Frances O'Grady retrospective

Our job as trade unionists is to get a fair hearing – so whoever is in power, we want to be at the table putting forward our case and hoping for a fair hearing. At the start of the pandemic, there was lots of intense meetings and there were a number of big-name companies that were on the brink of going under, so that collective effort to get a job retention scheme was really, really important. And I gave credit at the time to the chancellor for being open to good ideas wherever they came from. And that was a trade union idea.

I’m fuming and frustrated. I don’t think you could see a clearer case of how our rights are not strong enough, and critically how weak enforcement is in this country. They can’t even figure out how to ensure those sea farers get the national minimum wage. You would have thought someone would sit up and say, something has gone really wrong in this country if loyal dedicated staff can be treated in that way. We do have decent employers joining us. And the decent guys don’t want to be undercut by the bad. If you raise the standard for everybody, then it’s a level playing field for all. Instead, you’ve got the usual culprits who are undercutting the companies where we do have union agreements and decent conditions. Something has to change.

In my personal belief, the beauty of the trade union movement is diversity. We have unions of every size and every industry and some of our unions, admittedly the bigger ones, are affiliated to the labour party. But most of our unions are not affiliated to any party. Would working people be stronger if that link was broken between those unions that do affiliate? I personally don’t think so. But it is important that we respect every union’s tradition and decision about where they stand. There is something deeper for me than party political affiliation, and that is trade union values. And I think we’ve always said that it doesn’t matter your background, race, religion, men or women, we should all be treated with respect. And I want to see a government that does just that.

I’m afraid not. 

What we’ve called for is for people to have the right to guaranteed hours. We need to shift that balance of power back a bit so if workers want the right to guaranteed hours, they should have that right. Half of the battle is, they just need some predictability. How can you manage your finances when you don’t know from one week to the next how many hours you’ll be working and how much you’ll be earning? I cannot imagine what it’s like trying to bring up children with childcare costs on an insecure contract. I don’t know how many more reviews the government is going to commission, we’ve had review after review, and we’ve put forward really practical solutions on this and many employers support us. The question is, why don’t you just get on with it?

I'm afraid the answer is also no.

We argue that refugees should have the right to work. I think people want that dignity and the chance to give to the community. If others countries can open their hearts, why can’t we? Why do we make it harder for people with really difficult bureaucracy? I think if you’re an asylum seeker from Syria, from Yemen or from Ukraine, everybody should be treated the same.