TUC President Matt Wrack's speech to Congress 2024
Check against delivery
It is great pleasure to give this speech as President. I had some hesitation when it came to my turn to take on the role; I have been known to be occasionally critical.
But the FBU has only held the presidency of the TUC once before. That was Terry Parry in 1980.
So, I am honoured to take this opportunity for our union for the only second time in our history.
This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the historic and heroic miners’ strike. It was a battle for an industry, a battle for jobs and a battle for communities.
The stance of the NUM has been vindicated every single year ever since.
The miners’ strike exposed the extent which those in power will go in order to attack our movement and our class. Miners were battered and bloodied by the police; spied on; framed; imprisoned by the courts and victimised by the employer.
We want justice for Orgreave and we want justice for every sacked, convicted and victimised miner.
They were heroes not criminals; and they were fighting for all of us.
Delegates, this week saw the final report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. The Grenfell Tower fire was a horrifying disaster. It exposed much that is wrong with this society, where the safety of the many is sacrificed for the profits of the few.
I visited the fire as operations were still under way. Subsequently, I spoke to many firefighters who were involved.
In all my years as a firefighter and then as a union official, I have never heard such stories.
The firefighters who responded performed wonders and I pay tribute to them and to other involved;, in our NHS, in local government.
I also say this. Almost to a man and woman, the people entering that inferno that night, risking their own lives in desperate attempts to save other – were trade unionists, members of the Fire Brigades Union and I remain incredibly proud of what they did.
They faced a fire which had never been planned for and for which they had not been trained.
They were forced to improvise and adapt. I heard stories of horror and of heroism that will live with me for the rest of my life.
This is not to excuse others in the fire and rescue service. There are many failings to be addressed.
The FBU warned as long ago as 1999 that the new systems of external cladding created new risks, including the breakdown of compartmentation which is supposed to be a key feature of building safety and is basis for the normal fire service response to fires in such buildings.
Yes, there have indeed been failings. They originate decades ago.
In 1979, Margaret Thatcher’s first Queens speech included the following:
“Our policies will be founded on a firm belief in the need to promote profits and profitability… We shall therefore make a start in extending the role of free enterprise by reducing the size of the public sector – it needs reducing – and by making economies in public spending.”
This has been central to government policy for decades. It led to complacency, a criminal complacency, at the heart of government.
The obsession with reducing so called red tape - in the interests of business - resulted in the part privatisation of local authority building control; the privatisation of the Buildings Research Establishment (BRE); the 2004 Fire and Rescue Services Act and the subsequent fragmentation of our service; the weakening of building regulations; all these are part of the story which led to Grenfell.
In 2012 - just five years before the fire - David Cameron said;
“I am determined that we do everything possible to take the brakes off business: cutting taxes; slashing red tape;
And there is something else we are doing: waging war against the excessive health and safety culture that has become an albatross around the neck of British businesses… So this coalition has a clear New Year’s resolution: to kill off the health and safety culture for good.”
In the light of the loss of life in 2017, these words sound grotesque; because they are grotesque reflecting a grotesque ideology that lies behind this horror story.
This approach has created a building safety crisis affecting millions. The terrifying fire in Dagenham two weeks ago once again exposed the failure of authorities to tackle this scandal.
I’m sure Congress stands with those firefighters who tackled the Dagenham fire and with those still living with the horror of Grenfell.
We also stand in solidarity with the tenants and residents trapped in such an appalling situation.
Yes the task is large. But don’t let politicians, including the new government, claim that there is no money for this, or to invest in rebuilding public safety and public services.
At the very least, tax the profits of the building companies, the firms who sold deadly cladding, the developers and tax the wealth of the billionaires and the landlords – those have made fortunes from this disgusting and dangerous chaos.
We continue to demand; justice for Grenfell; decent and safe homes for all.
We don’t just call for justice here; we are internationalists. We stand against oppression anywhere and we stand with workers everywhere; in Iran and in Russia; in Bangladesh and in Brazil.
We meet almost a year in from the attacks of 7 October and the launch of the Israeli war on Gaza, now expanded into the West Bank. We send solidarity to the Palestinian people in the face of this horrifying onslaught.
I pay tribute to the hundreds of thousand across the world, especially the workers and the youth, who have built an international movement against the war and the war crimes committed every day.
I say to the British government, it should not be difficult to take the right side;
The new government - new challenges and opportunities: people need hope
We meet just two months on from the general election, a major turning point in British politics. We have seen the back of a government which was increasingly ruthless, undemocratic and corrupt.
I’m sure many of you celebrated seeing the back of a government which demonstrated such hostility to the trade union movement and to the rights of workers.
Firefighters enjoyed seeing the back of Penny Mordaunt who forced through attacks on our pensions.
And I’m sure everyone relished saying goodbye to Jacob Rees-Mogg.
We confront two risks as we begin to deal with the new government. Firstly, there is the risk that we all think the job is done; a Labour government is elected and we can sit back while things improve.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Political campaigning must continue. There are powerful forces in play that will seek to resist measures to strengthen trade unions or to shift the balance of economic power in favour of the majority.
The other risk is in missing the opportunities which have opened up. We already hear some saying there is no difference between politicians. That is a mistake as serious as complacency.
The Labour affiliated unions have campaigned hard within Labour structures for the New Deal for Working People. The TUC and all affiliated unions have played a key part in making the case for change, which is now government policy.
This includes the pledge to repeal the 2016 Trade Union Act and the Minimum Service Levels Act.
Such a step would be the first such major repeal of a significant piece of anti-union legislation since the onslaught on our movement began after the 1979 election of the Thatcher government.
This repeal will be just the start.
It is our task to ensure that these pledges are delivered in full and without delay; that the voices of corporations, big business and the billionaires are swept aside in any debate.
It is then our task to take the opportunity to build and renew our movement, to build the power of workers in the workplace; that means in the areas of new economic development; the Amazons and Ubers, the gig economy; with tech workers and others in emerging industries.
We also have to ensure that our unions are effective; that we win wage increases, that we win better conditions and that we win improved safety at work.
We have a huge opportunity and huge challenges. Let’s make sure we take them up. Let’s use that opportunity to build in new areas and to win improvements.
I say, in a friendly way, to the new Labour government. You must offer hope. People cannot take more of the same.
We saw the effects of despair and lack of hope in the riots over the summer.
They were fuelled by disgusting and divisive far right narratives.
They were fed by mainstream politicians, happy to scapegoat migrants and refugees.
A Labour government must invest in new, secure, unionized jobs, in decent homes and good quality services.
Our message is that we stand together – a workers’ movement finding strength in all our difference.
Our enemies don’t come across the channel in flimsy boats. They travel the world by private jet and they play finance games with our futures and with the future of our planet.
If we are divided we will always lose. But if we stand together we can change the world.
My union’s rule book has a preamble committing us to such change. It says this in its conclusion:
‘To this end, the Fire Brigades Union is part of the working class movement and, linking itself with the international Trade Union and Labour movement, has as its ultimate aim the bringing about of the socialist system of society.’
Those were ideals which led previous generations to create and to build our union.
They are good ideals for today and I am proud to continue to hold them.
Have a great Congress.
Thank you very much.