Roz Foyer, STUC General Secretary

Union leaders inspiring solidarity

We were delighted to welcome the general secretaries of both the TUC and the STUC to our conference. Find out what they had to say...

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Paul Nowak, TUC General Secretary

Union leaders inspiring solidarity

We were delighted to welcome the general secretaries of both the TUC and the STUC to our conference. Both Paul Nowak and Roz Foyer delivered powerful speeches on the importance of trade union solidarity in challenging times.

Both spoke about some of the major international crises facing the world today, from the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, to the war in Ukraine, to the climate crisis, to the rise of authoritarian leaders around the world.

They also addressed the domestic issues the UK faces, including the cost-of-living crisis, the need for a just transition to net zero and the anti-strike legislation introduced by the Conservative government.

And although the general election hadn’t yet been called, both spoke about the need for the UK government to stand up for the rights of working people, for fair wages, and for decent public services.

They also celebrated workers, including Accord members, who have stood together through the challenges of the last few years and won better pay and conditions for everyone. And they reminded delegates of our shared responsibility to build a stronger trade union movement that can meet the challenges of the future.

Thanks to Paul and Roz for their inspiring contributions.

Paul Nowak speaks to Conference

Our hospitals are in crisis. Social care is on its knees. Classrooms are falling down around teachers and pupils. Our rail services are run for the benefit of shareholders not passengers. We’ve got sewage on our beaches and in our rivers. Wages are stagnant. 70% of the kids who live in poverty in this country have at least one parent who goes out to work every day and can’t put food on the table for their own kids. This is a country of public squalor and private affluence. It’s a country of haves and have nots and the evidence is all around us. Top FTSE100 executives in this country earn more by the 4th of January each year than the average worker earns in a whole year of employment.

This is a moment of potential change, not just in the political sense but for economic and social change. The chance to build a fairer, more equal, greener country. A chance to build a country where people who go out to work are represented by a union, get decent pay and take pride in the work that we do. And where everybody has access to decent public services.

Paul Nowak, TUC General Secretary

Highlights from Paul's speech

The message we send out to every single worker is that your struggle is our struggle. And when workers win, everybody wins. That’s the essence of solidarity.

Our movement has to be brave enough to tackle the scourge of sexual harassment in our workplaces and sometimes in our unions as well. It’s the job of everybody in this room to make sure we stamp out and create a zero-tolerance environment for sexual harassment.

Lloyds is undertaking possibly the largest financial services transformation in the UK, billions of pounds being invested in digitisation, new systems, new ways of working. Now that investment is important, it’s important for any employer because you don’t want to be left behind. But it is vital, and I know that Accord is pushing this every single day, that those changes are done with the workforce and with the union, not to workers and to the union.

Roz Foyer speaks to Conference

The key issues that you’ve been discussing like pay and grading, keeping up with inflation in the face of a really deep cost of living crisis. The new technology that’s been deployed and the impact of AI. Flexible work, tackling discrimination and improving inclusivity. Skills and learning, health and safety issues, protecting your conditions and your job security. These are all issues that you have in common with workers from every part of the trade union movement in Scotland.

The last year has shown that there are real rays of light in Scotland’s trade union movement, even sometimes in the darkest of times. There is strength, there is unity, there is internationalism, there is solidarity and there is power. And our challenge now is to force open new windows of opportunity and to continue to build a strong trade union movement, one that will force the politicians to follow our ideas. That’s not an easy task. Little worth doing ever is.

Roz Foyer, STUC General Secretary

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Presenting the cheque, Carol Knowles, Accord President

Accord & the TUUT trust are proud to support a donation of

£2500
to the Farnworth and Kearsley foodbank, part of the Trussell Trust Network

Union donations support Bolton foodbank and workers affected by asbestos 

Accord and the TUUT Charitable Trust were proud to support two important causes connected with our conference.

To mark the election of our new president, Carol Knowles, a £2,500 donation was made by TUUT to the Farnworth and Kearsley foodbank, part of the Trussell Trust Network.

Presenting the cheque, Carol said she was “delighted to present the donation to a charity that is close to my heart. It’s great to be able to give a gift to a charity that’s local, as a born and bred Bolton Girl. I hope it goes to helping those in need in the area, and hopefully to help raise awareness for the great things the charity does.”

Action on Asbestos

Since our conference this year was held in Glasgow, Accord also wanted to offer a gesture of solidarity and appreciation to working people in Scotland.

The TUUT Charitable Trust made another generous donation, this time to Action on Asbestos, a Scottish charity that provides emotional and practical support to those affected by mesothelioma, lung cancer and all other asbestos and work-related diseases.

This donation was accepted by Roz Foyer, General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, on behalf of Action on Asbestos.

Roz said:

A whole new generation of workers — teachers in schools, workers in hospitals — are now contracting asbestos-related injuries, many of which prove to be fatal. So thank you so much, this money will go to good use. But also, we need to keep raising this issue and demand action from our governments to clean every public building and make sure that asbestos can no longer be a threat.

Accord has also received a message of thanks from Action on Asbestos, who said they were “overwhelmed” by the generosity of the donation.