Assessments.
2.8 Dealing with artificial intelligence and technology at work
The TUC AI working group meets around every three months, works on TUC reports on AI and contributes to external projects. Members of the group include representatives from 15 affiliate unions, the ETUC, ITUC, ETUI, TUAC and Uni Europa.
In December 2021, the TUC published guidance for unions on AI, When AI is the Boss, and an accompanying reps-led webinar. We also commissioned Britain Thinks polling on surveillance and technology.
The TUC has been campaigning for greater transparency in the use of technology and more accountability for technology providers. This is necessary both to ensure workers are treated fairly in the workplace and, as set out in resolution 38, to stamp out the disinformation and fake news that undermine trust in journalism and increase hostility towards journalists.
The TUC contributed to advisory boards working on new guidance on AI at work, led by the OECD, CIPD, IFOW and the ICO. We responded to government consultations on data reform and the impact of AI on intellectual property rights. We also responded to the UN Special Rapporteur for disabled people's call for evidence on AI, and the DRCF's call for input on algorithms in June 2022.
We have continued to meet with the EHRC, the ICO, the CDEI, DCMS, BEIS and the DTI, influencing with our AI manifesto. This includes a proposal for a right to disconnect and we called for this in our campaigning work on the Employment Bill, progressing resolution 39.
The TUC has also contributed to internationally led work on AI, including taking part in the ETUC AI taskforce and the ETUC standardisation committee.
3.1 Introduction
Public sector workers have remained at the forefront of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, tackling backlogs in health, education and justice, shifting to a ‘new normal’ where pandemic responses are embedded into the daily delivery of many of our public services while seeking to address climate change.
In line with resolutions 12, 13 and 24, the TUC campaigned for an end to the public sector pay freeze at the 2021 autumn budget. Throughout 2022, we continued to lobby ministers, including writing to the chancellor, making the case for public sector pay rises that keep pace with the cost of living and begin to restore a decade of real-terms pay cuts.
Guided by resolution 1, the TUC has fought to protect jobs, working conditions and pensions. In line with resolution 12, we made the case for sustainable investment in public services and a long-term workforce plan, produced in consultation with unions, to end excessive workloads and staff burnout. We investigated the new challenges and opportunities of increased digitisation, a greener public transport system and a revitalised trade union agenda on skills, as well as the role of procurement in levelling up and promoting insourcing.
3.2 NHS
In its third year, the catastrophic impact of the pandemic on those waiting for care and those working to deliver it is ever more evident.
The scale of the backlog facing our NHS is staggering, placing increased pressure for effective regulation, as articulated in resolution 60 on regulatory reform. In April 2022, 6.2 million people were waiting to receive treatment.
The TUC is calling for sustainable long-term investment in health services to tackle this backlog. Additional funding raised by the new Health and Social Care Levy (an unfair increase in National Insurance) will go a small way towards this and, even then, only if funding is targeted effectively. That means addressing the staffing crisis that is undermining our health and social care system.
Vacancies in the NHS have reached the highest levels on record, with one in ten jobs currently vacant. The TUC has worked alongside affiliates in the sector to call for an immediate retention package, with a decent pay rise at its heart, to prevent further workforce losses and to address the low morale of underpaid and overworked staff.
TUC analysis found NHS workers are still earning thousands of pounds a year less, in real terms, than in 2010. We sent briefings to every MP in the country, mapping backlogs and staff shortages against the real-terms wage cuts of NHS workers in their constituency. In May 2022, the TUC warned government that if it continued to hold down NHS wages, it would suck demand out of the economy and stunt economic growth. The economy would experience a whopping £2.1bn loss of economic activity if NHS wages fail to keep pace with inflation.
3.3 Social care
The TUC has continued to influence the agenda on social care, ensuring improvements for the workforce are at the centre of any debate. In line with resolution 12, we published A New Deal for Social Care: a new deal for the workforce at Congress 2021. This landmark report proposed to transform care delivery through improvements in the pay and conditions of the workforce – including a new sectoral minimum wage raised through reforms to capital gains tax, the establishment of a new Social Care Forum and a long-term workforce strategy developed with unions. We developed evidence on public support for reforms, carrying out a poll of working adults that identified widespread support among the electorate for improving care workers’ pay and conditions.
Ahead of the 2021 autumn budget and comprehensive spending review, we called on government to increase funding for social care. Throughout 2022, we worked closely with affiliates and key stakeholders to oppose government plans to introduce mandatory vaccination requirements in social care, produced written evidence for the House of Lords Adult Social Care Committee’s inquiry on the invisibility of care work and gave oral evidence to Labour’s policy-making forum on fair pay agreements and a national care service.
3.4 Civil service and justice
Guided by resolution 62, the TUC used its oral and written submission to the House of Lords Public Services Committee inquiry Public Services Workforce for the Future to condemn the government’s model of routinely briefing against and undermining both the civil service and its senior leadership. Such high-profile attacks lead to a demoralised workforce and act as a deterrent to anyone considering a career in the civil service.
Low morale among civil servants has been compounded by a lack of a credible, robust and fair pay progression system, further undermining recruitment and retention efforts. Throughout the year, the TUC has pursued meetings with Cabinet Office ministers and officials, making the case for a civil servant pay structure and putting up a robust defence of jobs in the civil service. TUC analysis revealed government plans to cut 91,000 civil service jobs will be deeper than the deepest point of the previous programme of austerity cuts in the last decade. The cuts under then chancellor George Osborne set a record for the fewest civil service employees since the Second World War: if these cuts go ahead, they will break that record.
The justice sector saw some of the deepest cuts during the period of austerity. Despite promising to rectify this, the government has failed to commit the financial investment required to undo the decades of damage that has been done to legal aid or address the huge backlogs in the courts system.
In 2022, the probation service completed the process of unifying the publicly owned service (since 2015 called the National Probation Service) and dozens of community interest companies. While it is right that probation is brought back into public ownership, the service in its current guise is not fit for purpose. In line with resolution 63, the TUC and its affiliates in the sector continued to call for probation to be separated from HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and re-localised. Meanwhile, despite slight falls in the last year, the Children and Family Court Advice and Support Service (CAFCASS) continues to face unmanageable workloads to the detriment of staff and service users alike. The TUC and affiliates are calling for a fair funding settlement in line with resolution 64 and an end to the outsourcing and privatisation that have damaged our justice system.
3.5 Transport
Good-quality public transport is essential for passengers and communities and for creating a sustainable future. In line with resolution 3, the TUC and affiliated unions in the sector have commissioned a report on the benefits of investing in green public transport.
Transport workers were rightly hailed as heroes during the pandemic, but they have suffered sustained attacks on their jobs, terms and conditions to the detriment of safety and services for passengers as well as workers.
The Williams/Shapps plan for rail threatened cuts of £1.5bn over five years. At the end of 2021, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced plans to impose cuts of 10 per cent across the industry.
Meanwhile, Network Rail has committed to billions of pounds of cuts between 2019 and 2024. These cuts threaten a vicious spiral of declining service, driving reduced passenger numbers and further cuts.
In response, rail workers delivered a resounding mandate for industrial action across train operating companies and Network Rail. The TUC has provided support with online campaigning and digital organising, as well as producing a report making the case for sustained investment in rail. We commissioned a legal opinion by Michael Ford QC that makes clear government’s responsibility for resolving disputes over pay, terms and conditions.
Bus services have long been neglected by central government despite the vital role they play connecting businesses, workers and communities. Across much of the country bus services have been deregulated, becoming unreliable and expensive as a result of private profiteering and the hollowing out of local government funding. In 2021, the government published Bus Back Better, which attempted to address these issues by requiring local transport authorities to produce Bus Service Improvement Plans and either enter enhanced partnerships or begin the process of franchising where relevant. Though it represented an improvement on the status quo it was not commensurate with the scale of the challenge. This year the TUC has supported campaigns for metro mayors to begin the process of franchising in Liverpool, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. We maintain that lifting the ban and allowing municipalised bus services is the best option for bus passengers, workers and the country.
The aviation industry is a vital component of our economy, providing essential transport links and high-skilled, unionised jobs to thousands of workers. The aviation industry is currently struggling to meet the upsurge in demand due to staffing and skills shortages. Unions persistently warned government about these risks and called for measures such as short-time working to preserve vital skills from haemorrhaging out of the industry, skills that will be expensive and difficult to replace. From air traffic control to security and baggage handling we are now seeing the impact of government’s refusal to listen to unions.
3.6 Education and skills
Massive cuts in funding and the abolition of adult skills entitlements over the last decade have led to a sharp decline in lifelong learning and training. At the same time economic and social trends are requiring workers to upskill and retrain more than ever before. While responding to the impact of the pandemic remains an immediate priority, there are significant skills challenges arising out of the impacts of Brexit, automation/AI and the transition to a greener economy.
Over the last year, the TUC has engaged with industry and government stakeholders to promote a package of measures that could boost lifelong learning for adults. These should be implemented through a new national lifelong learning and skills strategy based on a vision of a high-skill economy, where workers are able to quickly gain both transferable and specialist skills to build their job prospects. A strategic approach could be delivered at pace by a National Skills Taskforce that would bring together employers, unions and other key stakeholders alongside government
Establishing a wider range of skills entitlements for adults and introducing a new right to paid time off to train should be a priority. Over time these entitlements would be incorporated into lifelong learning accounts that would facilitate additional workplace learning, including encouraging co-investment by employers.
The government can use its position as an employer in the public sector to lead by example, focusing on equipping workers with the digital skills needed to deliver on the government’s ambition for digital by default public services, providing training for those whose jobs are at risk due to automation and as we transition to net zero, and increasing access to upskilling and retraining opportunities to help more public sector workers progress in their careers.
A national lifelong learning and skills strategy should contain an explicit boost to FE and skills funding over a multi-year period and this long-term funding picture should be updated regularly. This financial investment should be mirrored at all other stages of the education system, from the early years onwards.
Over the past year, the TUC has worked closely with affiliated unions on education policy and workforce issues, including supporting the campaign priorities in resolutions 11, 46 and 61. We have supported affiliates with campaigning and digital organising as they represent members in HE and FE involved in disputes over pay and casualisation. Since 2009, all college staff have suffered a real-term pay cut of 30 per cent.
Ahead of the autumn budget, the TUC highlighted the sharp decline in teachers’ pay over the last decade and that critical and deep-rooted recruitment and retention problems have not been solved. We have campaigned for an early and meaningful pay rise for the entire teaching profession, not just that of new starters but of teaching assistants, experienced teachers and those working in the early years, to ensure that the education sector is well placed to attract high-quality graduates and retain experienced education staff. Tackling excessive workloads and the lack of flexible working should also be addressed, through a long-term workforce plan, produced in consultation with unions.
4.1 Introduction
The TUC has continued to work to ensure that working people and unions can win in the workplace, with a programme of support for trade union reps. This year we have expanded the work we do to support industrial action, forming a solidarity hub to centralise our resources to support workplace campaigns. We have stepped up our work to counter the influence of the radical and far right in workplaces and in politics. And we have continued to work internationally to build trade union solidarity, and to support workers in the countries where their rights are most under attack.
4.2 Industrial action
This year we saw more evidence of a higher propensity of workers to take industrial action in support of workplace campaigns. In some cases, unions have secured significant pay rises across the private sector, winning double-digit awards in privatised services, in transport (including aviation) and also in the manufacturing and engineering sector.
Unions have led successful industrial campaigns to push back against employer attempts to use ‘fire-and-rehire’ tactics to decimate terms and conditions of employment, including at Clark's, where the TUC in the south-west worked closely to support Community's winning campaign. New Acas guidance published in November 2021 recognised this practice should not generally be used by employers.
With support from the TUC, a number of unions have delivered improved participation in industrial action ballots, including UCU taking action in a range of HE institutions. RMT smashed ballot thresholds in Network Rail and other train operating companies over pay, changes to job roles and job security, taking the first national industrial action for 30 years. ASLEF and TSSA have also successfully beaten ballot thresholds, joining the ongoing dispute.
CWU secured a massive 96 per cent vote for industrial action in BT and Open Reach, with a 76 per cent and 58 per cent turnout respectively. The TUC is in the process of sharing best practice to ensure all unions are able to maximise the chances of meeting ballot thresholds.
Through the development of the Solidarity Hub the TUC has responded to this growth in industrial campaigns. Our communications, including social media, have been deployed to amplify key campaigns across the economy and through the use of Megaphone, peer-to-peer texting and an early pilot of Strike Funder we have been able to provide important and effective practical support.
The TUC Education Service has developed a new micro-site to provide practical guidance to union reps leading industrial action and our research and policy work is flexing to align to industrial campaigns too.
On a sectoral level the TUC has brought unions together to collaborate on industrial campaigns. Teaching unions are consulting on joint messaging, joint campaigning work to maximise ballot participation and coordinating independent approaches to industrial action or action short of strike.
We are currently speaking to more unions about these experiences, with plans to continue developing this effective approach within and across TUC-affiliated unions.
Trade unions continue to be well represented on the Acas council, where key discussions around news guides on flexible and hybrid working and avoiding fire and rehire have been developed. Christina McAnea, Mike Clancy and Roy Rickhuss are all full members of the council. Since Paul Nowak’s term of office came to an end Kevin Rowan has been representing the TUC in an observer capacity.
4.3 Winning more for workers
The TUC has continued to promote rights for reps in line with composite 15 via our stronger unions work, republishing our guide to facility time and bringing cohorts or reps together in webinars and building reps’ networks locally to share experience and develop campaigns.
In response to composite 16, the TUC held 15 town hall events across the country, with a combined attendance of over 1,000 people. National and local speakers focused on key industrial campaigns, supplemented by a media strategy with national coverage from the Daily Mirror and features in 15 regional media outlets. These local events provided a strong opportunity to showcase local industrial campaigns and to amplify national TUC support, which provided motivation to those campaigns, giving workers and reps a major boost.
These town hall events helped to mobilise for a national We Demand Better march and rally on 18 June, with tens of thousands of people marching to Parliament Square to demand better from the government. The demonstration was the first effective post-pandemic mass mobilisation of union members and it successfully delivered a high-profile moment of unity. Many unions’ general secretaries spoke at a fast-paced rally, which also featured several frontline key worker speakers. The feedback from union officers and members, national and regional TUC staff and other activists was that the rally was a well-organised, safe and positive event that helped promote union campaigns and boost the movement at an important political and industrial moment.
This is borne out by the extensive media coverage both in the build-up (including our partnership with the Daily Mirror) and on the day, with headline coverage on both BBC and ITV broadcast news. The demonstration also had traction on social media, with #DemandBetter trending on Twitter in the UK on the day of the march and rally.
Our content reached 14 million people, and received coverage in the Metro and Huffington Post.
This coverage provided a national and regional platform for the TUC and trade unions to set out our demands and to explain more about the industrial action taking place in different sectors from a union perspective. Crucially, we were able to make members’ voices and experiences central to this.
We are currently planning for the next steps in our campaign work, including further town hall rallies and a mass lobby of parliament in October ahead of the 2022 budget.
4.4 Tackling the far right
The TUC continues to build its work to counter the international far right with affiliates and with international unions. We participate in the monthly ETUC working group, set up with TUC involvement as part of the ETUC roadmap to counter the far right.
We have supported the delivery of ETUI workshops on tackling the far right for ETUC affiliates with a number of workshops. We attended a conference alongside sister centres from Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, Poland and Belgium and have built alliances with unions in Europe and Latin America, highlighting how unions are responding to the far right. We continue to develop work with affiliates to build strategies to respond to far-right ideas and narratives in the workplace and are commissioning research. We are developing educational materials on the international far right, in conjunction with Trademark Belfast, and will be piloting them later in the year as well as sharing the existing Winning Workplace Unity course.
4.5 Global solidarity
The TUC affiliates 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, March and June and held its midterm conference in October. TUC members are Frances O’Grady (Steering Committee), General Council spokesperson on Europe Steve Turner, and Mary Bousted. The Pan-European Regional Council executive committee met in October, April and June: Frances O’Grady and Steve Turner are the TUC members. The TUC Executive decided this year to reduce its affiliation fees to the ETUC, while remaining a strong relationship, in the context of the UK’s changed relationship with Europe.
The TUC attended the ITUC Executive Bureau (EB) meeting in May, and the ITUC General Council in November/ December, March and May. ITUC General Council titular members are Frances O’Grady and Kevin Courtney. TUC Senior International Officer Mariela Kohon is Frances’s first alternate and Gloria Mills second alternate. The ICTU’s David Joyce is Kevin’s first alternate and Gail Cartmail second alternate. ITUC EB titular member is Frances O’Grady, with Mariela Kohon as her first alternate and Kevin Courtney second alternate. TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady represents the TUC on TUAC.
The TUC has nominated Luca Visentini as candidate for the ITUC General Secretary election, which will take place at the ITUC World Congress, 17-22 November 2022 in Melbourne, Australia.
The TUC has shown solidarity with workers in Poland, Belarus and Myanmar. In November the TUC expressed its solidarity with the Cuban CTC, condemning the illegal blockade.
The TUC condemned the illegal invasion of Ukraine, outlining support for peace talks and urged governments to reach a negotiated solution through diplomacy to bring about peace, democracy, security and human and trade union rights for all in Europe, Ukraine and Russia.
The TUC organised an event in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and demanded changes to the immigration and asylum system, and to tackle the racism that Black and minority ethnic people at the Ukrainian border have faced. We are working with the ITUC to build on unions’ track record of delivering peace.
The TUC has organised several international events, including one for HeartUnions week with speakers from India, Chile, Spain and the US, and a session for the TUC Women’s Conference with speakers from Poland, Spain, India and Colombia.
Colombia
In support of composite 17 the TUC jointly hosted a reception in March with Justice for Colombia (JFC) to commemorate the Colombian peace agreement. It was attended by the leader of the Labour Party, several shadow cabinet members, TUC General Council members and other leading trade unionists. We participated in several events on Colombia and have continued to advocate for the suspension of the UK-Andean trade deal. We took part in a JFC delegation in June alongside trade unionists and parliamentarians from Britain, Ireland and Spain. The progressive candidate Gustavo Petro won the presidential election.
Brazil
The TUC continues to campaign in solidarity with workers in Brazil and launched a report in November outlining the challenges posed by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. We have participated in several events and in May hosted the CUT Brazil, organising meetings in parliament, highlighting the need to support the democratic process in October’s presidential election.
Palestine
In line with resolution 72 and the General Council’s explanation, the TUC wrote to the UK government to ask it to demand that the Israeli government upholds international law and Palestinian rights, including the right to self-determination. It called on the UK government to publicly oppose the designation of six Palestinian human rights and civil society organisations as terrorist groups by Israeli authorities. The TUC expressed support for the decision by the International Criminal Court that with regards to the situation in Palestine it will investigate crimes that are alleged to have been committed since 13 June 2014. We commissioned research to support delivering policy to put pressure on companies complicit in the illegal occupation, settlement building and the arms trade, to cease such activities. The TUC has made a submission to the Department for International Trade on the proposed UK-Israel free trade agreement.
Turkey
The TUC has expressed solidarity with trade unionists facing persecution, detention and trials and has carried out advocacy to call for an end to the repression. We have expressed support for a peace process and the release of Ocalan and called on the Turkish government to stop military operations in northern Iraq and north-east Syria.
4.6 ILO
An historic session of the conference of the ILO in June adopted occupational health and safety as one of the fundamental principles and rights at work to become a recognised human right. This binds the government to Convention 155 on Occupational Safety and Health, yet to ratify. The TUC representative on the ILO’s governing body led the workers’ group in the first stage of a new Recommendation on Apprenticeships. There will be further consultations before the process is concluded at the next ILC.
At the Committee on the Application of Standards, there was condemnation of Belarus and Myanmar, and China was asked to accept an ILO mission to investigate the treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
In March, the government ratified Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work after pressure from the TUC and the NIC-ICTU. The convention will apply to UK law from 7 March 2023.
4.7 G7
The L7 met in Berlin to discuss the G7 agenda. Stephen Russell represented the TUC. The L7’s statement this year noted the importance of digital democracy, reiterated the need for global social protection and supply chain laws, and the pursuit of peace.
4.8 TUC Aid
TUC Aid projects are supporting delivery of the TUC’s strategy. Trustees met in November, March and July. Current projects focus on: building the capacity of East African trade unions to advocate for trade deals that deliver decent work; and supporting Guatemalan banana workers’ union SITRABI to establish new unions. We have recently completed projects building women’s empowerment and tackling gender-based violence in Iraq, and supporting trade union action to tackle gender-based violence in Brazil, Latin America and the Caribbean. Advocacy related to the TUC Aid-funded report into violations of human and labour rights in Eswatini continues.
4.9 Regions and Wales
London, East and South East
With the increase in industrial action and return to in-person picket lines we have been stepping up our work to help publicise actions and to attend picket lines and campaign actions across the region.
We used the mobilisation meetings for 18 June to reach out to reps across the region and are starting to build up work on supporting campaigns to organise outsourced workers. There have been some significant steps forward including the insourcing of 1,500 workers at Barts Hospital NHS Trust, but there are many more campaigns that are ongoing, including the 2,000+ cleaners on London underground whom TfL has failed to bring back in house and wider work on support for rail cleaners, workers on NHS outsourced contracts and others.
We have run a series of webinars for reps and officers in the region including sessions for young workers and women reps and will be looking at a mix of online and in-person events in the year ahead. Alongside out existing regional networks we have set up our new regional health and safety advisory committee and re-established our East of England sub-regional network.
Midlands
The TUC Midlands region has led an innovative organising initiative giving unions access to the supply chains of fast fashion brands following too many instances of worker exploitation in the Leicester garment industry. Over the past year, agreements have been reached with a number of fashion brands, which gives unions the right to enter factories to engage with workers and to ensure a safe working environment. In addition, jointly funded outreach workers, with a job description focused on union membership and recruitment, are employed within the community to organise garment sector workers.
We continue to spearhead the Dying to Work campaign, seeking greater employment protection for terminally ill workers following a case highlighted and brought by the GMB.
A voluntary charter for employers to sign committing to safeguarding terminally ill workers now protects over one and a half million workers across the UK.
Northern
TUC Northern’s industrial agenda is to win increased worker representation by achieving trade union recognition zones; establish a new campaign to achieve worker representation in the Tees Valley, in particular, with the Freeport; and investigate how initiatives such as Good Work Pledges can improve pay and conditions for working people.
Under the banner of Britain Needs a Pay Rise we have been demanding better and will hold more localised and sector- or workplace-specific rallies in support of unions achieving increased worker representation and winning new collective bargaining agreements and pay rises.
Our equalities committee is working with Northumbria University to create a new equalities leadership programme, bringing all our self-organised groups together while protecting safe spaces. The leadership programme is to explore the opportunities of intersectionality and how to continue to bargain for meaningful EDI policies in the workplace.
Our new partnership with the North of Tyne Combined Authority on skills is up and running. Over the next two years we will be providing access to learning initiatives across sectors both within and outside the combined authority. With a goal of reaching over 40 employers during the partnership, the team of four who will be leading this work are going to be identifying new ways to develop learning agreements with employers under the new education funding arrangements.
Our regional Asbestos Campaign and Support Group is expanding our work programme and affiliated unions with a view to increasing our participation and leadership in the national asbestos forum and leveraging schemes such as retrofit to lobby for safe removal of asbestos.
North West
We’ve continued to work with Metro Mayors Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram to develop and grow their employment charters.
We’ve worked on developing good standards and are now looking at how we can link these standards to procurement and commissioning to give them real teeth.
We’ve been working with our affiliates and counterparts in Yorkshire, Humber and Northern to ensure there is a trade union voice in discussions that affect the north. At our recent annual conference, Lisa Nandy MP spoke about how levelling up wasn’t working for many in the north and in discussions with Metro Mayors from across northern England we’ve discussed good jobs, green jobs and rebuilding from the pandemic.
As affiliates have been busy taking industrial action to win for members, we’ve been playing an active role in supporting disputes including on fire and rehire on Greater Manchester buses, supporting RMT picket lines in their recent dispute and highlighting the impact of outsourcing on OCS workers in Blackpool.
South West
The Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival returned to a very sunny Dorset after two years online. Great music, lots of political discussions and entertainment for all the family created a lovely atmosphere. Great speeches from the main stage reinforced the determination of unions to fight for their members and the need for unity. It is a hugely popular event of which the movement can be proud.
Yorkshire and the Humber
This year, the TUC’s Yorkshire and the Humber region has been extremely successful in developing its relationships with the mayoral authorities in South and West Yorkshire. This has led to the reintroduction of dedicated skills development posts committed to rebuilding union learning in the region and increasing the number of union learning representatives. We have agreed finance to have two workers on this project and have been involved with fair work charters in both areas.
Our climate change project worker has just received new funding to be able to continue the work supporting the Yorkshire climate commission and encouraging the training of green reps in workplaces and committing employers to a net zero pledge and to commence bargaining with unions in workplaces.
Our summer patrols are continuing in conjunction with LO Norway, building links with our campaigns in Sheffield, Rotherham, and Leeds to demand pay rises and to organise young workers to demand better. And we are about to deliver a Black workers development course starting in the autumn.
We are currently piloting a Black talent programme to build the network of black reps in the region. Feedback is very positive and we will be sharing this across the TUC to help in our efforts across the movement.
Wales TUC
A new three-year agreement for the Wales Union Learning Fund was reached in spring 2022, securing training, advice and guidance for thousands of workers across Wales. Hundreds of reps and activists are being trained through our trade union education programme, with additional courses now being offered on green skills and negotiating a just transition.
Social partnership working between unions, Welsh Government and employer organisations continues to strengthen. The Social Partnership and Public Procurement Bill was introduced in June. It will give workers a say over public bodies strategic planning in relation to areas like economic well-being, as well as delivering fairer outcomes from procurement spend. The legislation will also result in a more consistent approach to delivering ‘fair work’ being taken across the devolved public sector.
In practice, social partnership is resulting in better relationships between government and transport unions, unions advising on implementing the Real Living Wage in social care and a shared vision for the retail sector being published. It also continued to underpin the emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic, including keeping the covid workplace risk assessment regulations until the end of May because of union pressure.
Unions have also worked with Welsh Government to produce the national race, disability and LGBTQ+ action plans, alongside sector-specific work such as developing a mandatory part of the new national curriculum on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic histories.
Campaigning work across a range of areas has generated significant media coverage, influenced policymakers and changed workplaces in relation to issues like harmful gambling, the menopause, mental health and autism.
Last autumn, Wales TUC launched its Future of Devolution and Work Commission, led by Professor Jean Jenkins. It is tasked with considering the impact that the current devolution arrangements are having on efforts to properly address issues like insecure work, non-compliance with labour rights and the changing nature of work. Its interim report was published this summer, and its final report will be published later this year.
5.1 Introduction
We’ve continued to develop the TUC as we returned to office working. But we’ve delivered differently and against a backdrop of continued uncertainty. And we’ve used new campaigning and communications techniques to reach more people with our message and provide a stronger voice for workers.
5.2 Our people, learning and development
We can only fulfil our important mission if our people are happy and able to deliver. The pandemic tested us all and we continue to support staff as we adapt to new ways of working.
We worked closely with staff and reps to review flexible working at the TUC and co-designed a piloted return to the office. We also reviewed options for more flexible working in office-based jobs.
We progressed our inclusion project by carrying out a listening exercise with our Black and minority ethnic (BME) staff and reflecting on changes required to make our organisation truly inclusive. Early changes include providing a development course for BME staff and their line managers while we consider further action so all staff, including BME staff, feel included, recognised and valued and are experiencing recruitment, promotion and development opportunities at the TUC.
All of this work is aligned with the Anti-Racism Task Force to share good practice and learn from others. We agreed a new sexual harassment policy and are adopting best practice as outlined in the TUC sexual harassment toolkit. A staff survey will help shape new work to make improvements to staff learning and development.
We continue to look carefully at vacancies as they arise, reshaping or moving posts to best meet the demands on the TUC but have thankfully avoided redundancies this year.
We have had some turnover among senior regional staff. We welcomed Liz Blackshaw as new regional secretary of Northern Region and James McKenna as the TUC's regional secretary in the North West.
We wish all our leavers well for the future.
5.3 IT strategy and information services
The IT team focused on bedding in a new IT services supplier at significant saving, and has been spending time making sure our systems, including those supporting hybrid meetings, were fit for the return to offices. We strengthened our internal communications, building on past developments. And we progressed actions to improve our information security.
The information line supported nearly 4,600 public enquiries in 2021, of which 61 per cent were from people who wanted to know how to join a trade union.
5.4 Congress House – managing our estates
We seek to make the best possible use of Congress House and were pleased to fill one of the few remaining empty areas this year, following a number of departures related to the pandemic. We have progressed a programme of works to update systems and made some significant repairs.
5.5 Congress Centre – a valued venue
Over the years, the TUC and our affiliates have enjoyed the wide range of meetings, conferences and events facilities hosted by Congress Centre. We were very happy to reopen our doors when lockdown ended, and work has been building up steadily, welcoming old faces and new. A consultant-led review of Congress Centre looked at prevailing market conditions and benchmarked us with good practice competitors and gave us pointers to improve our position. We remain positive about the future.
5.6 Congress awards
Congress Award for Youth
Lewis Akers Nationwide Group Staff Union
Health and Safety Rep Award
Jamie McGovern Communication Workers Union
Organising Award
Bella Fashola National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers
Women’s Gold Badge
Carol Sewell UNISON
Union Learning Rep Award
Kathryn Williams Unite
5.7 Innovative campaigning and communications
We have secured consistent and high-profile media coverage for the movement over the last year. Our media team has helped amplify union campaigns and victories – including P&O, the rail strikes and Deliveroo.
Social media
The TUC’s social media accounts have seen massive growth in the last year. Our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have all seen increases in reach, engagement and followers, with our Twitter page achieving over 48 million impressions, and over 20,000 more followers.
In February, we launched our TikTok platform, which has quickly gained almost 60,000 followers. Our TikTok video content has received over 13 million views, bringing our message to a new audience.
Megaphone campaigns
The TUC digital campaigns platform Megaphone has now collected more than 1,000,000 signatures, been used by 24 unions and hosted 398 campaigns and has an email list of 311,367 active supporters. We continue to develop the functionality of the platform to best support union campaigning and organising, to complement traditional approaches.
In addition to online petitions, our Write to a Decision Maker feature, which allows supporters to email management directly, has been heavily utilised recently as a way of adding pressure in disputes.
Our events and map tool has also been useful, supporting activists to lead or attend station leafletting events at 130 different railway stations in the weeks leading up to the We Demand Better demonstration.
TUC Digital Lab
The TUC’s Digital Lab project continues to grow in reach, networking leaders and practitioners across TUC affiliate unions to explore areas of best practice in digital change for unions.
Following a programme of research on responses to the post-pandemic environment for unions, the Digital Lab published its Adapting to the New Normal for Trade Unions report just before Congress 2021. The challenges identified in the report have provided scope for events and pilot work with affiliate unions over 2021/22. This has included research into good practice in inclusivity for online union branch events with Equity, and research with Accord into the potential for tech tools to support reps.
A new series of briefing and discussion events for union leaders has been developed and, in support of the Organising Pledge, a new digital organising bootcamp series supported a cohort of organisers from across TUC affiliates to explore new techniques in using online to drive offline organising.
Continuing to support affiliates on benchmarking around digital capacity, the Digital Lab published reports on best practice in using mobile to support unions, and in improving unions’ use of web search optimisation to get our messages to a wider audience.
The Digital Lab collaboration with development cooperative Join Together launched its new joining service for unions (jointogether.online), working initially with BFAWU, WGGB and CWU. The new service is a flexible framework for building best practice online joining processes for unions, ensuring potential members are not lost unnecessarily. The project also aims to improve new member onboarding, and member retention.
TUC Trades Union Communications Awards
This year we celebrated the 44th awards. Seventeen unions took part in the competition with a total of 49 entries – showcasing a variety of high-quality communications from across the union movement.
The judges were: Chris McLaughlin, Tribune editor-at-large; Ellie Gellard, strategic director at 38 Degrees; and the TUC’s own Anneliese Midgley.
The awards ceremony will take place on 1 September.
Details of the winners are embargoed until 2 September.
5.8 Conferences and equalities
Black Workers Conference
The theme for the Conference was Organising for Equality. The Conference featured a panel debate on Immigration, Asylum and the Hostile Environment. Delegates took part in workshops that were facilitated by the TUC Anti-Racism Task Force and discussed a new manifesto for Black workers. Two Future of Organising online events were held. The first was organised with Gal Dem and discussed Fighting Back: the Future of Anti-racism. The second was organised with the Ella Baker School of Organising on Getting Your Workplace Strike Ready.
LGBT+ Conference
The theme of the LGBT+ Conference 2022 was Proud To Be Union. Delegates discussed 50 years of Pride, closing the LGBT+ pay gap, and ending homophobia, biphobia and transphobia at work. The conference heard from leading activists including Dr Lady Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, founder of UK Black Pride, Andrew Lumsden, veteran of the Gay Liberation Front, and Nadia Whittome MP.
Women’s Conference
The theme of TUC Women’s Conference 2022 was Justice, Safety, Equality. Women across our movement debated more than 40 resolutions covering trade unions leading to end gender-based abuse, women’s health and safety in the workplace, bargaining for women’s rights and representation, and standing in solidarity with our international sisters. Conference ran three panel sessions, hearing from trade union leaders and activists on bargaining priorities for the trade union movement, Black women at work and in trade unions, and our international panel of women mobilising in the state, street, and workplace.
Disabled Workers Conference
At the Disabled Workers Conference 2022 delegates called for a reform of social security, access to work and the economy, to ensure a decent standard of living for all disabled workers. Conference noted that disabled people were hit hard by the pandemic; 6 in 10 Covid-19 deaths were disabled people. Vicky Foxcroft, shadow minister for disabled people, addressed the conference.
Young Workers Conference
The Young Workers Conference returned to being an in-person event this year, with around 100 attendees enjoying powerful debates on a range of important issues including pay, the cost of living, mental health and the impact Covid-19 has had on the lives of young people. Frances O’Grady, Taiwo Owatemi MP and Naomi Pohl were among the many speakers at conference, talking about how young trade unionists can respond to challenges facing workers and the movement.
Trades Councils Conference
Around 60 delegates met for an in-person conference in Leicester. Key debates included the ongoing campaign to end fire-and-rehire, with great contributions from Trevor Stephens, Community convenor at Clarks in Somerset, and Barry Gardiner MP. The conference debated workplace organising, hearing about the excellent Leicester garment workers’ initiative led by TUC Midlands.
5.9 TUC Library
Located at London Metropolitan University, the TUC library collection provides a wide range of resources on both the history and the current activities of trade unions, industrial relations, labour history and adult education.
Six exhibitions are currently available to loan, the latest on the life of Mary Macarthur. The others are on: the history of young workers; 150 years of the TUC; the 1984/85 miners’ strike; the Russian Revolution; and American and British labour relations.
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 from www.unionhistory.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
Enquiries, visits and inductions are very welcome and can be organised through Jeff Howarth at:
London Metropolitan University The Wash Houses Old Castle Street London E1 7NT tuclib@londonmet.ac.uk 020 7320 3516
5.10 TUC Education
TUC Education provides unions and their workplace reps with high-quality training that enables them to organise, campaign and represent members collectively and individually. Our training is delivered in classrooms via our partnerships with FE colleges in England and Scotland and also online via digital platforms and webinars. We want to deliver our training to reps in whatever way they find most accessible and useful, whether that is in a classroom, online or a combination of both.
In 2021, TUC Education had partnership agreements with 18 FE colleges in England and Scotland, which ensure delivery of NOCN-accredited training via the TUC’s core course programme and union courses that are mapped to the TUC Passport to Progress accreditation framework.
Details of the full TUC Education offer to unions and reps can be found at tuc.org.uk/training
Online training and support for union reps
Between January and December 2021, TUC Education trained 912 union reps via its learning platforms. This comprised 65 separate cohorts that included reps from various affiliates. This figure does not include courses delivered by trade union studies centres in Wales and Scotland and by colleges that used non- TUC hosted platforms, were delivered face to face, or the short course programme.
Our most popular courses were Union Reps Stage 1 and Certificate in Employment Law. The impact of coronavirus throughout 2021 continued to have a significant effect on the numbers of reps accessing tutor-facilitated accredited training programmes. Overall, course numbers were marginally up on the previous year. The union learning programme has seen a significant fall in numbers following the end of the Union Learning Fund.
The number of college providers remained stable but low. The anticipated return to fully face-to-face learning did not materialise as expected, with many colleges choosing to continue to deliver the 10- day course programme using video technology. Although some colleges reported healthy learner numbers, many smaller trade union studies units struggled to recruit reps and ran courses with small class sizes. It appears that reps are still finding it difficult to access union training due to barriers such as geography, caring responsibilities, and time commitments. Coupled with the pandemic restrictions, increased flexibility is necessary.
During 2022, we plan to revise and relaunch our online flexible course programme. A decision had been made to temporarily restrict access to this content to support the college programme.
The reintroduction of the online training programme in 2022 will provide reps with increased flexibility and accessibility. Plans are underway to develop a complementary online programme that will provide reps with regionally based networking and peer support opportunities. It is intended that these plans will benefit from the same advantages recorded in our expanding webinar and e-learning programme.
Webinars
During 2021, TUC Education ran a total of 13 webinars. There were 12,566 registrations with an average registration rate per event of 967, an increase of 65 per cent on 2020 figures.
As in 2020, the highest-performing webinars this year focused on core employment rights and health and safety issues. The GDPR essentials webinar proved to be the best attended, as the still relatively new legislation posed issues for many reps. The other big hitters were familiar territory for many reps: unfair dismissal, disciplinary and grievance, and mental health. Covid-related topics still proved popular, although the expectation is that this will drop during 2022.
Representatives from a wide range of unions continue to attend our webinars, with evidence that reps from smaller unions are more likely to take advantage of the flexibility and convenience of the training offered.
Webinar participants that provided feedback expressed their satisfaction with the content and the delivery, which received an average 4.69 out of 5 approval rating. Over 70 per cent gave the webinars a 5-star rating and 95 per cent either ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ that attending the webinar would make them a better rep.
Following feedback, a series of minor improvements was introduced to the format and registration process for each webinar. The tweaks have helped to enhance the overall learning experience and helped increase the number of new viewers.
The webinars are now viewed as being a key part of TUC Education’s training offer. TUC webinars have a regular following but are also introduced to new reps as part of their initial training. The webinars have helped develop a greater sense of community among their attendees. TUC Education plans to exploit this by developing opportunities for regular viewers to attend training days in person. These will allow reps to network, learn, and extend the idea of a community of practice.
Interactive guides
TUC Education has expanded its range of short, interactive learning modules. Over the course of 2021, the e-guides were viewed by over 10,000 reps. Seven new interactive guides were developed during 2021 (see table, above left).
The learning modules created at the height of the pandemic in 2020 continued to prove popular (see table, above centre).
Over 4,500 reps accessed other pre-existing e-learning content via the TUC Education learning platform. Popular modules included the suite of modules on health and safety and organising with 404, and talking about the union with 275.
Organising training for reps
In February 2021, TUC Education introduced new self-paced, asynchronous, and self-directed learning modules on union organising for union reps. The aim of the new modules was to give union reps a greater understanding of union organising and its benefits for workers and unions.
The new online learning modules present the skills and knowledge reps need to:
- increase the number of workers joining their workplace union
- encourage members to play an active role in their union and get involved in campaign
- design successful campaigns that will improve the working lives of their colleagues.
Each of the new organising modules is short, interactive, accessible and user-friendly. Each module functions as a discrete piece of content as well as forming part of a self-directed online series. Content was piloted with a small group of volunteers from the TUC’s Young Workers Forum. The content was well received and following some minor amendments was rolled out to a wider audience during the early part of the year.
To date, 576 reps have accessed the learning content. Feedback from both participants and union education officers has been extremely positive.
Digital training support for affiliates
TUC Education has provided bespoke support to individual affiliates in developing their own online training. Over the year we have worked with Unite’s South West region to develop online versions of its core training courses.
We worked with UNISON nationally on organising and union learning reps training, and have developed online versions of a range of courses for UCU that trained over 750 reps.
Organising Academy
The TUC Organising Academy offers organising training to union officers, organisers and other staff involved in supporting union organising campaigns. The Academy is run in partnership with The Manchester College. In the academic year 2021/22 the Organising Academy trained 36 union officers, 25 from NEU and 11 from HCSA.
Leading Change Programme
The TUC’s Leading Change Programme returned in 2021 and the programme ran with 18 participants representing CWU, FDA, GMB, HCSA, NASUWT, Nautilus International, NEU, PCS and UCU.
5.11 Work supported by the TUC Educational Trust
In February 2022, TUC Education received a grant from the TUC Educational Trust to support the development of educational opportunities, training and support for union members, reps and workers.
Specific outcomes will include new online health and safety materials and others that support the work of the TUC’s Anti-Racism Task Force.
5.12 TUC finances
The annual statement of accounts and balance sheet as at 31 December 2021 is set out in Appendix 3. It shows a total surplus across all funds of £19.004m, including asset revaluations and FRS102 pension accounting adjustments. The pandemic meant big variances to our income and expenditure from budget in another difficult year for financial management. The operating surplus on ordinary activities of £11,000 comprises surpluses of £466,000 and £49,000 and deficits of £362,000 and £142,000 on the administration and development, unionlearn and Congress House dilapidations funds respectively.
5.13 Development fund
In 2021, 10 per cent of the affiliation fee was allocated to the development fund, alongside some external funding, and was used to promote new work (including on Covid-related campaigning) and General Council initiatives to meet the following strategic goals:
- use exceptional campaigning, policy development and influencing to improve the lives of people at work
- lead and support the trade union movement to organise and represent working people now and in the future
- increase public understanding of how unions work
- ensure the TUC’s operations provide good governance and sustainable commercial activities.
The development fund, representing all non-unionlearn externally funded projects together with projects funded by the affiliation fee, showed an operating surplus of £49,000.
5.14 Statement of accounts
The administration fund (covering day-to-day office running expenses and staff costs) produced a surplus on ordinary activities of £466,000. We lost income from our Congress Centre and Congress House letting activity, but gained income because of claims from the job retention scheme and again made savings on expenditure from online meetings (including Congress) and other savings. The unionlearn fund produced a deficit of £362,000 and all funds due to the funder have now been repaid. The development fund is shown above, while during the year £142,000 of expenditure was incurred on the dilapidations fund.
During 2021 our calculated FRS102 pension scheme position moved from a £4,913,000 surplus to £21,262,000. This positive movement of £16,349,000 together with the operating surplus of £11,000, the gain of £458,000 on the sale of investments, deferred tax and revaluation gain of £2,186,000 has increased the funds of the TUC from £74,905,000 to £93,909,000.
5.15 Prospects and developments
A budget for the 2022 administration fund has been agreed by the General Council. This showed a projected surplus of £238,630 but, as this represents only 1.37 per cent of projected expenditure, considerable effort will be required to deliver it.
The General Council approved a three pence (1.0 per cent) increase in the affiliation fee to £3.04 pence for 2022. In July the General Council agreed that the TUC would effectively freeze affiliation fees for 2022/23 in advance of any review of TUC services and support to unions by an incoming general secretary.
The TUC has retained its Fair Tax accreditation.
John Ball, who died in December, was a regional policy officer for SERTUC – formerly the TUC’s southern and eastern region – and a very committed trade unionist. A former GMB officer, he was responsible for a number of innovative projects during his eight years at the TUC, including apprentice pooling work with boat builders on the south coast and Isle of Wight.
Jack Dromey, who died in January, was one of the leading trade unionists of his generation, a formidable campaigner and latterly a Labour MP. He was an officer for the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) for 25 years, spending a further seven years as the union’s deputy general secretary. Earlier, as secretary of Brent Trades Council, he represented the Grunwick workforce – mostly Asian women – during their two-year strike for union recognition. His commitment to trades unionism and working people continued after he was elected Labour MP for Birmingham Erdington in May 2010, when he held a number of posts on the party’s frontbench.
Marie Patterson CBE, who died in November, was a member of the General Council from 1963 to 1984 and served as TUC President in 1975 and 1977, when she filled the post following the death of Danny McGarvey. After becoming active in the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU), she became the union’s women’s officer in 1963 and was elected on to the executive of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU) in 1966. She also served on a number of public bodies including the Press Council, Equal Opportunities Commission and Central Arbitration Committee, as well the board of Remploy. Marie was appointed a CBE in 1978.
Alan Robson, who died in December, was general secretary of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU) from 1993 until his retirement in 2005. He began his career as a marine engineer with Swan Hunter on Tyneside, becoming a shop steward with the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU), then convenor and latterly assistant general secretary. In his CSEU job he represented over a million workers in engineering, shipbuilding, aerospace, railway and manufacturing industries.
John Rodgers, who died in December, worked for the TUC’s international department from 1978 to 1996. During this time, he assisted agricultural workers in sub-Saharan Africa, helped organise labour movement opposition to apartheid, took part in trade union visits to the former Soviet Union and Poland, and worked closely with the ETUC in Brussels. A hardworking and well-respected staff member, he was part of a UK government delegation to Japan, involving the TUC and CBI, which secured investment from Toyota in a new manufacturing plant in Derbyshire. A committed trade unionist who organised support for striking miners, he also served as a Labour councillor.
Ray Williams, who died in July, served as president and branch secretary of the National Graphical Association (NGA) and President of the Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU). He was best known for his role in the Stockport Messenger dispute in 1983, when six NGA members picketed against owner Eddy Shah’s anti-union practices. Ray also supported unemployed workers and striking miners in the 1980s, and latterly worked on an EU project to reduce fatality rates in paper mills, delivering health and safety improvements in 12 countries.
Appendix 1
Attendance
2021–22
General Council
Six full meetings were held during the Congress year.
Member Attendance
Dave Allan 5
Mary Bousted 2
Joanne Cairns 5
Gail Cartmail 4
Mike Clancy 2
Michelle Codrington-Rogers 5
Manuel Cortes 1
Kevin Courtney 5
Ruth Cross 5
Mark Dickinson 4
Andrea Egan 5
Maria Exall 5
Sue Ferns (chair) 5
Larry Flanagan 5
Paul W Fleming 4
Martin Furlong 6
Steve Gillan 2
Jo Grady 4
Sharon Graham 0
Charlie Gray 3
Paul Holmes 0
Farzana Jumma 4
Ian Lawrence 6
Paddy Lillis 1
Brian Linn 4
Jane Loftus 2
Mick Lynch 3
Annette Mansell-Green 6
Susan Matthews 1
Christina McAnea 5
Heather McKenzie 3
Gloria Mills CBE 6
Ged Nichols 5
Frances O’Grady 6
Kath Owen 2
Dave Penman 5
Barbara Plant 4
Naomi Pohl3 1
Roy Rickhuss 5
Patrick Roach 6
Maggie Ryan 0
Mark Serwotka 4
Jon Skewes1 5
Gary Smith 3
Liz Snape MBE 3
Jane Stewart 2
Claire Sullivan 5
Horace Trubridge2 1
Steve Turner 2
Suzanne Tyler3 2
Dave Ward 5
Simon Weller 4
Paul Whiteman 3
Tony Woodhouse 3
Sarah Woolley 4
Matt Wrack 3
Tony Wright 4
1Until April 2022
2Until June 2022
3From June 2022
Executive Committee
Seven full meetings were held during the Congress year.
Member Attendance
Mary Bousted 4
Joanne Cairns 5
Gail Cartmail 3
Mike Clancy 5
Kevin Courtney 6
Mark Dickinson 2
Maria Exall 7
Sue Ferns (chair) 7
Steve Gillan 1
Sharon Graham 1
Paddy Lillis 3
Christina McAnea 4
Gloria Mills CBE 2
Ged Nichols 4
Frances O’Grady 7
Barbara Plant 3
Patrick Roach 6
Mark Serwotka 6
Gary Smith 2
Liz Snape MBE 2
Claire Sullivan 4
Steve Turner 5
Dave Ward 6
Simon Weller 6
Matt Wrack 1
At the time of writing, the General Council has held six meetings during the Congress year. At the first meeting, held jointly with the outgoing General Council of the 2021 Congress, Sue Ferns was elected as chair and she will preside at the 2022 Congress.
It was agreed that the Executive Committee should consist of existing members with the exception of Sheila Beacroft, Tony Burke, Tony Dale, Neil Derrick and Michelle Stanistreet, who were leaving the General Council, and with the addition of Joanne Cairns, Barbara Plant and Gary Smith.
Jon Skewes retired from the General Council in April 2022 and was replaced by Suzanne Tyler. Horace Trubridge retired from the General Council in June and was replaced by Naomi Pohl.
During the course of the year, key themes in the General Council’s work have included delivering a pay rise for workers that addresses the cost-of-living and pay crisis, promoting employment and trade union rights, delivering a fairer, more sustainable economy, and anti-racism. The series of town hall rallies took our new deal campaign to towns and cities throughout the country, culminating in the We Demand Better march and rally in June.
Appendix 2
Committee membership
2021–22
General Council lead responsibilities
Lead spokesperson
Frances O’Grady
(general secretary)
Senior representative
Sue Ferns
(president)
Specific areas of responsibility
Anti-Racism Task Force
Patrick Roach
Digital
Mary Bousted
Kevin Courtney
Disabled workers
Dave Allan
Employment rights
Paddy Lillis
Environment and sustainable development
Sue Ferns
Europe
Steve Turner
Health and safety
Liz Snape MBE
International development
Gail Cartmail
International relations
Kevin Courtney
Learning and skills
Mary Bousted
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender+ rights
Maria Exall
Public services
Christina McAnea
Race equality
Gloria Mills CBE
Trades union councils
Steve Gillan
Women
Annette Mansell-Green
Young workers
Charlie Gray
Anti-Racism Task Force
Patrick Roach (chair)
NASUWT
Neville Lawrence (patron)
Rehana Azam
GMB
Halima Begum
Runnymede Trust
Mary Bousted
NEU
Mike Clancy
Prospect
Michelle Codrington-Rogers
TUC Race Relations Committee
Ian Lawrence
Napo
Paddy Lillis
Usdaw
Gloria Mills CBE
TUC Race Relations Committee
Frances O’Grady
TUC
Mark Serwotka
PCS
Steve Turner
Unite
Dave Ward
CWU
Debbie Weekes-Bernard
London Assembly
Yvette Williams
Justice4Grenfell
Workstreams membership
Collective bargaining
Steve Turner (chair)
Unite
Christine Danniell
TUC Race Relations Committee
Mike Clancy
Prospect
Michelle Codrington-Rogers
TUC Race Relations Committee
Zita Holbourne
TUC Race Relations Committee
Gloria Mills CBE
TUC Race Relations Committee
Yvette Williams
Justice4Grenfell
Organising
Dave Ward (chair)CWU
Taranjit Chana
TUC Race Relations Committee
Ruth Cross
Usdaw
Glen Hart
TUC Race Relations Committee
Paddy Lillis
Usdaw
Shavana Taj
Wales TUC
Cecile Wright
University of Nottingham
Public policy
Rehana Azam (chair)
GMB
Mark Bastiani
TUC Race Relations Committee
Debbie Weekes-Bernard
London Assembly
Ian Lawrence
Napo
Ali Moosa
TUC Race Relations Committee
Unions as employers
Mary Bousted (chair)
NEU
Natalie Arnett
TUC Race Relations Committee
Karen Chouhan
NEU
Michelle Codrington-Rogers
TUC Race Relations Committee
Jenny Dixon
TUC
Maureen Loxley
TUC Race Relations Committee
Mark Serwotka
PCS
Carol Sewell
TUC Race Relations Committee
Disabled Workers Committee
General Council
Dave Allan (co-chair)
Unite
Farzana Jumma
GMB
Sarah Woolley
BFAWU
Elected at annual conference
Julian Allam
Unite
Mark Bastiani
CWU
Amy Bishop
Prospect
Janine Booth
RMT
Lynda Carter
Usdaw
Chloë Clarke
Equity
Ann Galpin (co-chair)
NUJ
Austin Harney
PCS
Colleen Johnson
NEU
Ben Lunn
MU
Steven McGurk
Community
Lara Morris
NASUWT
Themesa Neckles
UCU
Izzy Pochin1
GMB
Joe Smith
GMB
Sian Stockham
UNISON
Until November 2021
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans+ Committee
Eileen Best
UNISON
Darran Brown
ASLEF
Jennifer Black
UNISON
Tigger Blaize
Equity
Alexander Bryant-Evans
GMB
Patrick Carberry
FBU
Taranjit Chana
GMB
Martin Chivers
UCU
Paula Defriez
GMB
Sue Dunne
RMT
Julia Georgiou
NHBCSA
Susan Greenwall
ASLEF
Phil Jones
Unite
Megan Marsh
Community
Claire Mullaly
Prospect
Julia Neal
NEU
Sarah Pitt
CWU
Izzy Pochin1
GMB
Denise Rayner
Unite
Neil Smale
Usdaw
Tom Sutherland
Unite
Peter Taylor2
NASUWT
Saorsa-Amatheia Tweedale
PCS
1Until November 2021
2Until December 2021
Pensioners Committee
Unions
Derrick Baker
GMB
Brian Gibson
PCS
Irene Graham
Unite
Norman Jemison
UCU
Rosie MacGregor
UNISON
Ian Millington
NASUWT
Mike Moriarty
Prospect
Geoff Page
Usdaw
Tom Payne
BALPA
Mike Pike
Unite
TUC
Kate Bell (chair)
Jack Jones (secretary)
Bob Pinkerton
TUC Northern Pensions Advisory Group (observer)
Ron Douglas
TUC London East and South East Retired Members’ Committee (observer)
Janet Royston
TUC South West Retired Members’ Committee (observer)
Yvonne Washbourne
TUC Midlands Retired Members’ Committee (observer)
Race Relations Committee
Jennifer Aggrey-Finn
RMT
Okoro Akinyemi
NASUWT
Mark Bastianni
CWU
Gargi Bhattacharyya
UCU
Elizabeth Cameron
UNISON
Taranjit Chana
GMB
Pat Davis
Unite
Dalbir Dhillon
RMT
Floyd Doyle
ASLEF
Denise Henry
NEU
Zita Holbourne
PCS
Dawn Hope
Equity
Christopher Knight
Community
Maureen Loxley
Usdaw
Amit Malde
FBU
James Minto
UNISON
Brahama Mohanty
GMB
Harish Patel
Unite
Faisal Qureshi
Prospect
Amarjite Singh
CWU
Andrea Welter
NASUWT
Trades Union Councils Joint Consultative Committee
General Council
Steve Gillan (chair)
POA
Dave Allan
Unite
Jo Grady
UCU
Dave Ward
CWU
Simon Weller
ASLEF
Regions and Wales
Dave Chapple
South West
Andrew Coburn
East of England
Mick Houghton
South East
Nick Kelleher
West Midlands
Martin Mayer
Yorkshire and the Humber
Katrine Williams
Wales
Dave Wilson
North West
Cecile Wright
East Midlands
TUC Aid Trustees
Michelle Codrington-Rogers (chair)
NASUWT
Mariela Kohon (secretary)
TUC
Gail Cartmail
Unite
Ruth Cross
Usdaw
Sue Ferns
Prospect
Jo Grady
UCU
Gloria Mills CBE
UNISON
Frances O’Grady
TUC
David Sachon
TUFM
TUC Educational Trustees
Sue Ferns (chair)
Prospect
Carl Roper (secretary)
TUC
Sheila Bearcroft
GMB
Mary Bousted
NEU
Gail Cartmail
Unite
Gloria Mills CBE
UNISON
Ged Nichols
Accord
Paul Nowak
TUC
Mark Serwotka
PCS
Liz Snape MBE
UNISON
TUC Trustees
Mary Bousted
NEU
Gail Cartmail
Unite
Claire Sullivan
CSP
Women’s Committee
General Council
Mary Bousted
NEU
Joanne Cairns
Usdaw
Gail Cartmail
Unite
Michelle Codrington-Rogers
NASUWT
Ruth Cross
Usdaw
Maria Exall
CWU
Sue Ferns
Prospect
Sharon Graham
Unite
Jo Grady
UCU
Farzana Jumma
GMB
Christine McAnea
Unison
Annette Mansell-Green
BDA
Susan Matthews
Unite
Gloria Mills CBE
unison
Kat Owens
unison
Barbara Plant
GMB
Maggie Ryan
Unite
Liz Snape MBE
UNISON
Claire Sullivan
PCS
Sarah Woolley
BFAWU
Elected at annual conference
Hayley Bouchard
RMT
Gwylan Brinkworth
GMB
Sharon Calvert
NASUWT
Bridget Corcoran
PCS
Pat Davis
Unite
Ruth Duncan
NASUWT
Angela Eagan
Unison
Joanna de Groot
UCU
Katie Harwood
RCP
Zita Holbourne
AUE/PCS
Diana Holland
Unite
Sarah James
gmb
Jane Jones
Usdaw
Jane Loftus
Community
Margaret McKee
unison
Heather McKenzie
NEU
Hailey Maxwell
GMB
Sujata Pater
Usdaw
Davena Rankin
Unison
Deborah Reay
Aslef
Jean Rogers
Equity
Jean Sharrocks
Cwu
Jane Stewart
Unite
Jacquie Thomas
Community
Young Workers Forum
Alex Graham1 (chair)
Unite
Quincy Raymond2 (chair)
CWU
Kendal Bromley- Bewes1 (vice chair)
UNISON
Samantha Nicholson- Hickling2 (vice chair)
NEU
Jay McKenna (secretary)
General Council
Charlie Gray
GMB
Elected at annual conference
Ruby Ablett1
Equity
Eluned Anderson2
Community
Jasmin Beckett1
Prospect
James Burton-Sweeten2
Prospect
Lilly Boulby2
UNISON
Elliott Carter1
UNISON
Leuan Davies2
CWU
Joe Dharampal-Hornby2
GMB
Amy Doyley1
MU
Ayla Huseyinoglu2
GMB
Deborah Jones1
GMB
Jawad Khan1
GMB
Thom Kirkwood2
NEU
Martyn Gray
Nautilus International
Rhys Harmer2
RMT
Sanjay Lago1
Equity
James Lynch1
RMT
Connor McCann1
CWU
David Moulder2
NEU
Jess McGuire1
UNISON
Luca di Mambro-Moor2
UNISON
Asif Mohammad1
Unite
Sam Murray1
MU
Stefan Reeves1
Usdaw
Hannah Rogers1
Community
Sakina Sheikh1
Unite
Samantha Thompson1
Usdaw
George Walker1
GMB
Lewis Wheatley2
Usdaw
Standing Orders
Committee
Alex Graham
Unite
Charlie Gray
GMB
1Until March 2022
2From March 2022
Appendix 4
TUC rules and standing orders
Part 1
Constitution
Rule 1
Name, office and membership
- NAME AND OFFICE: The name of the organisation constituted by these Rules shall be the ‘Trades Union Congress’ (hereinafter called ‘the Congress’), and its principal office shall be at Congress House, 23–28 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS, or such other places as the General Council of the Congress (hereinafter called ‘the General Council’) shall from time to time decide.
- MEMBERSHIP: The Congress shall consist of such bona fide trade union organisations as satisfy the requirements of these Rules and are affiliated in the manner prescribed by these Rules.
Any such organisation may make application to become affiliated to Congress and shall furnish copies of its Rules and Constitution together with such other particulars and information as shall at any time be required by the General Council.
It shall be a requirement of affiliation that an organisation has a clear commitment to promote equality for all and to eliminate all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair discrimination, both within its own structures and through all its activities, including its own employment practices.
In deciding at the time of such application or at any time thereafter whether or not a bona fide trade union is eligible for affiliation, the General Council shall have regard inter alia to the ability of the trade union organisation in its own right and of its own authority to fulfil the obligations of affiliation to the Congress and to comply with these Rules.
The General Council shall have full power to accept or reject any such application for affiliation and the General Council shall in addition have full power at any time to terminate the affiliation of any organisation which in the opinion of the General Council does not fully satisfy the requirements of affiliation for the time being.
The power of the General Council under this Rule to accept or reject any application or terminate any affiliation is subject to the power of the next annual Congress to overrule any such decision.
The General Council may also accept applications from organisations of local trade union branches to register as Trades Councils, County Trades Councils or County Associations where they comply with such requirements as determined by the General Council including in particular to have a clear commitment to promote equality for all. Registration in this capacity does not consist of affiliation and confers no authorisation to speak or act on behalf of the Trades Union Congress.
Rule 2
Objects
- The objects of the Congress shall be:
To do anything to promote the interests of all or any of its affiliated organisations or anything beneficial to the interests of past and present individual members of such organisations.
To promote equality for all and to eliminate all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair discrimination, both within its own structures and through all its activities, including its employment practices.
Generally to improve the economic or social conditions of workers in all parts of the world and to render them assistance whether or not such workers are employed or have ceased to be employed.
To affiliate to or subscribe to or to assist any other organisation having objects similar to those of the Congress.
To assist in the complete organisation of all workers eligible for membership of its affiliated organisations and subject as hereinafter set forth in these Rules to assist in settling disputes between the members of such organisations and their employers or between such organisations and their members or between the organisations themselves.
In pursuance of these general objects, and in accordance with particular decisions that Congress may make from time to time, Congress may do or authorise to be done all such acts and things as it considers necessary for the furtherance of those objects.
- In the interpretation of the above objects the General Council shall have complete discretion subject only to the power of the annual Congress to revise their decisions.
Rule 3
Affiliation fees
Each Affiliated Organisation shall pay to the Congress an annual affiliation fee in respect of each of its members (probationary, free or otherwise). The annual affiliation fee shall be payable quarterly at the beginning of each quarter of the year, the first such quarter commencing on 1 January in any year.
The annual affiliation fee payable in respect of each member notified in accordance with sub- paragraph (a) shall be 95 per cent (the percentage figure) of the weekly (or equivalent) contribution rate based on the average of all unions contribution rates calculated in accordance with sub-paragraph (c). To this end
- Each organisation shall by 31 May in each year, inform the General Secretary of Congress of the number of its members as at 1 January of that year.
- Each affiliated organisation shall by 30 September in any year, inform the General Secretary of the contribution rate payable by the largest category of members as at 1 January of the year following.
- The average of all unions’ contribution rates is the sum of each union’s contribution rate in accordance with sub-paragraph (b) multiplied by each union’s affiliated membership and divided by the total affiliated membership in the year in which the contribution rate is notified to the General Secretary.
- The General Council shall, by 31 October in each year, confirm, increase, or reduce, the percentage figure in accordance with the TUC work programme and priorities as decided by Congress in that year.
Unless decided otherwise by the General Council 10 per cent of each annual affiliation fee should be allocated to the TUC Development Fund.
Rule 4
Composition of General Council
- The General Council shall be composed of ten sections as follows:
Section A shall consist of members from those organisations with a full numerical membership of 200,000 or more members. Each such organisation shall be entitled to nominate one or more of its members to be a member or members of the General Council and the number of members to which the organisations comprising Section A shall be entitled shall be determined by their full numerical membership on the basis of one per 200,000 members or part thereof provided that where the total number of women members of any organisation in Section A is 100,000 or more that organisation shall nominate at least one woman.
Section B shall consist of members from those organisations with a full numerical membership of 30,000 up to 199,999 members. Each such organisation shall be entitled to nominate one of its members to be a member of Section B of the General Council.
Section C shall consist of seven members of unions with fewer than 30,000 members.
Section D shall consist of four women members all of whom shall be members of an affiliated organisation with less than 200,000 members.
Section E shall consist of one black member who shall be from an organisation with a full numerical membership of 200,000 or more members. Subject to Rule 4 (f), each such organisation shall be entitled to nominate one of its members to be the Section E member of the General Council.
Section F shall consist of one black member who shall be from an organisation with a full numerical membership of 199,999 or less members. Subject to Rule 4 (f), each such organisation shall be entitled to nominate one of its members to be the Section F member of the General Council.
Section G shall consist of one black woman member who shall be a member of an affiliated organisation. Subject to Rule 4 (f), each such organisation shall be entitled to nominate one of its members to be the Section G member of the General Council.
Section H shall consist of one member representing trade unionists with disabilities.
Section I shall consist of one member representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender trade unionists.
Section J shall consist of one member under the age of 27.
All unions will be entitled to nominate one of their members who is a delegate to Congress for sections H, I and J and election shall be by ballot of all unions entitled to vote at Congress.
Subject to Rule 4 (f), the election of a member of the General Council for any section shall be in addition to, and not in substitution for, any member of the union who is elected as a member of the General Council in accordance with the provisions relating to the election of a member of another section.
- On 1 June each year or as soon thereafter as is practicable, each affiliated organisation shall be allocated by the General Council either to Section A, B, C or E or F and, where applicable, Section D on the basis of its full numerical membership, as notified to the General Secretary in accordance with Rule 3 and the General Council shall then advise each affiliated organisation of the Section(s) to which it has been allocated and in the case of affiliated organisations allocated to Section A and Section B of the number or numbers of members of the General Council to which they are entitled.
All organisations shall be notified of the arrangements for making a nomination of a member for Section G, H, I and J and organisations allocated to Sections C, D, E and F shall also be notified of the arrangements for making a nomination of a member for the sections to which they are allocated.
- Members of all sections of the General Council shall take office at the termination of the annual Congress and shall remain in office until the termination of the next annual Congress and shall be eligible for re-election to or continued membership of the General Council.
- In the event of a member of Section A or Section B ceasing by death, resignation or other cause to be a member of the General Council, the affiliated organisation which nominated that member may nominate a successor to take her or his place. In the event of a member of Section C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J ceasing by death, resignation or other cause to be a member of the General Council, the General Council shall determine how, if at all, the vacancy shall be filled.
- No organisation may participate in the nomination or selection of members of the General Council unless it shall have paid the fees provided by Rule 3 during the previous year.
- No affiliated organisation shall be entitled to nominate a member for Section G and, as appropriate, Section E or Section F.
Rule 5
Qualifications for General Council
- No person shall be eligible for membership of any section of the General Council who is not a Congress delegate (as per Rules 17 and 18) and the organisation so represented shall have paid the fees provided by Rule 3 during the previous year.
- No person shall be eligible for membership of the General Council who has privately assisted, during the year preceding the annual Congress, in the production of anything made by non-union labour, or by such firms as may be declared unfair by the interested trade society, or who has continued to assist privately in the production of anything made by non-union labour, or by such firms as may be declared unfair by the interested trade society, after such matters have been pointed out to her or him.
Rule 6
Nomination of General Council
- At least eight weeks prior to the date fixed for the commencement of each annual Congress, each affiliated organisation allocated to Section A or Section B in accordance with rule 4(b) shall notify the General Secretary of the Congress of the name(s) of its chosen member(s) on the General Council for the coming year. If a member so nominated shall resign or die before the annual Congress the General Council shall accept a replacement nomination from that organisation.
- Each affiliated organisation allocated to Section C or Section E or Section F in accordance with Rule 4(b) shall be entitled to nominate one of its delegates for election, as appropriate, to Section C, Section E and Section F of the General Council. Subject to Rule 4(f), each affiliated organisation shall be entitled to nominate one of its delegates for election to Section G, H, I and J of the General Council.
- Each affiliated union with 200,000 or fewer members shall have the right to nominate one of its women members for election to Section D of the General Council.
- Nominations for the General Council under (b) or (c) above shall be sent to the General Secretary of the Congress on the appropriate form, which must be signed by the President (or the Chairman) and Secretary of the organisation making the nomination, and must be received by the General Secretary of the Congress at least eight weeks prior to the Monday of the annual Congress.
- The list of members in Section A or Section B and of nominations to the places in Sections C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J shall be published in the preliminary agenda containing the motions which are to be discussed at the annual Congress. However, if a candidate for Section C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J dies before the election takes place the General Council shall have the powers to authorise the acceptance of a fresh nomination notwithstanding anything in these Rules and Standing Orders.Ballot papers containing the names of all candidates nominated for Section C of the General Council shall be supplied to the delegations of all organisations allocated to Section C on the day of the election. Ballot papers containing the names of all the candidates nominated for Section D of the General Council shall be supplied to the delegations of all organisations allocated to Section D on the day of the election.
Ballot papers containing the names of all candidates nominated for Section E of the General Council shall be supplied to the delegations of all organisations allocated to Section E on the day of the election. Ballot papers containing the names of all candidates nominated for Section F of the General Council shall be supplied to the delegations of all organisations allocated to Section F on the day of the election. Ballot papers containing the names of all candidates nominated for Section G, H, I and J of the General Council shall be supplied to the delegations of all organisations on the day of the election.
- Notice of withdrawal of any nomination for Section C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J must reach the General Secretary of the Congress not later than four weeks before the opening of the annual Congress. Where, due to the withdrawal of a candidate before election or to any other cause, there is an insufficiency of candidates to fill the number of seats in the Section concerned, the General Council shall have the power to call for fresh nominations, notwithstanding anything in these Rules and Standing Orders.
Rule 7
Election of the General Council – Sections C, and D, E, F, G, H, I and J.
- Members of Section C of the General Council shall be elected at each annual Congress by ballot vote of all affiliated organisations allocated to Section C.
- Members of Section D of the General Council shall be elected at each annual Congress by ballot vote of all affiliated organisations allocated to Section D.
- The member of Section E of the General Council shall be elected at each annual Congress by ballot vote of all affiliated organisations allocated to Section E.
- The member of Section F of the General Council shall be elected at each annual Congress by ballot vote of all affiliated organisations allocated to Section F.
- The members of Sections G, H, I and J will be elected at each annual Congress by ballot vote of all affiliated organisations.
- In the elections of the General Council for the members of Section C and of Section D and for the Section E, Section F, Section G and Sections H, I and J, each organisation entitled to vote may cast all or any part of the votes to which it is entitled in favour of as many candidates as are to be elected in the election in question. No organisation shall cast more votes than the number to which it is entitled for any one candidate. The number of votes to which each organisation shall be entitled shall be determined on the basis of one vote for every 1,000 members or fraction or part thereof as declared by the organisation in accordance with Rule 3. The candidate(s) in each election securing the highest number of votes shall be declared elected.
- The ballot papers shall be issued by the scrutineers, and after being filled up shall then be immediately placed in the box without inspection by the delegates other than those of the organisation voting.
- Any delegates found guilty of violating this Rule shall at once be reported to Congress, named by the President and expelled. Such delegate or delegates shall not be eligible to attend Congress again for three years.
- A notification of the penalties likely to be involved in the infringement of this Rule shall be included in the instructions printed on each ballot paper.
Rule 8
Duties of the General Council
- The General Council shall transact the business in the periods between each annual Congress, shall keep a watch on all industrial movements, and shall, where possible, co-ordinate industrial action.
- They shall watch all legislation affecting labour, and shall initiate such legislation as Congress may direct.
- They shall endeavour to adjust disputes and differences between affiliated organisations.
- They shall promote common action by the trade union movement on general questions, such as wages and hours of labour, and any matter of general concern that may arise between trade unions and trade unions, or between employers and trade unions, or between the trade union movement and the government, and shall have power to assist any union which is attacked on any vital question of trade union principle.
- They shall assist trade unions in the work of organisation, and shall carry on propaganda with a view to strengthening the trade union movement, and for the attainment of any or all of the above objects.
- They shall also enter into relations with the trade union and labour movements in other countries with a view to securing united action.
- They shall have authority to invest and administer the funds of the Congress and to make grants to any organisation or person, whether in Great Britain, or abroad, for such purposes as it seems desirable, but in so doing they shall have regard to the directions, if any, from time to time given by Congress. They shall also have authority to raise funds for any special purpose and to invest and administer such funds and to make grants therefrom.
- For the purpose of carrying out the objects of the Congress, of conducting its affairs and in relation to the matters specifically referred to in this Rule the General Council shall have power to utilise the funds and property of the Congress, to enter into any transaction and by any one or more of their members or appointed officers to execute in the name and on behalf of the Congress any deeds or documents that may be necessary.
- The General Council shall have power whenever they deem necessary to convene a special Congress or Conference to deal with any contingency that may arise, and to arrange the agenda and procedure whereby the business of such meetings shall be conducted.
- In the event of a legal point arising which, in the opinion of the General Council (after consultation with Counsel) should be tested in the House of Lords in the general interests of trade unionism, the Council shall be empowered to take the necessary action.
- In order that the trade union movement may do everything which lies in its power to prevent future wars, the General Council shall, in the event of there being a danger of an outbreak of war, call a special Congress to decide on industrial action, such Congress to be called, if possible, before war is declared.
- The General Council shall prepare a report of their work for submission to the annual Congress and shall include in it a record of the attendances at General Council meetings. The Standing Orders of Congress and the General Council shall be published in each annual report of the proceedings of Congress.
Rule 9
Appointment of committees
The General Council shall appoint such committees as they consider necessary to deal with aspects of their business.
Rule 10
Wales TUC
There shall be a Wales TUC Conference and Wales TUC General Council which shall have devolved responsibility within the TUC for:
- matters which are within the powers of the Welsh Government and legislature; and
- matters which are wholly specific to Wales.
The Wales TUC Rules (as agreed by TUC General Council, Wales TUC General Council and Wales TUC Conference) shall define the detailed objects, responsibilities and structure
of the Wales TUC.
Rule 11
General Secretary
- The General Secretary shall be elected by Congress, and shall be ex officio a member of the Congress and the General Council. She or he shall remain in office so long as her or his work and conduct give satisfaction to the General Council and to the representatives attending Congress, and shall retire from the service of the Congress upon reaching the age of 65.
- The annual Congress preceding the date of retirement of the General Secretary shall elect a General Secretary Designate who shall become General Secretary on the retirement of her or his predecessor. Should a vacancy otherwise occur between the annual meetings of the Congress, the General Council shall have power to fill such a vacancy temporarily.
- The General Council shall determine the salary and conditions of service of the General Secretary, and shall provide her or him with all necessary assistance, office accommodation, and facilities for conducting the business of the Congress and the General Council.
- Any duty or function imposed by these Rules upon the General Secretary may be discharged (with her or his consent) by such persons as she or he considers appropriate provided always that the General Secretary shall remain responsible to the General Council for the discharge of that duty or function.
Rule 12
Industrial disputes
- It shall be an obligation upon the affiliated organisations to keep the General Secretary of the Congress informed with regard to matters arising between them and their employers and/or between one organisation and another, including unauthorised and unconstitutional stoppages of work, in particular where such matters may involve, directly or indirectly, large bodies of workers. The General Council or the General Secretary shall (if either should consider it necessary) disseminate the information as soon as possible to all organisations which are affiliated to the Congress and which may be either directly or indirectly affected.
- The general policy of the General Council shall be that unless requested to do so by the affiliated organisation or organisations concerned, neither the General Council nor the General Secretary shall intervene so long as there is a prospect of whatever difference may exist on the matters in question being amicably settled by means of the machinery of negotiations existing in the trades affected.
- If, however, a situation has arisen, or is likely to arise, in which other bodies of workpeople affiliated to Congress might be involved in a stoppage of work or their wages, hours and conditions of employment imperilled, the General Council or the General Secretary may investigate the matter by calling representatives of the organisation or organisations concerned into consultation, and may use their influence or her or his influence (as the case may be) to effect a just settlement of the difference. In this connection the General Council or the General Secretary, having given an opportunity to each organisation concerned to present its views on the matter and having ascertained the facts relating to the difference, may tender their or her or his considered opinion and advice thereon to the organisation or organisations concerned. Should the organisation or organisations refuse such assistance or advice, the General Secretary shall duly report thereon to the General Council and/or the General Council shall duly report thereon to Congress or deal with the organisation under Clauses (b), (c), (d) and (h) of Rule 13.
- Whenever the General Council intervene in relation to a matter within the provision of clause (c) of this Rule, and the organisation or organisations concerned accept the assistance and advice of the General Council, and where despite the efforts of the General Council, the policy of the employers enforces a stoppage of work by strike or lock-out, the General Council shall forthwith take steps to organise on behalf of the organisation or organisations concerned all such moral and material support as the circumstances of the dispute may appear to justify.
Rule 13
Disputes between affiliated organisations
- Where disputes arise or threaten to arise between affiliated organisations, the General Council or the General Secretary of the Congress shall use their or her or his influence (as the case may be) to promote a settlement.
- It shall be an obligation on the affiliated organisation or organisations concerned to notify the General Secretary when an official stoppage of work is contemplated in any dispute between affiliated organisations, whether relating to trade union recognition, trade union membership, demarcation of work, or any other difficulty. No affiliated organisation shall authorise such a stoppage of work until the dispute has been dealt with under the provisions of Clauses (e) to (h) of this Rule.
- Where a dispute between unions has led to an unauthorised stoppage of work, it shall be an obligation of the affiliated organisation or organisations concerned to take immediate and energetic steps to obtain a resumption of work.
- The affiliated organisation or organisations concerned shall notify the General Secretary as soon as possible of any stoppage of work which involves directly or indirectly large bodies of workers, or which, if protracted, may have serious consequences. In addition to such notification, the affiliated organisation or organisations concerned shall inform the General Secretary of the causes and circumstances of the dispute and of the steps taken or proposed by it or by them to secure a resumption of work.
- Either upon notification from an affiliated organisation as required by Clause (b) or Clause (d) of this Rule, or upon the application of an affiliated organisation, or whenever she or he considers it to be necessary, the General Secretary may investigate cases of dispute or disagreement between affiliated organisations and may decide on the most appropriate method of resolving the issue. Where she or he considers it appropriate, the General Secretary may refer any such case to a Disputes Committee of the Congress for resolution in accordance with the Regulations governing procedure in regard to disputes between affiliated organisations (as amended by the General Council and adopted by the Congress from time to time). In the event of such a reference, the General Secretary may summon affiliated organisations to appear as parties before a Disputes Committee and shall require such organisations to submit to that Committee any information, which she or he or the Committee considers to be essential to enable the Committee to adjudicate upon the case.
- If an affiliated organisation refuses or fails to respond to a summons by the General Secretary to appear before a Disputes Committee, the General Secretary shall investigate the circumstances of such a refusal or failure by calling representatives of the organisation into consultation and inviting the organisation to give reasons for its conduct. If, after such investigation, the General Secretary does not withdraw her or his summons and the organisation persists in its refusal or failure to appear before the Disputes Committee the General Secretary shall report the matter to the General Council who may deal with the organisation under Clause (h) of this Rule as if it were a case of failure by that organisation to comply with an award of a Disputes Committee.
- If an organisation which is a party to a dispute fails or refuses to submit its case to a Disputes Committee as provided by this Rule, the Disputes Committee may proceed to make an award in the absence of that organisation and in any event it shall not be permissible for that organisation to raise the dispute at any annual Congress.
- Affiliated organisations summoned by the General Secretary to appear as parties before a Disputes Committee shall be bound by any award of the Disputes Committee and shall comply forthwith with such award. Should any such organisation refuse or fail forthwith to carry into effect such an award (in whole or in part) the General Council having received the award may report on the matter as they think fi t to all affiliated organisations, and/or may either:
- deal with the organisation under clauses (b), (c), (d) and (h) of Rule 13, or
- report the matter to the next annual Congress to be dealt with as that Congress may decide.
Rule 14
Conduct of affiliated organisations
- If at any time there appears to the General Council to be justification for an investigation into the conduct of any affiliated organisation on the ground that the activities of such organisation may be detrimental to the interests of the trade union movement or contrary to the declared principles or declared policy of the Congress, the General Council shall summon such organisation to appear by duly appointed representatives before them or before such Committee as the General Council consider appropriate in order that such activities may be investigated. In the event of the organisation failing to attend, the investigation shall proceed in its absence.
- If after an investigation
under:
- clause (a) of this Rule; or
- an investigation under clause (c) of Rule11; or
- an investigation and report to the General Council by the General Secretary of the Congress under clause (f) of Rule 12; or
- an investigation by a Disputes Committee under clauses (e) and (g) of Rule 12 and a refusal or failure to comply with its award under clause (h) of Rule 12;
it appears to the General Council that the activities of the organisation may be detrimental to the interests of the trade union movement or contrary to the declared principles or declared policy of Congress, the General Council shall notify the organisation of that fact, specifying the grounds on which that charge is made and inviting the organisation to present its views to the General Council. If, after considering those views, the General Council decide that the said activities are detrimental to the interests of the trade union movement or contrary to the declared principles or declared policy of Congress, the General Council shall direct the organisation to discontinue such activities forthwith and undertake not to engage therein in the future.
- Should the organisation disobey such direction, or fail to give such undertaking, the General Council are hereby empowered in their discretion to order that the organisation be forthwith suspended from membership of the Congress until the next annual Congress.
- The General Council shall submit a report upon the matter to the next annual Congress.
- No affiliated organisation shall circularise, either in writing or by general oral communication, other affiliated organisations upon any matter concerning the business of the Congress, without first securing the General Council’s authorisation for such circularisation.
- Should any such unauthorised circularisation take place concerning a motion for the agenda of the annual Congress or any special Congress or conferences, and the General Council after investigation decide that those responsible for such motion connived at, or were party to, or concerned with such circularisation, the motion shall not be included in the agenda.
- The General Council may investigate any violation of the provisions of Clauses (e) and (f), and if after such investigation they decide that any organisation has acted deliberately in such violation they may deal with the organisation by investigation, suspension and report under the terms of Clauses (b), (c) and (d) of this Rule.
- Any affiliated organisation dealt with under this Rule shall have the right to appeal to the next annual Congress and may appoint delegates in accordance with Rules 17 and 18 to represent the organisation upon the appeal and at the annual Congress if the appeal is allowed. Congress shall upon such appeal have final authority to deal with the matter by way of re-admission, further suspension or exclusion from membership of the Congress.
Rule 15
Trustees, auditors and accounts
- TRUSTEES: Two or more trustees shall be appointed by the General Council in whose names the funds and property of the Congress shall be vested. Such Trustees shall hold office until their respective successors have been duly appointed by the General Council and shall have accepted office. The Trustees shall deal with the funds and property held by them in accordance with the directions of the General Council and shall invest any funds available for investment in accordance with such directions. The bank accounts of the Congress shall be in the names of the Trustees, but the General Council may by resolution authorise the Trustees to direct the bankers to honour the signature or signatures of any person or persons named in the resolution, in which case the trustees shall give such direction and shall be relieved from all liability in respect of payments made in the manner authorised by the resolution while it is in force.
- AUDITORS: The accounts of the Congress shall be audited annually by a chartered or incorporated accountant to be appointed by the General Council. The accountant shall be given access to all books and documents of the Congress and shall be given all information or explanations with regard to the accounts that she or he requires. The accountant shall be required to submit a report to the General Council as soon as practicable after the audit.
- ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR: In order that affiliated organisations may have an opportunity of perusing the financial statements prior to each annual Congress, the financial year shall close on 31 December. The audit shall then take place and printed Balance Sheets, duly certified by the Auditors, shall be sent with the complete agenda to the secretary of each organisation not less than 14 days before each annual Congress.
Rule 16
Amendment of Rules and Standing Orders
- The General Council may between each annual Congress make any amendment to the Rules and Standing Orders that they deem necessary subject to any such amendment being confirmed by the next annual Congress, providing that any such amendment shall in any event be binding upon all affiliated organisations and their members until overruled by Congress.
- Affiliated organisations may (subject to the provisions of Rule 24) put forward motions for the amendment of the Rules and Standing Orders for the consideration of such annual Congress.
Part 2 Arrangements for Annual Congress
Rule 17
Preliminary arrangements
- The General Council shall select the place for the annual Congress and shall have the powers to invite representatives of public bodies and other institutions to attend the sittings thereof.
- The General Council shall meet during the week prior to the date of each annual Congress for the purpose of completing the arrangements there for.
Rule 18
Representation at annual Congress
- Affiliated organisations shall be entitled to be represented at the annual Congress by one delegate for every 5,000 members or fraction thereof, (save for unions with fewer than 5,000 members who shall be entitled to two delegates) provided always that they have paid the fees prescribed in Rule 3.
- Not later than seven weeks prior to the Monday of the annual Congress the names and addresses of the delegates shall be sent to the General Secretary of the Congress on the appropriate form which must be signed by the President (or Chairman) and Secretary of the organisation such delegates will represent.
- A credential card shall not be issued to any affiliated organisation which has failed to comply with the foregoing conditions.
- In addition, the annual Trades Councils Conference may elect a further delegate, who must be a member of a registered Trades Council, to attend Congress and move the motion submitted to Congress by the Trades Councils Conference.
Rule 19
Delegates’ qualifications
- Each annual Congress shall consist of delegates who must be financial members of the affiliated organisation they are to represent and actually working at their trade at the time of appointment, or full-time paid officials of such affiliated organisation. However, unemployed members of an affiliated organisation shall not be debarred from acting as delegates.
- The above qualifications shall not, however, debar a person from acting as a delegate who is not a full-time paid official and who has temporarily left her or his normal full-time work as an employee in trade or industry to undertake Parliamentary duties, provided that, at the time of her or his attending Congress, she or he is occupying a national post designated under the Rules of the appointing affiliated organisation.
Rule 20
Congress President
- The President of the Congress shall be appointed by the General Council at their first meeting after each annual Congress.
- The duties of the President shall be to preside at all meetings of the General Council, an at all special Congresses or Conferences for one year following the date of her or his appointment, and at the annual Congress concluding her or his term of office. She or he shall then become first Vice-Chair of the General Council for a period of one year thereafter.
Rule 21
General Purposes Committee
- A General Purposes Committee of five members for the ensuing annual Congress shall be nominated and elected by ballot. If any member elected is not a delegate to the ensuing annual Congress, or a vacancy arises from any other cause, the highest unsuccessful candidate shall be called upon to fill the vacancy.
- Each nominee for the General Purposes Committee must be nominated by her or his own organisation. Nominations shall be submitted on the appropriate form which must be signed by the President (or Chair) and Secretary of the organisation and shall reach the General Secretary of the Congress at least eight weeks prior to the Monday of the annual Congress.
- The members of the General Purposes Committee shall appoint from their body a chair and secretary. The duties of the General Purposes Committee shall be:
- to co-operate with the movers of motions and amendments in order that composite motions may be obtained wherever possible
- to have circulated to the delegates copies of the composite motions they have approved
- to submit to the President of Congress a programme of all motions and amendments approved by them as being in accordance with the Rules and Standing Orders, together with all suggestions for the proper conduct of the business of the annual Congress
- to report to the General Council any violation of the Rules or Standing Orders that may be brought to their notice, together with any recommendation agreed upon.
Rule 22
Tellers and ballot scrutineers
The General Council shall nominate, for the approval of the Congress, four or more Tellers and up to seven ballot scrutineers.
Rule 23
Voting
The method of voting at Congress shall be at the discretion of the President, by electronic vote. Each affiliated trade union will have a weighted vote, related to its affiliated membership to the TUC.
Rule 24
Motions for Congress
- Motions for the Congress must be submitted on the appropriate forms and be signed by the President (or Chair) and Secretary of the organisation submitting such motions and must be received by the General Secretary of Congress not later than eight weeks before the Monday of the annual Congress.
- Such motions shall be sent to each affiliated organisation not less than six weeks before the annual Congress. The order in which these subjects are to be discussed shall be decided by the General Council in consultation with the General Purposes Committee of Congress.
- An affiliated organisation shall be allowed not more than two motions, apart from organisations with more than one million members who will be allowed one additional motion for each additional 500,000 members or part thereof. In addition each of the equality conferences, the Young Workers Conference and Trades Union Councils’ Conference will be allowed to choose one motion carried by that conference for submission to Congress. In order that important labour questions may not be omitted from the discussion of the annual Congress, the General Council are empowered to place not more than three motions on the annual Congress agenda.
- All amendments to the motions submitted by affiliated organisations must be received by the General Secretary of Congress not later than four weeks before the Monday of the annual Congress. An affiliated organisation shall be allowed not more than two amendments apart from organisations with more than one million members who will be allowed one additional amendment for each additional 500,000 members or part thereof. These must be submitted on the appropriate forms and be signed by the President (or Chair) and Secretary of the organisation concerned.
- Notwithstanding the provisions of this Rule, the General Council or any affiliated organisation shall, subject to the approval of the General Purposes Committee, be permitted to submit an emergency motion for the consideration of the delegates to Congress. No such permission shall, however, be granted unless agreed to by at least two-thirds of the votes cast by the delegates to the particular annual or special Congress.
- Motions shall not exceed 250 words in length. Amendments shall not exceed 50 words in length. These provisions shall apply to original motions and emergency motions but not to composite motions nor to motions selected to go forward to the Congress Agenda by the equality conferences, Young Workers Conference and Trades Union Councils Conference.
Rule 25
Delegations
All nominations for delegations appointed by Congress must be submitted on the appropriate form and be signed by the President (or Chair) and Secretary of the organisation and must be sent to reach the General Secretary of the Congress not later than eight weeks before the Monday of the annual Congress. Each nominee must be nominated by her or his own organisation.
Rule 26
Date of annual Congress
- Unless otherwise decided by the General Council, the date for the opening of each annual Congress shall be the Sunday before the second Monday in September.
- To enable affiliated organisations to comply with the various requirements of these Rules where time limits are fixed by reference to the date of the annual Congress, the General Council shall, in the event of any change in such date, direct that notice of such change shall be given to affiliated organisations in due time.
Rule 27
Standing Orders
- HOURS OF MEETING: Delegates shall assemble at 4pm prompt on the first day of each annual Congress and at 9.30am on each succeeding day. On Sunday Congress shall adjourn at 7pm and each day thereafter (Monday to Wednesday) Congress shall adjourn at 12.45pm and reassemble at 2.15pm and adjourn for the day at 5.30pm on Monday and Tuesday and shall conclude no later than 4pm on Wednesday.
- AGENDA: A complete agenda of the motions and amendments submitted under Rule 24 shall be sent, not later than 19 days before the opening of each Congress, to the affiliated organisations which have paid up to the last preceding quarter the fees due under Rule 3.
- GENERAL COUNCIL’S REPORT: After the opening of each annual Congress, the General Council shall present their report for the past year, which shall be circulated for discussion. The items of the report shall be discussed seriatim and not as a whole: each speaker to be limited to three minutes. Such report shall be given precedence over all other business provided that where a motion on the agenda bears directly upon any part of the report, such motion may at the discretion of the President be taken in conjunction with such part of the report.
- LIMITATION OF SPEECHES: The mover of the motion shall be allowed five minutes, the seconder three, and any or each succeeding speaker three minutes. A delegate shall not speak more than once on a question, except the mover of the original proposition, who shall have the right to reply.
- ORDER OF SPEAKERS: The President shall determine the order of speakers. If the President calls a delegate to order, or for any other purpose connected with the proceedings, the delegate speaking shall cease their contribution and no other delegate shall speak until the President has authorised the discussion to proceed.
- PRESIDENT’S RULING: Should any delegate cause disturbance at any session of annual or special Congress, and refuse to obey the President when called to order, she or he shall be named by the President, and shall be expelled from the conference for the remainder of the session, and shall not be allowed to take part in the Congress proceedings without the consent of Congress delegates.
- CLOSURE: The Previous Question, Next Business, or the Closure may be moved and seconded only by those delegates who have not previously spoken during the debate, and there shall be no speeches on such motions. Should the closure be carried, the mover of the original motion shall have the right to reply in accordance with Rule 27, clause (d). Should the President consider that there is no practical difference of opinion among the delegates, she or he shall have power to stop the discussion and submit the proposition to the vote of the Congress delegates.
Rule 28
Suspension of Rules and Standing Orders
Rules and Standing Orders in Part 2 hereof, may, notwithstanding the terms of Rule 15, be suspended if such suspension is agreed to by at least two-thirds of the votes cast by the delegates to the particular annual or special Congress.
Appendix 5
TUC General Council Statement and guidance on Sexual Harassment
Statement on sexual harassment
- The TUC General Council is committed to promoting equality for all and to eliminating all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair discrimination, within our own structures, our own employment practices and through bargaining with employers.
- Following union research highlighting the scale of the problem of sexual harassment and media interest in cases of sexual harassment across a range of sectors, from entertainment to politics, the General Council reaffirms its commitment to eliminating all forms of sexual harassment and violence against women.
- TUC research has highlighted the scale of sexual harassment in workplaces across the country, across all sectors, and all industries. Over half of all women have experienced some form of sexual harassment in their working lives.
- The Equality Act 2010 defines sexual harassment as unwanted conduct of a sexual nature which has the purpose or effect of violating someone’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.
- Sexual harassment can take many forms. It could take the form of indecent or suggestive remarks, questions, jokes, or suggestions about someone’s sex life, the display of pornography in the workplace, the circulation of pornography (by email, for example), unwelcome and inappropriate touching, hugging or kissing, requests or demands for sexual favours, or any unwelcome behaviour of a sexual nature that creates an intimidating, hostile or humiliating working environment.
- The TUC recognises that both men and women can experience sexual harassment but all evidence points to sexual harassment being overwhelmingly directed at women and overwhelmingly perpetrated by men.
- We recognise that both victims and perpetrators come from all walks of life and that sexual harassment may be combined with other forms of prejudice and discrimination, for example based on age, race, class, sexuality, gender identity or disability.
- TUC research on sexual harassment has highlighted that sexual harassment is not only perpetrated by employers or colleagues, it is often perpetrated by a third party such as a customer, a patient, or another member of the public.
- TUC research found that casualisation and lack of job security were linked to sexual harassment and presented barriers to reporting and challenging harassment. TUC research also found that sexual harassment was more prevalent in male-dominated sectors.
- We recognise that sexual harassment is a form of violence against women and it both reflects and reinforces existing power dynamics in society.
- Sexual harassment and other forms of violence against women can have negative impacts on the self-esteem and mental health of the person experiencing it. It can also have a damaging effect on the working life of the person experiencing it, causing her to avoid the perpetrator at work, causing her to leave her job, or, in cases of victimisation, leading to her demotion or dismissal. In a trade union context, sexual harassment may lead to women avoiding union meetings, avoiding putting themselves forward for election to union positions, or even leaving the union altogether.
- Many trade union members will have experienced some form of sexual harassment in their working lives. Recent research by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission found that where victims of sexual harassment had reported the problem to a trade union representative, they had a more positive outcome. Yet we also know from TUC research that too few women report sexual harassment to anyone at all, including their union representative. Trade unions have a role to play in not only reacting to allegations of sexual harassment but also in actively promoting the importance of reporting sexual harassment to the relevant trade union representative, and fostering an environment where women feel safe and confident in doing so.
- The TUC General Council affirms its commitment to eliminating sexual harassment and all forms of violence against women. Furthermore, the TUC General Council calls on affiliated unions to:
– ensure that all unions have effective policies on sexual harassment in place and communicated to all staff and reps, as both employers and as democratic membership organisations
– ensure all unions have fair and effective procedures in place to deal with complaints, which recognise the value of including an independent expert presence
– implement sexual harassment policies in union branches or other relevant structures
– place sexual harassment and all forms of violence against women at the top of union bargaining, campaigning and organising agendas
– work with relevant civil society organisations such as the End Violence Against Women Coalition
– circulate this statement to members and make members aware of our commitment to ending sexual harassment at union education courses, conferences and other events.
Guidance on procedures relating to harassment and discrimination
- The TUC rules are explicit and robust in stating our commitment to promoting equality and eliminating all forms of harassment, prejudice and discrimination.
- Rule 1b states:
“It shall be a requirement of affiliation that an organisation has a clear commitment to promote equality for all and to eliminate all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair discrimination, both within its own structures and through all its activities, including its own employment practices.” - Rule 2a states that the objects of Congress are:
“To promote equality for all and to eliminate all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair discrimination, both within its own structures and through all its activities, including its employment practices.” - Where a matter relating to discrimination or harassment within an affiliated union is brought to the attention of the general secretary of the TUC, the TUC general secretary may wish to conduct an initial investigation in respect of any contravention of TUC rules.
- Following consultation with the TUC president, the TUC general secretary, or whom s/he designates, is empowered to convene a panel to investigate whether or not the union has complied with the TUC’s rules in relation to equality and discrimination.
- As is the case in the TUC disputes procedure, such a panel will be drawn from the General Council and may include a legally qualified person or another independent third party with relevant expertise. In the case of an allegation relating to sexual harassment, for instance, the general secretary may wish to appoint an independent expert from an equalities or women’s rights organisation.
- Depending on the outcome of the investigation, the panel may wish to make recommendations to the union that may be enforced in the form of an award, in line with the existing disputes procedures.
- Should any information regarding individual complaints be submitted to the committee they will be treated in confidence, in line with best practice.
- Should the panel make an award, the General Council will receive a report in line with point 7.
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