General Council Report 2023

1.1 Introduction 

The last year has witnessed a level and scale of industrial action not seen in the UK for decades, as workers right across the economy found the confidence to push back against derisory pay offers from employers in the private and public sectors. Unions worked extremely hard to overcome barriers and double-thresholds to secure lawful mandates for strike action. 

The TUC held two movement-wide roundtables on coordinating industrial campaigns, respecting individual unions’ democratic processes, and supported collaboration at a sectoral level, especially in health and education. This wave of industrial action motivated the establishment of our Solidarity Hub (see page 32), which provides support and guidance to unions taking industrial action, and collects data and intelligence on union campaigns. 

There is much evidence that industrial action has led to improved outcomes in pay negotiations across the economy. Against a backdrop of rampant inflation and massive cost-of-living pressures facing working people, unions have secured double-digit pay rises in many parts of the private sector. We have also managed to persuade a recalcitrant government to move significantly on previously imposed pay awards. 

As we go to print, a number of long-running disputes remain unresolved and, in line with composite 18, the TUC continues to demonstrate its support for those workers taking action in higher education (HE) and rail. This has been a year in which solidarity has been the watchword for trade unionists everywhere. 

1.2 Protecting the right to strike 

In line with emergency resolution 4, throughout the year, the TUC has supported workers involved in industrial action. 

During the course of the year, the government stepped up its efforts to use the law to clamp down on strike action. Ministers sought to give themselves the power to impose minimum service levels to operate during strike action. Their first target was the transport sector, with the introduction of the Transport Strikes Bill during the Liz Truss’s brief period of government in autumn 2022. This was supplanted in January 2023 by the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, which broadened the reach of the legislation to six huge sectors: health, education, fire and rescue, transport, decommissioning of nuclear installations and management of radioactive waste and spent fuel, and border security. The government showed its intent by swiftly launching consultations to implement minimum service levels in the ambulance, fire and passenger rail sectors. 

These proposals are a massive infringement on union rights - and more than one in five workers could be affected. This pernicious piece of legislation paves the way for ministers in Whitehall to set any minimum service level they like – including in devolved services. Work notices issued by employers will name workers who have to attend work – with the threat of being sacked if they don’t comply. Unions will have to take ‘reasonable steps’ to get members to comply or they could face damages – and the whole strike could be deemed unlawful, removing legal protections from all involved. 

The TUC Executive Committee established a working group of senior union officers to guide and inform the TUC’s work. Our focus was on seeking to defeat the Bill. But with a hefty Tory majority in the House of Commons, we also sought to delay and disrupt the legislation. 

As called for in composite 7, the TUC has run a high-profile campaign to defend the fundamental trade union right to strike. As set out in composite 18, we ran a programme of town hall meetings and campaigning activity through the autumn of 2022, including a rally and lobby of parliament. 

When the Strikes Bill was published, we launched a mobilisation campaign, getting trade union members to run events all over the UK on 1 February, Protect the Right to Strike Day, and handing in a petition with more than 280,000 signatures. We ran a high-profile media campaign, including a partnership with the Daily Mirror. We briefed journalists to combat the government’s spin, and achieved more than 250 national print and broadcast mentions. Much of the coverage – including reporting in the centre-right press – reflected union framing of ‘the right to strike’ and other key messages. 

We also produced social media content that reached millions of people, and ran adverts in print, online and on billboards. When the Strikes Bill came to the House of Lords, we ran an innovative campaign to get individual union members affected by the Bill to write physical letters to individual peers. This increased crossbench attendance and helped contribute to multiple government defeats on amendments in the Lords stages. 

When the Strikes Bill returned to the House of Commons after defeats in the Lords, we organised an emergency protest in Parliament Square, at which the Labour Party repeated its commitment to repeal the legislation. We coordinated key interventions with international parliamentarians, civil rights groups, women’s rights groups, employment lawyers and others. 

In parliament, the TUC worked closely with opposition parties, with notable success in the House of Lords. We also engaged closely with Conservative and crossbench peers. As a result, the government was defeated multiple times during the passage of the Bill, including on the key issues of unfair dismissal rights for workers and union rights not to force members to cross picket lines. However, the Bill received royal assent in July 2023 and is now the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023. Labour is committed to repealing this legislation on entering government and the TUC will be working closely with unions to oppose the law. 

1.3 Agency worker regulations 

A TUC-coordinated group of 11 unions made a successful legal challenge to regulations that allowed agencies to supply employers with workers to fill in for those on strike. 

The High Court ruled in July that the-then secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, failed to consult unions, as required by the Employment Agencies Act 1973 – quashing the 2022 changes. 

The TUC had warned the law could worsen industrial disputes, undermine the fundamental right to strike and endanger public safety. 

ASLEF, BFAWU, FDA, GMB, NEU, NUJ, POA, PCS, RMT, Unite and Usdaw brought the case. This was combined with separate challenges from UNISON and NASUWT. 

1.4 Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 

The TUC has also been at the forefront of the fight against the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill. 

This Bill gives ministers huge powers to ditch important employment and health and safety rights, as well as environmental and consumer protections. 

Coordinated by the Executive Committee’s anti-union measures working group, a key part of the strategy was to initiate external alliances to prevent the government attempting to divide and rule the Bill’s opponents. 

Our campaign alongside environmental, civil society, legal and business groups led to a front-page splash in the Financial Times. The alliance has continued to coordinate on lobbying and campaigning activity. 

A joint intervention with the health and safety sector also secured an FT front page and substantial media coverage. 

The TUC has worked closely with opposition politicians, particularly in the House of Lords. This included hosting a briefing in parliament, alongside the Employment Lawyers Association and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), supporting peers to find out about the Bill’s impact. The TUC has also provided several written briefings to MPs and peers. 

This sustained pressure resulted in a significant climbdown, with the government ditching central provisions that would have led to the automatic expiry of retained EU law at the end of the year. 

However, workers’ rights remain at risk as the Bill gives ministers huge powers to rush through changes with no opportunity for parliament to influence them. 

The government suffered repeated defeats in the House of Lords as peers sought to limit these so-called Henry VIII powers. However, the Bill eventually achieved royal assent in June 2023. 

The government has already paved the way to use its new powers to weaken workers’ rights by launching a consultation that would reduce record-keeping for working time, could lead to lower holiday pay for those who rely on statutory rights, and removes consultation rights for those in small businesses that are transferred to a new owner. The TUC has submitted a strong response to the consultation opposing these changes and will continue to fight against them. 

The government has failed to meet its previous promise to ‘protect and enhance’ workers’ rights, instead seeking to axe them. 

1.5 New deal for workers 

Repeated scandals have shown the pressing need for a new deal for working people with collective action at its heart. The TUC continues to demand coordinated action to deliver day-one employment rights, ban zero-hours contracts, fire-and-rehire and bogus self-employment, and strengthen union and collective bargaining rights. 

As noted in composite 7, the shocking no-notice sacking by Zoom call of 786 seafarers employed by P&O Ferries in March 2022, and their replacement with below-minimum-wage agency crew, was yet another sign that UK employment law is not fit for purpose. 

To mark the one-year anniversary of the dismissals, the TUC made a major media push to highlight that ministers had broken their promises to stop such sackings ever happening again. Our report P&O Ferries Mass Sackings – one year on showed that they have abjectly failed to close the loopholes exploited by bosses at P&O. 

In line with composite 7, our demands included stronger criminal and civil sanctions against employers that seek to circumvent due process, and the removal of the cap on protective awards to prevent companies from being able to put a price on criminal conduct. 

Fire-and-rehire remains a problem across the economy. It continues to be used by unscrupulous employers to reduce terms and conditions in a range of sectors, including education. In line with resolution 23, the TUC has pursued a political response aimed at building cross-parliamentary support for legislative reform to ban fire-and-rehire. We continue to campaign for urgently required reforms to statutes to prevent opportunistic bosses cutting workers’ wages. 

Ministers tried to fob off workers with inadequate proposals for a code of practice to deal with this immoral practice, which the TUC shot down in the media and in its written response to the associated consultation. 

Freelance workers often bear the brunt of turmoil in the labour market. In line with composite 8, the TUC is due to publish its New Agenda for the Self- Employed to push for increased protections for this vital group of workers. 

As set out in composite 18, trade unions must lead the defence of working people in the UK. But working peoples’ efforts to act collectively to improve their terms and conditions are held back by repressive and outdated laws. The TUC has continued to lobby for and develop the proposals set out in the 2019 report A Stronger Voice for Workers. 

The General Council has continued to press for the removal of barriers to trade union recognition and for an overhaul of laws that mean statutory ballots are postal-only. 

As set out in section 2, the TUC has also been working with unions to develop our approach to sectoral fair pay agreements. 

2.1 Introduction 

Over 2022, the worst pay crisis in modern history severely intensified. Lengthy and fragile supply chains could not cope as economic activity rebounded fast after lockdowns ended. The surge in prices of global commodities and energy further exacerbated inflationary pressures. The consequence was the most severe episode of price inflation for more than 40 years. 

As a result, 2022 was the worst single year of the pay crisis that began in 2008, with real pay falling by 2.8 per cent. The government sought to take credit for some limited support to households, but also demanded workers accept that they must be poorer. 

The government has sought to portray workers’ pay as an inflationary threat and has refused to adequately protect public sector workers from rising prices, though workers have won some important gains through industrial action. But in line with composite resolutions 1 and 13, and the General Council statement We Demand Better, the TUC has set out that the real threat to people at work is the Conservative government’s policies. 

The problem with the economy is not that workers have too much, but that they have too little. Low or no pay rises in the face of steep price rises, exacerbated by the brutal hikes in interest payments for those with mortgages and loans, means greatly reduced spending power. Likewise, smaller firms also face unprecedented hikes in their borrowing costs. As a result, we face greatly reduced economic activity and an economy flatlining at best and dangerously vulnerable to financial crisis and recession. 

As TUC analysis has shown, (see Figure 1 opposite) the situation is consistent with an economic model that for more than 40 years has favoured wealth at the expense of work. Our research shows that since 1979 wealth has enjoyed substantial gains, at the expense of the performance of the wider economy. Broadly, gross domestic product (GDP) has halved relative to pre-1979 trends, but wealth has trebled. 

As the pre-1979 experience shows, the present dire outcomes are not inevitable. The challenge is to reset the economy with the interests of labour at its heart. A starting point is the TUC’s call for a national conversation about how we tax wealth, to ensure that the super wealthy pay a fairer share. 

In July, the TUC Executive Committee met with the governor and chief economist of the Bank of England. It was an important opportunity to directly raise union and worker concerns about cost-of-living pressures, excess profits and the risk of recession. 

2.2 Pay, the national minimum wage and fair pay agreements 

Through our Britain Needs a Pay Rise campaign, the TUC has put wages at the heart of the debate about the cost-of-living crisis. In line with composite resolutions 1 and 13 and resolution 6, we have supported unions’ industrial action to help secure better pay rises for workers across the economy, lobbied ministers to restore a decade of lost earnings in the public sector, and campaigned for a rise in the national minimum wage as soon as possible to £15 per hour. 

We also launched the Our Work Matters: Justice for Outsourced Workers campaign. This joint union campaign connects low-paid outsourced workers in cleaning, security and facilities management roles across workplaces, unions and employers. 

Throughout the year we have made the case for a £15 minimum wage. We published analysis showing that a £15 minimum wage for care workers would boost the economy by £7.7bn. Our evidence to the Low Pay Commission called on the government to set out a plan to reach a £15 minimum wage. Following submissions by the TUC and affiliated unions, the government announced an increase in the national living wage (NLW) to £10.42 an hour from April 2023. 

The TUC’s National Minimum Wage Enforcement Group has met regularly, 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. The TUC pushed for increases to the living wage to be bought forward in 2022, and following this the new living wage rate was announced two months early. 

Our work has also promoted sectoral bargaining as vital to reversing the decline in collective bargaining coverage, which has contributed to rising inequality and a loss of workforce power. Under 14 per cent of private sector workers are now covered by a collective agreement. 

In November, the Executive Committee launched a programme of work looking at how fair pay agreements, delivered through sectoral bargaining, could work in practice. In February, the Executive Committee agreed to establish a union working group to undertake this work, to which all affiliates were invited to send a representative. 

The union working group met four times and developed draft proposals covering issues including scope, the initiation of fair pay agreements, the bargaining group, and process and enforcement. A preliminary discussion of the draft proposals took place at the May Executive Committee, which agreed to hold further discussions with general secretaries. 

2.3 Climate and just transition 

Our work in this area has been guided by composites 2, 4, 6 and 17 and resolution 16. 

Responding to the unprecedented spike in retail energy prices, and in line with composite 4, the TUC published proposals for reforming the energy retail system, with an expanded role for publicly owned companies to guarantee affordable energy to households. TUC commentary on energy company profiteering regularly gained high-profile media attention, contributing to the successful campaign for government to impose a windfall tax on excess profits by energy companies and direct funds towards capping energy bills for households and business. 

In line with composite 2, the TUC facilitated dialogue with affiliated unions, manufacturing employers and politicians on the importance of a manufacturing revival – including in defence – to securing good jobs in the UK. We commissioned analysis of the impact of spiking gas and energy prices on manufacturers, and lobbied government for action to protect manufacturing jobs. And we demanded a UK response to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, an exemplar industrial policy, lobbying for a much more active UK industrial policy. In February, an informal delegation went to the US to talk directly to US unions and policy makers about these developments. 

The TUC continues to call for a proper industrial strategy to facilitate our transition to net zero through a balanced energy policy, protect and create jobs including in nuclear, improve job quality and inclusion, build the UK’s green manufacturing capacity and, in line with resolution 12, meet the needs of the economy and public services.

Through our new Worker-Led Transition project, the TUC has expanded the support available to affiliated unions and their workplace representatives, in line with resolution 16. We are also supporting reps in high-carbon industries, particularly steel and automotive, helping trade unionists advocate for, and win, plans to protect and onshore jobs while industries decarbonise. 

New TUC resources enabled more union reps to navigate extreme temperatures in the workplace and consider how to future-proof workplace buildings, including the new TUC guide to building retrofit at work. 

Wales TUC actively engaged with the Welsh government consultation for a just transition strategy. Yorkshire & the Humber TUC began a project to support reps in local authorities and construction trades in green bargaining, and has been active in supporting the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission. TUC Northern has also supported the North East Climate Coalition. 

The Trade Union Sustainable Development Advisory Committee (TUSDAC) met bimonthly. 

2.4 Workers’ capital, corporate governance and executive pay 

Just before Congress 2022, the TUC published Companies for People: how to make companies work for workers. The report revealed that, since the financial crisis, dividends have risen three times faster than wages, arguing for reform to give workers a fair share of the wealth they create and greater power in businesses. Recommendations included reform of directors’ duties, including worker directors on company boards, replacing the word ‘employee’ with ‘workforce’ in the Companies Act, introducing joint and several liability, and boosting collective bargaining. The report achieved media coverage and was widely distributed. 

In September, the TUC responded to a consultation on the Corporate Governance Code, arguing that the provisions on workforce voice and consultation should be strengthened. 

Janet Williamson continues to represent the TUC on the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales’ Corporate Governance Committee, contributing to two podcasts on ethical business dilemmas, and on the Wates Coalition responsible for corporate governance principles for large private companies. 

The TUC has continued to coordinate Trade Union Share Owners (TUSO), an initiative bringing together union funds to collaborate over voting and engagement with companies. We are also an active member of the ITUC’s Committee for Workers’ Capital. 

2.5 Trade 

The TUC used its position as vice chair of the UK-EU Domestic Advisory Group for the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) and joint work with ETUC and EU sister centres to raise concerns that the Retained EU Law Bill and Strikes Bill contravened the government’s commitments to maintain a level playing field on rights in the TCA. 

The UK and EU Domestic Advisory Groups raised these concerns in a joint statement at the TCA Civil Society Forum with UK and EU Commission officials in October. As a result, 

the EU Commission raised an official complaint with the UK government about the Retained EU Law Bill and has noted concerns about restrictions on the right to strike in the UK. 

The TUC has advanced resolution 11 by raising with UK and EU governments the need for creative workers to be able to tour barrier-free across the EU. 

The TUC held several meetings with shadow international trade secretary Nick Thomas Symonds MP, as well as other members of the shadow team, who raised TUC concerns in parliament. 

The TUC campaigned against trade talks between the UK and Gulf States due to widespread labour rights abuses, as well as repression of women’s and LGBT+ rights. The TUC highlighted these concerns in oral evidence to the International Trade Committee and report on Qatar, released ahead of the World Cup. 

The TUC released a joint statement with Indian unions in October 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 gave evidence to MPs on the committee for the Trade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill, raising concerns that the UK-Australia and the UK-New Zealand trade deals did not protect rights, public services and social criteria being used in public procurement. The TUC also secured media coverage for our concerns regarding the UK’s accession to CPTPP. 

The TUC continued to call for UK-Israel trade talks to be halted due to concerns about abuses of Palestinian workers’ rights and the ongoing illegal occupation. These concerns were highlighted in a roundtable the TUC held in February with MPs, the Palestinian rights group Al Haq and the former UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territory. 

2.6 Social security and sick pay 

The TUC has continued to highlight how the UK social security system does not provide an adequate safety net. Combined with the rocketing cost of basic foodstuffs and falling real wages, this has increased food poverty. 

We have worked with affiliated unions on the campaign to provide free school meals for children, in line with resolution 6 and composites 3 and 13. The TUC assistant general secretary addressed a mini rally organised by the NEU ahead of the delivery of a letter to the prime minister on the issue. The TUC has been engaging with unions on the Right to Food campaign, with our research revealing a significant increase in the number of children growing up in poverty in keyworker households. 

Together with the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and the Child Poverty Action Group, the TUC published analysis showing how targeted help could lift more children out of poverty. We demanded a substantial increase to child benefit, the removal of the two-child limit on universal credit and legacy benefits, and the end of the benefit cap. 

The TUC has also continued to campaign for decent sick pay for all, publishing several press stories on the subject. 

2.7 Pensions 

The TUC has continued to advocate for the interests of working people in the pension system. 

We have lobbied for the age threshold for auto-enrolment to be lowered to 18 and the lower earnings limit to be phased out, in line with resolution 15. We also produced a paper arguing that this approach would reduce the gender pensions gap, in line with resolution 14. 

The TUC has also continued to coordinate union engagement with the Treasury over changes to public service pension schemes. In line with resolution 14, we have also made the case against further increases to the state pension age in response to the independent state pension age review. 

The TUC has engaged with government, select committees and regulators through consultation processes. We have used these to argue for better funding regulation for defined benefit (DB) schemes, and to promote a wide range of collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes. 

The TUC Pensions Conference focused on several key issues, including responding to the cost-of-living crisis, improving diversity and inclusion in the pensions sector, and introducing a ‘living pension’ kitemark. We also held seminars to educate union reps and officials on CDC schemes, and pension trustees on the social impact of pension fund investing. 

2.8 Transport 

Achieving our legal obligations to deliver on net zero requires long-term, sustainable investment in transport services and infrastructure. It means: fully delivering HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail; regular, affordable bus services all over the country; and a significant settlement for Transport for London. Crucially, it requires re-establishing a publicly owned transport network to ensure revenue is reinvested in the system rather than being funnelled out in dividends to shareholders. 

In line with composite 17, the TUC published A Transport System Fit for the Climate Emergency, which makes the case for proper investment in a publicly owned rail system. In April 2023, we launched the report with representatives from all four main transport unions, and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham. 

In March 2022, P&O Ferries dismissed nearly 800 workers and replaced them with lower-paid, less-experienced seafarers. P&O’s chief executive later admitted to parliament that the company knew its actions were illegal. Despite promising to act, the government has failed to strengthen workers’ rights and protections to prevent such a scandal happening again. In line with composite 7, the TUC worked with unions to lobby for improvements to the Seafarers’ Wages Bill and for greater protections for workers. 

We have continued to support striking workers in rail and across the transport sector. The TUC has coordinated industrial campaigns to build confidence and momentum, as unions mobilise members and win ballot thresholds. We have also organised mass demonstrations and lobbing events, coordinating opposition to the government’s draconian and undemocratic Minimum Service Levels Bill. 

2.9 Working time and flexible working 

The TUC has continued to campaign for flexible working to be the default way of working, calling for all workers to have a right to flexible working and to require employers to include possible flexible working options in job adverts, in line with resolution 40. As a result of union campaigning, a government-sponsored Private Members Bill to improve access to flexible working looks set to become law. We have supported the Bill as a small step in the right direction while calling for stronger rights. 

The TUC has also made multiple interventions highlighting the need for an advertising duty and the impact that a lack of flexible working has for gender and disability pay gaps. We have run events for MPs, and included flexible working in our submission to the Labour Party’s National Policy Forum. And in line with resolution 24, we have called for more generous entitlements following bereavement. 

The TUC has made numerous media interventions on working time. We published analysis showing that UK workers put in £26bn of unpaid overtime last year. We have drawn attention to the challenges experienced by night workers. And we have continued to call for the creation of four more bank holidays. 

2.10 Health and safety 

The TUC has 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 have delivered a series of introductory courses, targeting women and Black members who are underrepresented in the safety rep role. We have produced a range of resources to support workplace activists alongside webinars focused on inspections, working in extreme temperatures, the menopause and stress. And, in response to resolutions 16 and 29, TUC Education has produced a new reps’ resource on working temperatures. 

The Union Health and Safety Specialists network met throughout the year and discussed various issues of concern. In response to composite 12 and resolution 45, the TUC joined the call for universal access to occupational health services, supporting the Society for Occupational Medicine’s campaign, and launched a new training course on work-related stress. 

In the run-up to International Workers’ Memorial Day in April, the TUC focused on the threat to health and safety legislation from the government’s Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill. 

We continued to call for the strengthening of regulatory bodies, and, in line with composite 15, for more funding for the cash-strapped Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This included a report ahead of the Covid-19 public inquiry detailing the consequences of austerity measures on the HSE’s core functions. The TUC has also called for safety regulators to extend their remit and change policy where necessary, for example in favour of asbestos removal, or the investigation of work-related suicide. And in line with resolution 30, we have supported stronger legislation on appropriate equipment, clothing and footwear for workers. 

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 the presence of asbestos in public buildings, with members providing political support in parliament and in the media. 

2.11 Covid public inquiry 

The independent public inquiry into Covid-19 began full hearings in June. Set up to examine the UK’s response to the pandemic, the inquiry also seeks to learn lessons for the future. The pandemic had a profound impact on working people, with many thousands dying after contracting the virus in the course of their work. The government’s failure to provide adequate PPE, ensure safe working environments and invest in public services undoubtedly made a bad situation worse.

The TUC applied for, and was granted, core participant status for module 1 into pandemic preparedness, module 2 into government decision making, modules 2a, b and c into devolved administration decision making, and module 3 into healthcare. 

Despite the inquiry’s refusal to grant any form of funding to the TUC for this work, we have made representations at all preliminary hearings. We have secured a focus on equalities across all the inquiry’s modules, and ensured austerity is front and centre of module 1. 

The TUC found those in insecure occupations were twice as likely to die of Covid-19 than those in more secure employment. We have also shown that having the lowest statutory sick pay in the OECD too often left workers facing the choice between following public health advice or feeding their families. 

Our report Austerity and the Pandemic sets out how steep cuts to almost every part of the public sector fatally weakened the UK’s capacity to respond to the pandemic. When the pandemic hit in 2020, spending per capita was still lower than in 2010 in social care, transport, housing, childcare, schools, higher education, police services, fire services, and environmental protection. At the same time, our social security safety net had been damaged by benefit freezes and reforms that reduced entitlement and narrowed eligibility. These social security cuts increased the poverty levels associated with greater risk of exposure, transmission and vulnerability to more serious health consequences. 

3.1 Introduction 

There is no bigger or more important priority for the TUC than building a stronger, more diverse, more inclusive trade union movement. We are striving to put equality at the heart of everything we do, by taking forward the work of our groundbreaking Anti-Racism Task Force, in line with the General Council statement, and tackling sexual harassment at work. Meanwhile, TUC regions and Wales TUC are standing up for workers and their communities across England and Wales, and TUC Education continues to provide reps with high-quality training. As industrial action has spread across the economy, our Solidarity Hub is providing practical support to affiliates and their members. And we’re improving the way we use digital tech across the full spectrum of our activities. 

3.2 Black workers 

This year’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination took place on Saturday 18 March. The TUC supported the demonstration and, in line with composite 19, its focus was on challenging the government’s unlawful migration policy. As part of the mobilisation for the march and rally, we worked with organisations including Stand Up To Racism to organise a conference focusing on the anti-racist and anti-fascist struggle in Britain and internationally. Themes included securing equalities in the workplace, in line with composite 9, and securing racial justice, in line with composite 10. 

The conference’s opening plenary focused on the action plan and manifesto that our Anti-Racism Task Force has produced, with the closing plenary discussing staying united amid the cost-of-living crisis. The march and rally were well attended, with over 10,000 people taking part in the demonstration. 

The disproportionate deaths of Black workers during the Covid-19 pandemic have highlighted many areas where institutional racism impacts the health, safety and welfare of Black workers. In response, the TUC educated union members about the intersection of racism and ethnicity and health, safety and wellbeing issues. We also worked to increase the number of Black health and safety reps. And we campaigned for policy change on ethnicity data collection in work-related injury reporting, and lobbied for ethnicity pay gap monitoring, in line with resolution 35. 

The TUC has also campaigned against the government’s policy to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda and against the Nationality and Borders Act. We organised a roundtable and 11 trade unions signed up to support the campaign, and trade unions were well represented at a demonstration on 5 September to support Care for Calais and the PCS court challenge. 

In November, the TUC sponsored a vigil to remember the 32 men, women and children who died in the English Channel a year earlier. Along with our affiliates, we have also been active in campaigning against the Illegal Migration Bill, with Paul Nowak writing to home secretary Suella Braverman in March opposing the Bill and asking the government to reconsider. 

As we move into the delivery phase of the Anti-Racism Task Force, the implementation and oversight group has been meeting to discuss ways to support unions in actioning the manifesto commitments. This work has been supported by an independent evaluation of the work undertaken so far, as well as ongoing work to look at the experiences of Black workers within the union movement. It’s crucial that unions continue to prioritise this work and make progress against the commitments. 

3.3 LGBT+ workers 

The TUC LGBT+ Committee worked on a range of issues, focusing on fighting back against the far right, and protecting LGBT+ rights in the Equality Act. The TUC has continued to highlight the shocking rise in transphobia in the UK and the hostile climate created by the government and media for all LGBT+ people. Taking forward resolution 43 on supporting trans and non-binary workers, in April the TUC launched the Trade Unions for Trans Rights Network. It is a space for trade unions to organise together for trans rights at work and in wider society. The network will work closely with LGBT+ charities and community organisations to create and share resources and research, and coordinate campaigns. 

We wrote a letter to the government and the EHRC calling on them not to make amendments to the Equality Act on the current definition of sex, following on from advice requested by the government. 

We continue to call for progressive reform of the Gender Recognition Act, based on self-identification. We published a statement on the Westminster government’s intervention in the Scottish government’s gender recognition reforms, working closely with the Scottish TUC. We have also continued to call for a complete ban on LGBT+ conversion therapy, with no loopholes for ‘consent’ and no part of our community left out of the ban. 

We delivered two new leadership programmes for LGBT+ and disabled workers, bringing together two cohorts of trade union activists. Delegates explored their own approach to leadership, gained a deeper understanding of the trade union movement, and developed a network of supportive leaders across the movement.

3.4 Disabled workers 

The Disabled Workers Committee has continued to highlight the shocking treatment of disabled people under this government. Taking forward resolution 37, we have become a signatory to the Disability Employment Charter, using it as a tool to lobby government to deliver for disabled workers. We have contributed to government consultations on the implementation of the national disability strategy, and on the plan for jobs and employment support. We have also worked closely with disabled people’s organisations in the wake of the new Health and Disability White Paper, which the government published in March 2023, and have taken up a seat on the government’s stakeholder engagement board for the white paper. 

The TUC marked disability pay gap day by publishing new analysis showing that disabled workers earn 17.2 per cent less than non-disabled workers, with disabled women facing a gap of over £7,000 per year. We also published analysis showing that three in four disabled workers earn less than £15 an hour. We wrote a letter to the minister for women and equalities to call for urgent action, including statutory disability pay gap reporting. 

Taking forward resolution 36, we have called for the use of reasonable adjustment disability passports in the NHS and other public bodies. The passports are a useful and practical tool that create change for disabled workers. We have highlighted their importance in our reports, in our speeches at conferences and events, and through blogs and podcasts. 

We have continued campaigning to improve access to flexible working for everyone to reduce stigma and to improve accessibility in the design of working arrangements. 

We have also continued to raise concerns about the lack of support that people living with long Covid are receiving. We released a report in March 2023 with the Long Covid Support Employment Group, based on a survey of just over 3,000 people with long Covid. The research found shockingly high levels of poor treatment by employers. 

3.5 Women 

In line with resolution 42, the TUC continues to combat sexual harassment in the workplace and campaigns to change the law, laying the foundations for the culture change that is needed to end sexual harassment and the cultures that allow it to thrive. 

The TUC recognises that if we are to challenge sexual harassment in our members’ workplaces, we must ensure that we lead by example in our own trade union workplaces and spaces. In line with resolution 42, the TUC has trained 12 trainers and piloted a new training course for trade unions focussed on recognising and understanding sexual harassment and the practical steps needed to drive culture change across our movement. We continue to work with affiliates to promote our sexual harassment resources for trade unions and have begun work on establishing safe reporting routes for the movement. 

Following the Kennedy report into the culture at TSSA, the TUC has offered practical advice and support to the interim management team at TSSA and facilitated access to training. The TUC ran a roundtable with the women’s committee and MeTU to discuss the barriers to change in our movement and how we can overcome them. The General Council agreed a transparent process for handling potential complaints about the conduct of the general secretary.

In line with composite 11, we partnered with Henpicked to run a workshop on menopause in the workplace at our Reps Connect event, to raise awareness and provide practical tools. 

Working with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), we continue to raise health and safety issues and are working to update all guidance relating to pregnancy and maternity, including health and safety and parental leave rights. Partnering with Maternity Action, we developed a toolkit on pregnancy and maternity rights and safety in the workplace, taking forward resolution 42. 

We continued to support calls to make access to telemedical abortion care permanent. In July, we signed a joint public letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), condemning the cases being brought against two women for ending their own pregnancies and calling on the DPP to issue guidance to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to stop the prosecution of women who end their own pregnancies with immediate effect. We continue to support calls for protections for buffer zones around abortion clinics and more funding for abortion services, in line with resolution 38. 

We continue to be part of the Equal Pay Alliance with the Equality Trust, and in November, in line with resolution 39, we launched an equal pay toolkit. We continue to discuss collective priorities and how we can campaign for equal pay, as well as creating a space for other stakeholders to hear from affiliates about the bargaining that unions do every day for their members on pay and conditions. 

We continue to highlight the need for flexible working for women and joined Pregnant then Screwed’s March of the Mummies in October 2022. This saw 15,000 parents take to the streets across the UK to campaign for day one rights to flexible working, better parental leave and pay, and investment in childcare and early years, helping advance resolution 40.

3.6 Solidarity Hub 

The Solidarity Hub project was launched in December 2022 and assists unions by providing a suite of support to add value to their campaigns and disputes. A key component of the project is the Dispute Intelligence Database, as detailed below. 

Our website hosts a range of resources. The most popular feature is our range of online learning mini-modules and pocket guides aimed at reps. These include resources on preparing for action, effective communications, mental health guidance, acting loud and legal, a pocket book on organising and more. These have already proved very popular, with 46 per cent of all unique visitors to the site in 2023 interacting with one of these resources. 

Our Solidarity Stories page is now live, capturing first-hand testimony of unions winning for workers and the methods and tactics used to reach a successful resolution. We are using our extensive media reach to promote these stories and hope that they serve as good, shareable practice to benefit and inspire the wider movement. 

Our Dispute Intelligence Database seeks to record and track union campaigns and disputes in extensive detail. Outcomes to date include demonstrating support through all communications from the TUC for unions in dispute, attending picket lines where possible with senior TUC staff, working with our regions to ensure maximum support locally, and providing research to affiliates and more. 

The next steps of the project are to continue tracking all disputes, providing the movement with analysis and trends in industrial action and analysis of union wins. We will organise a roundtable discussion of senior union officials to reflect on all recent action and draw out best practice and lessons learned to assess how we can best support unions at all levels and further develop our growing suite of resources to add value to our unions in dispute. 

3.7 Digital campaigning and organising 

Building a stronger union movement means using the best tech, tools and techniques at our disposal to recruit members, get them active and help win disputes and campaigns. 

The TUC’s Megaphone platform enables unions to run online petitions and digital actions to build pressure on employers, recruit new members, engage existing members and build public support. In 2023, the TUC expanded the team supporting union disputes and campaigns, meaning we were able to offer more expert advice on digital tactics.

The platform has now hosted 306 petitions and 522 events, originating from 24 different unions. More than 100 petitions were started by unions in 2022–23. More than 880,000 people have now taken action in support of a union campaign, and there are 470,000 supporters on the Megaphone solidarity email list – a vital resource for the movement. Megaphone supporters are regularly asked to join a union, to recruit others to the union, to promote campaigns in their workplaces and community, to donate to strike funds and to take other actions that strengthen the movement. 

In 2022–23, the TUC continued to support affiliates in adopting distributed messaging services to encourage turnout during strike ballots. This has involved setting up tools for affiliates, planning messaging scripts and training activists to have SMS conversations with members at speed and at scale. This has contributed to a significant increase in the number of ballots meeting the thresholds for industrial action. 

The TUC’s Union finder tool is a shop window for joining a union, helping workers to find the right union for them. In 2023, Union finder experienced a 15 per cent increase in user engagement compared to 2022. This year, we have improved the tool by introducing ways to follow up with users to increase the likelihood they join the union or unions they were recommended. We have also started to collaborate with individual unions to track conversion rates of users referred to their joining pages. 

The TUC primarily uses its social media channels to introduce new audiences to trade unions and trade unionism. We share breaking news about unions and work, we seek to build support for key union campaigns, and we promote trade unionism in general. 

Over the past year, we have switched our focus to prioritise engagement over information about the TUC, and have deliberately sought to create more viral content. In 2022–23, the TUC’s reach on social media grew by 65 per cent. Our core social media accounts have a total of 473,000 followers, up from 287,000 a year ago. From September 2022 to June 2023, our social channels got 187 million impressions, our videos received 112 million views, and we had more than 9 million likes, shares or comments on our content. We now have the biggest labour movement social channels in the world. 

One example illustrates the value of this work. In January 2023, we released our biggest-ever social media post, a tweet that broke the news of the government’s plans to attack the right to strike through new legislation. This post was seen 6.8 million times – meaning that millions of people in the UK found out from the TUC that the government was threatening to fire key workers who go on strike.

The TUC’s TikTok video channel is now its biggest account, with 181,000 followers. Some of our videos have had more than a million views, including those campaigning for a £15 minimum wage (1.3 million views) and our opposition to a rise in the retirement age (1.2 million views). In line with emergency resolution 1, we continued to call for a fair resolution to the Royal Mail dispute, and our video supporting the CWU’s industrial action had 1.8 million views. 

The TUC’s Digital Lab programme supports unions with digital change, helping unions understand what best practice looks like and how to make the most of digital. 

In 2023, a particular focus has been around a new generation of union membership databases. As set out in composite 20, the TUC has sought to encourage unions to work in collaboration to tackle shared challenges. As a result of shifts in the market for union software and the need to improve systems to meet industrial action thresholds, many unions started researching major change to their databases in 2022. The TUC has delivered events, training sessions and reports, and co-ordinated unions to share experiences. The aim is to help affiliates’ database projects succeed faster and with reduced risk and costs. 

The Digital Lab has also worked with a group of affiliates on a collective research project on members’ needs for digital content related to the cost-of-living crisis. with Nautilus International, the Digital Lab supported the development of a new digital approach to onboarding young members, aimed at increasing retention. 

3.8 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 2022/23, TUC Education had partnership agreements with 17 FE colleges in England and Scotland that ensure delivery of National Open College Network (NOCN) accredited training via the TUC’s core course programme and union courses that are mapped to the TUC Passport to Progress accreditation framework. 

The TUC is conducting a strategic review of all trade union education provision in the UK to ensure that the movement has the capacity to organise, campaign and represent members effectively. The recommendations from the review will be made to the TUC Executive in early 2024. 

Details of the full TUC Education offer to unions and reps can be found at tuc.org.uk/training 

3.9 Online training and support for union reps 

During 2022, TUC Education trained over 2,500 reps via its online learning platform. This figure does not include courses delivered by trade union studies centres in Wales and Scotland and by colleges that used non- TUC-hosted learning platforms. 

Our most popular courses were Union Reps and Health and Safety Stage 1. In total, 1,138 new reps were trained online in 2022, which represents a significant increase on the previous year’s figures. 

Plans are underway to create a fresh and comprehensive programme of UNIONREPS Advanced courses. These courses aim to offer reps an enhanced and specialised training experience, focusing on key workplace issues. The intention is to provide reps with more extensive and in-depth knowledge and skills, equipping them with the necessary tools to effectively address members’ concerns. 

3.10 Digital training support for affiliates 

During 2022, the digital learning team collaborated with several TUC affiliates helping them to transform their training programmes. 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 have been used by more than 

750 reps. TUC Education also worked with ASLEF, BALPA, the Society of Radiographers, NASUWT and Nautilus International on various projects aimed at introducing innovative training approaches. The digital team developed online resources that complemented affiliate training programmes, enhancing accessibility and facilitating flexible learning. TUC Education worked closely with affiliates to develop new blended and flexible training options that catered to the changing needs of their reps. Affiliates have used the TUC’s existing digital platforms to successfully implement initiatives such as digital credentialing and pathways to guide participants through their learning journey. 

3.11 Unionreps Connect 2022 

In October, TUC Education organised a face-to-face training event, Unionreps Connect 2022. It offered training workshops and collaborative spaces for both new and experienced workplace representatives. The attendees listened to engaging presentations and participated in learning sessions on important workplace issues. 

The event offered support and guidance on everyday challenges, focusing on key topics such as employment law, health and safety, organising, union learning and equality.

The programme featured presentations from employment rights specialists, interactive workshops with TUC policy experts and discussions with inspirational union reps. 

The event also provided the 276 reps attending with the opportunity to network and make new connections. 

Unionreps Connect 2022 proved to be extremely popular, with over 94 per cent of reps attending stating that the day helped them gain new knowledge or skills. TUC Education plans to make Unionreps Connect an annual training event. 

3.12 TUC Education webinars 2022/23 

This year, TUC Education delivered 17 new webinars. The total number of registrations reached 13,375, with an average registration rate of 787 participants per event. The Employment Law Update webinar, supported by Thompsons Solicitors, proved to be the most popular, attracting a record high of 1,638 registrations. 

The second most popular webinar focused on disability discrimination. A follow-up survey of the TUC’s webinar audience revealed high demand for further webinars that offer guidance and support on disability issues.

Webinar participants expressed high levels of satisfaction with both the content and the delivery of the sessions, resulting in an average approval rating of 4.59 out of 5. 

3.13 TUC Education interactive guides 

TUC Education continued to expand its range of short, interactive learning modules. Over the course of 2022, the guides were accessed by over 15,000 reps and we launched a number of new guides.

3.14 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 2022/23, the Organising Academy trained 36 union officers, 25 from NEU and 11 from HCSA. 

3.15 Leading Change Programme 

The TUC’s Leading Change ran another programme in 2022, with the latest programme commencing in July 2023. 

3.16 TUC review of services 

Following the election of Paul Nowak as general secretary – and reflecting composite resolution 21 which was remitted – Kevin Rowan carried out a review of services and support to unions, meeting with 16 general secretaries, the chairs of the TUC’s statutory equality committees, the TUCJCC, the LESE executive committee and regional officers in Yorkshire and the Humber. 

The findings from the review were agreed at an executive awayday in February 2023, and recommendations fell into two categories. 

First, support for renewing organising included: a focus on diversifying our reps’ base; renewing a trade union education strategy; introducing a ‘solidarity hub’; coordinating unions sectorally; and developing ‘leading change’ programmes for underrepresented groups. 

Second, convening the movement recommended changes to the structure of the General Council meetings: a clearer line of sight to the work of regional and Wales TUCs; systemic reviews of the TUC’s performance against key priorities; practical support for unions to be more efficient and effective around procurement; and the introduction of a finance committee to give unions a greater strategic oversight of the financial challenges faced by the TUC. 

While there was no appetite or consensus to change the way that the TUC leadership is elected, or to introduce a fixed term of office for the general secretary, it is was agreed to introduce a biennial process for reviewing the performance of the general secretary. 

3.17 Regions and Wales 

North West 

Right across the North West, the TUC has been supporting affiliates in ongoing industrial action, from balloting through to celebrating success. We were able to bring reps and officers together to share best practice on organising and winning ballots, and provide practical support on picket lines. 

Many of our unions have achieved success, including OCS workers winning parity with NHS colleagues, the insourcing of hundreds of NHS staff in Liverpool, dock workers and Jacob’s factory staff winning pay rises, and HGS call centre staff fighting for and winning a living wage. These successes have given momentum to our unions, which continue to campaign hard for working people. 

We hosted Lord David Blunkett and members of Labour’s Commission on Skills at Wirral Met to talk about the future of skills and learning at work, part of our wider ongoing work to rebuild union learning in the region and increase the number of learning reps. As part of this, we are successfully delivering a numeracy project in the Liverpool City Region with affiliates, enabling us to increase our staffing in the region to support unions.

As devolution has progressed, we have continued work with metro mayors to ensure strong union representation. We have pushed our agenda on good work in employment charters, with Paul Nowak delivering the annual good employment lecture in Manchester. 

South West 

After a generation’s worth of service by Nigel Costley, the TUC appointed Ines Lage as regional secretary to lead our work across the South West region. 

In the past year, TUC South West has successfully organised the first TUC Black Talent Programme pilot. This saw new Black activists develop leadership and organising skills, and form the hub of a network to help grow and diversify trade union membership and activism in the region. 

We also coordinated eight Right to Strike rallies, aligning hundreds of picket lines to bring over 10,000 trade unionists standing strong against the Strikes Bill. 

Appalling weather conditions meant that well organised plans for this year’s Tolpuddle Festival fell by the wayside as, due to safety concerns, the event was cancelled at the last minute. High praise remains for the team of staff and volunteers that ensured everyone was kept safe and we look forward to the festival returning next year. 

Yorkshire & the Humber 

As the region’s workers feel the full force of the cost-of-living crisis, we saw a growing number of young activists once again taking to the streets and visiting workplaces on their summer patrol. They were joined as usual by comrades from LO Norway as part of an internationalist effort to recruit increasing numbers of young workers into trade unions. 

The region has been successful in securing additional staff to lead on key campaigns in skills and on tackling climate change aligned to the TUC’s just transition policies. The TUC has been instrumental in establishing a Climate Commission in the region, including union representation. Colleagues in the region are working well with unions to build and develop green rep networks. 

Following the retirement of Bill Adams, who served the TUC for over 20 years, the TUC began a process of restructuring the regional boundaries of both the Yorkshire and the Humber and Northern regions. 

Midlands 

The TUC has continued to work with affiliated unions to develop a groundbreaking union organising model in Leicester’s garment industry. Workplace Access Agreements, which guarantee union access to Leicester’s garment manufacturing factories, are now in place. Our campaign is now looking to embed these agreements and the benefits they bring for union organising across fashion brands’ global supply chains. 

The Dying to Work Charter appeared in a Private Members’ Bill in parliament brought by Alex Cunningham, another landmark step after many years of union campaigning to provide greater legal protection for terminally ill workers. 

We have also been taking steps to support the diversification of our lay rep base. We have established an enthusiastic Black Activist Network and are currently exploring developing a network of women officers to help guide our campaigning and organising work. 

The general secretary showed support for the first strike in Amazon, visiting workers in Coventry alongside the Midlands regional secretary.

Northern 

In what has been a year of considerable industrial activity, the TUC has supported industrial action campaigns across the public and private sectors in the north-east and Cumbria. 

Working with unions locally, we will be launching our Black Activists’ Development Programme in September with networking, leadership and organising skills opportunities. Our focus on bringing reps together saw us hold a reps’ summit in May, where we shared and developed organising opportunities around the North of Tyne Combined Authority’s Good Work Pledge. 

We continue to lead and support campaigns for women in the region, with this year’s Reclaim the Night! event to protest against violence against women being one of the best attended in recent years. 

With support from the North of Tyne Combined Authority, we have been able to rebuild our support for union learning reps and workplace learning. We are hoping to expand this work in the months ahead. 

London, East & South East 

There have been many industrial disputes located in London, the south-east and the east of England. We continue to build support for unions taking action, publicising information about disputes, attending picket lines and events, and delivering messages of solidarity. 

We have relaunched our regional young members’ network and LGBT+ solidarity network, and will be starting our Black Activists’ Programme just after Congress. We have reviewed and amended our regional structures to increase union participation, ensuring we receive information and requests for support and can then share these across unions and trades councils. We now have reps representing 94 per cent of union membership on our regional council.

Wales TUC 

Last year, we launched our Black Activists’ Development Programme. The first cohort of trade unionists – who are all women activists – are reaching the mid-point of the programme, and we are working with them to determine how best we can support their ambitions, whether within their union, in politics or in wider civil society. 

We have also continued to develop resources for reps and officers to make workplaces safer and more inclusive. We launched a toolkit on how to deal with workplace sexual harassment with Welsh Women’s Aid earlier this year, as well as an action plan on steps to achieve LGBT+ inclusive workplaces. We have also launched a pilot of a unions into schools initiative and are looking forward to welcoming a delegation of Norwegian trade unionists this summer to support young trade unionists to adopt their ‘street patrol’ organising model. 

Thanks to continued investment by the Welsh Government, the Wales Union Learning Fund (WULF) is delivering training for thousands of workers in Wales every year, and we also support hundreds of reps through our Trade Union Education offer. Both have been adapted to support the aims of a just transition, including a negotiating course for reps and officers and a collaboration with Umeå University, Sweden, to run a residential course in Cardiff on ‘workers as agents of a green and just transformation’. 

While Wales has also seen its fair share of industrial action in the devolved public sector, trade unions have continued working with the Welsh government and employers as part of our social partnership arrangements. Through the Workforce Partnership Council, we have been developing a four-day working week pilot in the devolved public sector and the Social Care Fair Work Forum has been devising a plan for sectoral collective bargaining for the outsourced workforce. 

In May, the Social Partnership and Public Procurement Act received royal assent. This new law requires the Welsh government to set up a Social Partnership Council and gives recognised unions a say over the strategic priorities of devolved public bodies. It also puts the two-tier code on a statutory footing and introduced social clauses in large public construction projects. Trade union officials were seconded to the Welsh government to develop the legislation, encapsulating the Welsh government’s view that strong industrial relations are an integral part of public services. 

The general secretary, and Wales TUC general secretary, met the first minister Mark Drakeford in March. They also visited Airbus in Broughton in July, along with shadow employment rghts minister Justin Madders MP and Unite officers and reps. 

4.1 Introduction 

The TUC and its affiliates continue to campaign for a better, more hopeful future for all workers. After over a decade of austerity, unions are at the forefront of calls to rebuild our shattered public services, not least an NHS still struggling to recover from the pandemic. We’re calling for more funding for workforce skills, so we deliver genuine training and development opportunities for all. And we’re seeking to address the impact of AI and rapid technological change on working people. 

But our work goes far beyond the UK. Trade unions are proudly internationalist, and we are working with sister movements worldwide to fight for decent work, rights and services for working people across the globe. We are also prominent in the fight against the global far right, resisting those who seek to pit worker against worker. 

4.2 A strong public sector 

A strong and resilient public sector is the backbone of a robust economy, built on well-funded and well-staffed public services. However, we are continuing to witness the devastating ramifications of 13 years of savage public spending cuts and pay restraint. Waiting times and backlogs in health and justice have reached record highs; schools, hospitals and council services are crumbling; and the attainment gap in schools and the skills gap in workplaces has widened significantly. 

The TUC continues to call for proper funding for all our public services, including our fire and rescue service, in line with resolution 25. And we continue to oppose privatisation and government attacks on public service broadcasting, in line with resolution 58.

Living standards for public sector workers have plummeted, as yet another year of real-terms pay cuts left key workers brutally exposed to the cost-of-living crisis. TUC analysis showed that the average public sector worker was earning £200 a month less in real terms in spring 2023 than in 2010. 

Ministerial decisions to hold down public sector pay have made keyworkers tens of thousands of pounds poorer and fuelled the recruitment and retention crisis blighting our public services. In line with emergency resolution 3, we highlighted that a toxic mix of pay cuts, unsustainable workloads and low morale are driving many public sector workers out of their professions and forcing others to take industrial action to defend their pay and working conditions. 

In line with composites 5, 12 and 14, the TUC has supported unions’ industrial activity, convening unions within and across sectors, while our Britain Needs a Pay Rise campaign has highlighted the urgent need for a significant pay rise for the public sector workforce. Our budget submissions, mass lobbying event, demos and regular MP briefings have put pay at the heart of the debate about the public sector’s acute recruitment and retention crisis and the cost-of-living emergency. 

4.3 NHS 

As vacancies in the NHS reached record levels, ambulance workers, physiotherapists, junior doctors, nurses and other health professionals participated in the biggest wave of strike action in a decade, as they and their unions fought for fair pay. In support of unions’ industrial activity, the TUC lobbied government to open and engage in meaningful pay negotiations, coordinated action and produced new analysis showing the impact of pay cuts on the NHS workforce. 

Our analysis reveals hundreds of thousands of NHS workers have lost over a year’s worth of pay following 12 years of government-imposed pay cuts. Between 2010 and 2022, maternity and care assistants suffered a cumulative real-terms pay loss of £30,000 – the equivalent of 14 months’ worth of salary. Nurses and physiotherapists suffered a cumulative real-terms pay loss of £37,000 – the equivalent of 13 months’ worth of salary. And midwives suffered a cumulative real-terms pay loss of £48,000 – the equivalent of 14 months’ worth of salary. 

After several months of high-profile industrial activity, amassing huge levels of public support, NHS unions negotiated an improved pay and conditions offer from government. Meanwhile, ministers launched an attack on striking workers, introducing the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill. Through our union working group, the TUC coordinated responses to the consultation on the Bill in the ambulance service and elsewhere (see section 1.2). 

The TUC continues to pressure ministers, including the secretary of state for health and social care and the chancellor, to deliver much-needed, long-term, sustainable funding for the NHS, in line with resolution 52. The NHS workforce plan, called for by all health unions, was published in June. Implementation will need to focus on fair pay, retention and recruitment right across all disciplines if it is to gain the support of NHS trade unions.

4.4 Education 

After years of deep funding cuts and spiralling costs, schools, colleges and universities have been pushed to the brink. Children are losing out because there aren’t enough teachers, our dilapidated and unsafe buildings and school estates require urgent attention, and education staff are leaving the sector in droves due to a combination of low pay and excessive workloads. 

As education unions balloted members in autumn 2022 over derisory pay offers and changes to pensions and working conditions, the TUC convened meetings to coordinate industrial activity. We also produced new analysis revealing the extent and impact of real-terms pay cuts for teachers, with a further study showing that one million children with keyworker parents are living in poverty, including one in nine children with teaching staff as parents. We also published a survey showing one third of the education workforce has taken steps to leave the profession, or are actively considering doing so, citing pay as the main factor. 

In line with resolution 54, as education workers continued to take industrial action to defend their pay and conditions, the TUC raised the profile of the education workforce. We warned the government that pay cuts were fuelling acute staffing shortages, affecting the high-quality learning schools provide. In line with resolution 55, we drew attention to the impact on children with special educational needs. The threat of action by the NEU, NASUWT and NAHT and non-TUC affiliate ASCL, saw the government accept in full the recommendation of the STRB for a funded pay rise of 6.5 per cent for teachers in England. This followed unions securing improved offers in Wales and Scotland. 

4.5 Social care and childcare 

The care sector and its workforce are a vital part of our economic and social infrastructure. Social care workers are disproportionately female and from Black and migrant backgrounds, while childcare workers are disproportionately young women from working-class backgrounds. All remain undervalued, underpaid and exploited. The longstanding recruitment and retention crisis stemming from persistently poor pay and conditions in both sectors has left the care system – and care workers – at breaking point. 

In social care, we have campaigned hard for the implementation of our New Deal for the Social Care Workforce, with decent pay and conditions, sectoral bargaining, a proper social care workforce strategy, and much more investment. Our analysis shows that a new £15 social care minimum wage would support the low-paid care workforce and provide a £7.7bn boost to England’s economy.

The TUC has highlighted the poor treatment of overseas recruits in the social care system, in line with resolution 53. We worked with an alliance of affiliates, regulators and independent expert bodies to identify labour abuses and promote decent employment for migrant social care workers. 

Following the government’s rollback on funding promised for the social care workforce, the TUC and affiliates secured an urgent meeting with the minister for social care to discuss the workforce crisis. 

We worked with affiliates to develop written evidence for Department of Health and Social Care consultations on a care workforce pathway and on care data. We also engaged with shadow ministers on improving working conditions, discussing a fair pay agreement in social care. 

The TUC has worked with affiliates and other stakeholders to highlight the importance of high-quality childcare, early-years education and the childcare workforce. In autumn 2022, we published our trade union vision for childcare and early-years education built on three universal principles: 

› flexible, high-quality childcare that is available to all from the point at which paid maternity or parental leave ends 

› a new deal for the childcare workforce, starting with a new sectoral minimum wage and clear pay and progression pathways 

› a new social partnership forum in childcare, bringing together unions, government and employers as a first step towards a fair pay agreement. 

4.6 Civil service and justice 

Thirteen years of austerity have had hugely damaging impacts on our civil service and justice system. Though the Conservatives have undone the destructive and dangerous ‘transforming rehabilitation’ reforms and paused plans to scrap tens of thousands of civil service jobs, there remains significant work to be done to protect and repair both services. 

The TUC maintained and galvanised strong opposition to the government’s ill-advised and ill-thought-through plans to cut civil service jobs, informed by composite 16. We have condemned Conservative ministers’ ongoing attacks on the independence and integrity of our civil service and judicial system, in line with resolutions 28 and 61. 

In June 2023, we published our Digitisation in the Public Sector report. This highlighted the threats and additional burdens placed on civil servants and those working in the justice system through the imposition of unsuitable and poorly designed digital technology. 

4.7 Skills 

The current skills system is fragmented, underfunded and failing workers. More than a decade of cuts to funding and the abolition of adult skills entitlements have led to a sharp decline in lifelong learning and training. Successive spending cuts have damaged the pay of the skills workforce, fuelling a recruitment and retention crisis. 

As part of our work furthering the priorities identified in resolution 20, we have worked closely with affiliated unions on education and skills policy to campaign for greater investment in skills to support economic growth and help more workers achieve their full potential.

We commissioned new analysis from the Learning and Work Institute that found the number of adults participating in further education and skills training has halved since the Conservatives first took office. The analysis also revealed that learners from deprived areas have seen the biggest drop in participation over recent years, falling more than three times faster than those from more affluent areas. 

We have engaged with industry and government stakeholders to promote a package of measures that could boost lifelong learning for adults. In our response to government proposals for implementing a reformed FE funding and accountability system, we called for a new funding settlement for the sector, with future budgets fully offsetting the cuts of the previous decade and enabling employers to deliver real-terms pay rises for the workforce. 

Alongside a financial boost, the TUC has called for a new package of learning and skills entitlements that includes a new right to paid time off to train, backed up by personal lifelong learning accounts, a reversal of the cuts to the Union Learning Fund and the creation of a new National Skills Task Force that would bring together employers, unions, key stakeholders and government. 

The devolution of the adult skills budget to several mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) and the Greater London Authority has resulted in some benefits, including the establishment of joint skills projects across the country. The TUC now has skills projects in the north-east, West Midlands, Yorkshire & the Humber, and Liverpool City Region. However, devolution and the implementation of regional skills programmes remains patchy. 

4.8 AI at work and rights 

The TUC has continued to convene its AI Working Group, welcoming external speakers (including the Office for AI and the EHRC), publishing reports, and responding to consultations. 

Consultation responses included those on the Information Commissioner Office’s draft employment practices code, the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum workplan, and the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (‘the Bill’). We published People Powered Technology: collective agreements and digital management systems, as well as a programme of e-learning on algorithmic management. 

Our work on the Bill included attending Labour meetings, issuing a briefing to MPs and Lords, and giving oral evidence to the Public Bill Committee. We were invited to give evidence to two Labour National Policy Forum commissions. We also continued to contribute to the AI work of international sister union confederations. 

In April, we held an AI@Work conference. Panel speakers included Chi Onwurah MP, David Davis MP, Andrew Pakes from Prospect, Robin Allen KC, TechUK, the EHRC and Cambridge University, as well as representatives from NASUWT and Equity. There was a focus on Equity’s campaigning work, in line with resolution 10 on AI and performers’ rights. 

Mick Whitley MP convened a Westminster Hall debate on AI and work, and presented a Ten Minute Rule Bill speech, based on the TUC’s AI manifesto. 

In June, we collaborated with Connected By Data to hold an event bringing workers (including Equity, GMB and CWU members) to parliament to speak to MPs about their experience of AI. 

4.9 International 

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). Through our international affiliations, we seek to deliver tangible gains for working people worldwide, in line with the General Council statement on A World to Win. And, in line with resolution 69, we continue to highlight and oppose attacks on journalists and other workers. 

The ETUC executive met in December and March, with its steering committee meeting in December, January, February and April ahead of the ETUC Congress in May in Berlin. The TUC’s full members are Christina McAnea, Steve Turner and Kate Bell (steering committee). Our deputy members are Steve Gillan, Gloria Mills CBE, Mariela Kohon and Rosa Crawford. The pan-European regional council executive committee met in March; Paul Nowak and Steve Turner are the TUC’s representatives. 

ITUC executive bureau meetings were held in October and May, and the ITUC General Council met in November, December, January, March, and June. ITUC General Council titular members are Paul Nowak and Kevin Courtney. TUC senior international officer Mariela Kohon is Paul’s first alternate and Gloria Mills CBE the second alternate. ICTU’s David Joyce is Kevin’s first alternate and Gail Cartmail the second alternate. Our ITUC executive bureau titular member is Paul Nowak, with Mariela Kohon his first alternate and Kevin Courtney second alternate. Paul Nowak also represents the TUC on TUAC.

The ITUC held its Congress in November 2022 in Melbourne. Following the dismissal by the ITUC General Council of general secretary Luca Visentini in March 2023, Luc Triangle was appointed as acting general secretary. The ITUC will hold an extraordinary Congress to elect a new general secretary. 

Palestine 

The TUC hosted a delegation to the UK, which met with affiliates, parliamentarians, representatives from the FCDO, and civil society organisations – and set out evidence of the crime of apartheid under international law. We called on the government to halt negotiations on the UK-Israel free trade agreement, as we have done with other countries systematically violating human rights, including the Gulf States and India. In respect of emergency resolution 3, the UK government abandoned plans to relocate its embassy in Israel soon after Congress. 

Colombia 

The TUC continued to support the work of Justice for Colombia, and representatives participated in events and hosted meetings to promote trade union rights and peace with social justice. 

Brazil 

Following the election of President Lula da Silva, the TUC joined protests against the attempts of supporters of former far-right President Bolsanaro to subvert the result. We are working with sister centre CUT on continued solidarity as Lula works to achieve progress. 

Qatar 

The TUC issued a report detailing persistent labour abuses of migrant workers in Qatar ahead of the World Cup, and participated in an international trade union delegation that discovered worsening conditions. The TUC led on a motion at the ETUC Congress demanding swift action from Qatar. 

Cuba 

The TUC supported an ETUC resolution condemning the US for including Cuba on its list of terrorist-supporting countries, and highlighted the illegal US blockade. 

Turkey 

Following the earthquake, donations from the TUC and its affiliates were sent to rescue efforts organised by sister centres KESK and DISK in Turkey. We participated in trial observation missions for trade unionists subject to judicial harassment, including the trial of Selma Atabey, Gönul Erden and six other leaders of the healthcare union SES.

Ukraine 

In February, the FPU leadership addressed the General Council, and in March the FPU and KVPU addressed the TUC Women’s Conference as part of an international panel. 

The TUC launched a fundraising appeal and sent donations raised to the FPU Solidarity Fund. These will help with providing humanitarian aid to workers in conflict zones, restoring trade union buildings, helping displaced members, and rebuilding union membership in reconstruction-linked sectors. 

The TUC continues to promote the cause of peace and to advocate negotiated solutions to conflict through diplomacy. 

4.10 ILO 

The UK was the subject of a case at the Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS) for breaches of convention 87. Workers from Colombia, Italy, Spain, the US and Zimbabwe spoke in defence of workers’ rights in the UK. The CAS told the UK government to ensure current and future legislation is in line with the Convention, including limiting the new powers of the certification officer, and urged better consultation with unions before changes to industrial relations legislation. 

4.11 G7 

In response to one of L7’s key demands, G7 members emphasised that “securing the labour rights of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining is the foundation of decent work and plays an important role in promoting wage growth”. 

4.12 Progressive change 

The TUC strengthened relationships with sister trade unions in countries where progressive change is taking place and achieved through unions and governments working together. We led a delegation to Spain of trade unionists and shadow cabinet members to meet unions, government and political representatives to learn about labour reforms. We also organised a delegation of trade unionists to meet unions and government officials in Washington to learn about the Inflation Reduction Act. Other meetings have been organised for affiliates with trade unionists from other countries where workers’ rights are progressing. 

4.13 TUC Aid 

We concluded TUC Aid projects to build the capacity of East African trade unions to advocate for trade deals that deliver decent work, and to support Guatemalan banana unions to train workers and unionise. The TUC is working to develop projects with ITUC-Africa and TUCOSWA in Eswatini. 

4.14 Regulating global value chains 

Policy was developed and agreed to call for regulating global value chains through new UK mandatory human and labour rights and environmental due diligence legislation. The TUC is working with allies to promote the legislation, which would make organisations legally liable for harm caused in their value chains. 

4.15 Tackling the far right 

With its affiliates and international unions, the TUC continues to build its work to counter the international far right. An updated ETUC roadmap developed with our input was agreed at the ETUC Congress in May. 

We have supported the delivery of ETUI workshops on tackling the far right for ETUC affiliates, with several workshops held in Belgium and Spain, helping to build a European network of trainers. We have organised meetings for affiliates, with international guests from countries including Brazil, Spain, Poland and others to exchange strategies. 

The TUC is part of the REDES network with union centres from Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Italy to build a union response to the far right, and we participated at an event in Italy in October to share experiences. We also supported the launch of an international trade union anti-fascist network in Italy in March. 

We have developed a political education course on the international far right, in conjunction with Trademark Belfast, and have held pilots and training trainers’ sessions. We will continue to roll out the course and share materials with affiliates and sister centres. We have also supported a project to use social listening to help build a union response to far right narratives in workplaces. 

5.1 Introduction 

After a period of upheaval following the pandemic, the TUC has continued to develop its support functions knowing that their effective and efficient operation is needed now more than ever. 

5.2 Our people, learning and development 

Our people are the bedrock of all we deliver at the TUC. Our 2022 staff survey showed even higher staff engagement than our previous good results. Our staff are proud to work for us and find their work meaningful. Our new way of working is embedded: this balances a good degree of flexibility and working from home for most staff, while maintaining time for in-person collaboration. 

We reviewed our inclusion project, including a talent and development course for Black and minority ethnic (BME) staff and their line managers. We are considering next steps to address barriers so that all staff, including BME staff, feel included and valued, and are seeing the same promotion and development opportunities. All this work is aligned with the Anti-Racism Task Force. We introduced affinity groups to the TUC, with six groups up and running. We are undertaking further work to tackle sexual harassment, as outlined in the TUC sexual harassment toolkit. 

The TUC is reinvigorating staff learning and development with the election of additional union learning reps, and the formation of a joint learning and development group. We are also exploring new ways of encouraging learning and development, including offering individual learning accounts. 

Following a difficult budgetary round, we are looking very carefully at vacancies and have taken some tough decisions to end or reshape posts to best meet operational demands, while avoiding redundancies. 

We welcomed back Nicola Smith as head of our Rights, International, Social and Economic Department (RISE), filling the vacancy left when Kate Bell was elected by the Executive Committee as assistant general secretary. We also saw the retirement of Bill Adams, regional secretary of TUC Yorkshire & the Humber, and other longstanding staff including Rob Sanders, senior publications officer, and Wilf Sullivan, race policy officer. We wish all our leavers well. 

5.3 IT strategy and information services 

The TUC has made more improvements to its information security and upgraded some of its hardware. We have transferred more data to our CRM system and strengthened our email marketing. We have procured a new finance system that will stand us in good stead for the future. 

Our information line supported nearly 5,800 public enquiries in 2022, a 26 per cent jump. Of these, 76 per cent were from people who wanted to know how to join a trade union, encouraged by increased union activity and media presence. 

5.4 Congress House – managing our estates 

Despite difficult conditions in the lettings market, the TUC seeks to make the best possible use of Congress House. We continue to seek more tenants for vacant space in the building and were pleased to welcome a further affiliate tenant. We have concluded most of a programme of works to update systems and are consulting on how to make better use of a smaller working space for TUC staff. 

5.5 Congress Centre – a valued venue 

Over the years, the TUC and its affiliates have enjoyed the wide range of meetings, conferences and events facilities hosted by Congress Centre. Demand has been building steadily, welcoming old faces and new, with new hybrid facilities proving popular. We remain positive about the future. 

5.6 Congress 2022 

The TUC held its first in-person Congress for three years in Brighton last October. Delayed due to the death of the Queen and rearranged at short notice, we delivered a successful event at which the economy, the pay crisis and industrial action were prominent themes. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer addressed Congress and we delivered a full programme of fringes, events and speakers. 

We were proud to present our Congress awards in Brighton. Lewis Akers from the NGSU won the Congress Award for Youth; Jamie McGovern from the CWU won the Health and Safety Rep Award; Bella Fashola from RMT won the Organising Award; Carol Sewell from UNISON received the Women’s Gold Badge; and Kathryn Williams from Unite won the Union Learning Rep Award. 

5.7 Women’s Conference 

The theme was ‘women demand better’. Delegates debated tackling all forms of violence against women and girls, the cost-of-living crisis, women’s health in the workplace, and global solidarity. There were fringes and workshops covering tackling and preventing sexual harassment, defending maternity rights, embedding the work of the Anti-Racism Task Force, solidarity with women in Ukraine, and the barriers young women face in the labour market. 

5.8 LGBT+ Conference 

The theme of our conference was ‘allyship, unity and solidarity’. Delegates discussed challenging far-right narratives, international LGBT+ rights, the cost-of-living crisis, healthcare and community services, trans and non-binary equality, banning conversion therapy and workplace equality. There were panels on LGBT+ poverty and the cost-of-living crisis, and solidarity in the face of the far right. 

5.9 Disabled Workers Conference 

The theme of the conference was ‘disabled people demand better’. Delegates debated motions on paying the price of the cost-of-living crisis, employment rights, protest, reasonable adjustments, accessible public services and accessibility. There were panel discussions on the rights of disabled people, the cost-of-living crisis, and industrial injury including long Covid.

5.10 Black Workers Conference 

The theme of conference was ‘organising for racial justice’. Delegates discussed tackling institutional racism, building an anti-racist trade union movement, the cost-of-living crisis, race pay disparity, international solidarity and challenging the hostile environment. Workshops and fringes also covered how to win a £15 minimum wage industrially and politically, Black workers’ experiences of flexible working, and building a trade union response to the far right. 

5.11 Young Workers Conference 

The conference brought together 100 young trade unionists for important debates on how we tackle the cost-of-living crisis, how we diversify our movement, and what young workers want from unions. Speakers including Paul Nowak and Maria Exall joined delegates in discussing how we recruit, organise and energise the next generation of trade unionists. 

5.12 Trades Councils Conference 

General Council lead Steve Gillan chaired an excellent Trades Councils Conference in Congress House in June. Sixty-five delegates enjoyed debates on a range of contemporary issues and heard addresses from fraternal delegate Mike Arnott from the Scottish trades councils movement and from Garfield Hylton of GMB on the pioneering organising campaign to secure pay rises and union recognition at Amazon in Coventry. In line with resolution 66, through its regional work the TUC continues to support local organising initiatives and the pioneering work of trades councils. 

5.13 Trade Union Comms Awards 

Last year, 21 unions entered the competition with a total of 65 entries, showcasing a variety of high-quality communications from across our movement. 

The judges were Sarah Owen MP; Niall Sookoo; Julian Scola, TUAC; Hannah Davenport, Left Foot Forward; Emil Charlaff; and Saiqa Khushnood, Usdaw.

The winners were: 

› NUJ – Best union journal 

› Equity – Best recruitment and organising communication 

› NEU – Best communication for reps and activists 

› NEU – Best campaign communication(s) 

› RMT – Best media story 

› RMT – Best use of social media 

5.14 TUC finances 

The annual statement of accounts and balance sheet as at 31 December 2022 is set out in Appendix 3. It shows a total deficit across all funds of £9.645m, 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 deficit on ordinary activities of £664,000 comprises deficits of £150,000, £282,000, £197,000 and £40,000 and a surplus of £5,000 on the administration, development, unionlearn, Congress House dilapidations and external grants funds respectively. 

5.15 Development fund 

In 2022, 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 in the following priority areas: 

• Britain needs a pay rise 
• decent work for all 
• a just and resilient future 
• advancing anti-racism 
• building an inclusive TUC 
• the Coronavirus public inquiry. 

The development fund showed an operating deficit of £282,000 due to a significant increase in in-person rallies and events following the pandemic, and expenditure on the Covid-19 public inquiry, funded from development fund reserves. 

5.16 Statement of accounts 

The administration fund (covering day-to-day office running expenses and staff costs) produced a deficit on ordinary activities of £150,000. Ordinary income was slightly higher than budgeted, with an increase in conferencing and property rental income being partially offset by a decrease in affiliation fees driven by lower member numbers. Ordinary expenditure was considerably higher than budgeted due to a return to in-person meetings and events following the pandemic, the rescheduled Congress, one-off staff costs, and higher utility costs. The unionlearn fund produced a deficit of £197,000 and all funds due to the funder have now been repaid. The development fund is shown above, while during the year £40,000 of expenditure was incurred on the dilapidations fund. The external grant fund, representing non-unionlearn-funded project activity, produced a surplus of £5,000. 

During 2022, our calculated FRS102 pension scheme position moved from a £21,262,000 surplus to £23,571,000. This positive movement of £2,309,000, together with the operating deficit of £664,000, the gain of £2,200,000 on sale of investments and deferred tax and revaluation loss of £13,490,000, has reduced the funds of the TUC from £93,909,000 to £84,264,000.

5.17 Prospects and developments 

A budget for the 2023 administration fund has been agreed by the General Council. This showed a projected deficit of £1,310,098, which has subsequently been reduced to £510,098, with efforts being made to reduce this further. The General Council approved an affiliation fee freeze for 2023. 

TUC has retained its Fair Tax accreditation. 

5.18 TUC Library 

Located at London Metropolitan University, the TUC Library provides a wide range of resources on both the history and current activities of trade unions, industrial relations, labour history and adult education. 

Six exhibitions are currently available to loan: the life of Mary Macarthur; 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 

The TUC Library has started a Black trade unionists oral history project, with the TUC’s former race equality officer Wilf Sullivan and students from London Metropolitan University conducting interviews with Black reps and officers past and present. These interviews will be added to the Britain at Work website in the near future. 

TUC Library can be found on social media at: 

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 

Eileen Carroll, who died in April, started working for the TUC in 1979 as a typist. Two years later, she became departmental secretary in the International Department, where she worked until 1999. 

Peter Coldrick, who died in March, was the TUC’s representative in Brussels from 2003 until his retirement in 2009, and an influential figure in the relationship between the TUC and Europe throughout his working life. He originally joined the TUC in the early 1970s, before moving to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in 1973 and joining the ETUC in 1976. A passionate European, he was also the TUC member of the European Economic and Social Committee, a consultative body of the EU. 

Mike Grindley, who died on new year’s day, was a member of one of PCS’s predecessor unions. He was an unassuming and passionate spokesperson for 14 GCHQ officials sacked for refusing to accept the sudden ban on trade union membership announced by Margaret Thatcher in 1984. Mike was instrumental in the long and ultimately successful campaign to restore trade union rights at GCHQ, and one of his proudest moments was marching back through the gates of GCHQ when Labour lifted the ban in 1997. 

Alan Jinkinson, who died in November, was general secretary of UNISON and served on the TUC’s General Council from 1990 to 1995. After becoming a trainee accountant in the City and working for a short spell as a teacher, he joined Nalgo’s education department in 1960, rising to deputy general secretary in 1981. In 1990 he became the union’s general secretary and was influential in facilitating Nalgo’s merger in 1993 with Nupe and Cohse to form UNISON. A skilled negotiator who always sought the best outcomes for his members, he was general secretary of the new union until his retirement in 1996. He continued to serve as the employee representative on the Employment Tribunal, and also served on Lewisham Council. 

David Lambert, who died in May, was president of the National Union of Knitwear, Footwear and Apparel Trades (KFAT), serving on the TUC’s General Council from 1984 to 1993. After leaving school, he worked in the garment industry and joined the National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers. He started working for the union full time in 1964, and was elected its general secretary in 1975. In 1982 he became the union’s general president and led it into merger, creating KFAT. He continued as the new union’s general president until 1994, and served as president of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation from 1992 to 1996. He also served on the Employment Appeal Tribunal before retiring in 2004. 

Janet Pickering, who died in March, worked for the TUC’s South West region, where she was warden of the Tolpuddle shop, museum and cottages from 1999 until her retirement in 2013. 

Stuart Slater, who died in January, worked for the TUC for over two decades. He started at Congress House in 1969 as an assistant, becoming assistant secretary of the Organisation and Industrial Relations Department in 1979. Among his many responsibilities, Stuart organised the TUC’s annual Congress and other conferences, and liaised with trades councils. He retired in 1992, just after Congress.