I started my working life as a low-paid children’s residential care worker supporting vulnerable children, and I am still a registered social worker today. I discovered the labour movement through the powerful women who mentored me and showed me that working-class people will only win the dignity we deserve if we join together in our workplaces.
On Wednesday, I was elected general secretary of Britain’s biggest union, Unison. Trade unions are meant to be vehicles for workers to collectively organise, represent and lead ourselves, so my election should be an unremarkable event.
Yet I will be the first ordinary member to lead my union in its history. This represents a huge opening for the democratic renewal of the labour movement. The fact that my election is so unprecedented tells its own tale.
It is the blows inflicted upon us by Thatcherite politicians and employers over the decades that explain the enduring weakness of trade unions – clear to see in our industrial impotence and stubbornly low member engagement.
But some at the top of our movement have contributed to its decline, too, by creating cultures where workers, ordinary members, are consistently disregarded by their own organisations. Defending our class interests, the core work of unions, has been an afterthought, at best. Careers and cosy Westminster clubs have come first.
Not any more. That’s the one simple reason I was elected by such a decisive margin to lead Unison: members want our union to put our people first.
Ordinary members are taking control. With my clear mandate, I will work relentlessly to implement the industrial, political and organisational changes necessary to turn our union into the incredible, member-led force it should be. That’s the hopeful project we need the whole union to unite around.
Industrially, I am putting all the employers we bargain with – from Reform UK-run local councils to Wes Streeting’s Department of Health and Social Care – on notice: Unison will be fighting without hesitation to win for members. Our size and resources are without parallel among trade unions in this country. From this point on, those great assets will be geared towards transforming the lives of public-sector workers.
That begins with building on and properly scaling up the “organising to win” strategy introduced in 2021, after a motion by ordinary members at Unison’s conference. This was a member initiative, from the grassroots. Now I will work for it to be fully supported and resourced at the centre.
I will, on top of this, strive to reverse Unison’s industrial underachievement. We are the biggest and best-resourced union in the country; there’s no reason for us not to be among the most industrially formidable.
This will include a wide-ranging strategic review of taking strike action across the labour movement, leading to our adoption of the best methods to win. I will also launch a new strike-ready conference, convening workplace reps from across Unison to forge new organising approaches in the fight for better pay.
Politically, with ordinary Unison members giving a clear mandate for change, our union will defend the interests of the working class as a whole without apology and without exception. I am in no doubt – that requires being unbowed in our support for the Palestinian people’s freedom struggle, and proud of our internationalism and opposition to war. I am also clear that Unison on my watch will not sit idly by while this Labour government allows imprisoned Palestine Solidarity Campaign activists to starve while protesting for their basic rights. Keir Starmer must act now.
Healthcare assistants picket in Middlesbrough, in March 2024. Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
So it should be clear that putting members first doesn’t mean relegating or turning away from politics. That would be an abdication of responsibility. But it does mean bringing Unison’s support for the destructive right wing of the Labour party to an end.
We will call time on our union’s inexcusable habit of propping up politicians who act against our interests, undermine our fundamental values and make our lives worse. Like colleagues across the movement, I have, in recent weeks, been appalled by Streeting’s attacks on resident doctors and their union. It is simply unacceptable for a Labour politician to describe striking workers as “morally reprehensible”.
I will, of course, engage open-mindedly with the health secretary as I would with any other employer or government minister. But given the likelihood of a Labour leadership election in 2026, it’s important for me to be clear: swapping Starmer out for Streeting or anyone else from the right wing of the party would be no solution to the gigantic challenges facing the country. What’s needed is a radical change in approach based on the labour movement’s core values.
My victory is no individual matter. It is a collective triumph for ordinary Unison members who have voted to take charge of their own union at long last. Public sector workers keep this country running. We are disrespected, overworked and underpaid. That must change. It will change. With everyone from members to branch reps and our union’s staff pulling together, Unison under my leadership will make sure of it.
