Carried motions
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Motion 27 School support staff deserve better

Received from: GMB

Congress commends GMB and other National Joint Council (NJC) unions for securing Labour’s 2024 Manifesto commitment to reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB).

Congress notes that:

i. support staff are predominantly women, are not always classroom-based and nearly half in England work in academy schools.

ii. years of academisation has fragmented pay, terms and conditions for support staff.

iii. NJC unions reject the government’s 3.2 per cent pay offer for local government and school staff as a real-terms pay cut after years of poverty pay and pensions.

Congress believes:
a. support staff provide an essential, highly professional and distinct role in schools to help children get the best start in life, especially children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

b. addressing the staffing crisis in schools and delivering high quality, inclusive education requires the SSSNB to set nationally agreed decent terms, conditions and pay rates, not minimum ‘floors’ that allow variation between local authorities

c. the government must collectively consult support staff members of NJC unions when reviewing funding and delivery of SEND provision in schools.

Congress calls on the government to work with NJC unions to:

1. ensure the SSSNB delivers a national terms and conditions handbook and nationally agreed fair rates of pay, training and career progression routes for all support staff, including in academies

2. ensure pay awards for support staff negotiated under the SSSNB are fully funded and implemented

3. bring outsourced support staff workforces back in-house

4. fully consult support staff on reforming term time only contracts to end low pay and pension poverty.

GMB

AMENDMENT

Add new bullet after bullet d.:
“e. excessive salaries for multi-academy trust CEOs divert resources from classrooms and frontline staff. Fair school funding must not prioritise inflated executive pay at the top.”
Add new bullet after bullet 4.:
“5. promote the status and recognition of school support staff as essential education professionals contributing to pupils’ success and wellbeing.”
UNISON

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C09 Education system

Received from: EIS, UCU

Comprising Motions 51 and 52 plus amendment

Congress notes:

i. across the UK, post-16 education faces an unprecedented crisis

ii. one in two universities are making job and course cuts and up to 15,000 job losses are predicted in 2025

iii. pay for further education (FE) workers remains significantly below that of schoolteachers, creating severe recruitment and retention issues

iv. young people and adult learners are being denied access to high-quality, inclusive education vital for social mobility, regional development, and a fair transition to a green economy

v. marketisation has undermined the democratic and public essence of higher education (HE), elevating financial imperatives over educational ones.

Congress notes its concern that education throughout the UK is underfunded and that this has contributed to:

a. unsustainable and increasing workloads for teaching staff

b. rising ASN/SEND pupil needs not being met as stretched professional support services and overworked school staff are unable to properly respond to pupils’ needs

c. more violence and aggression in schools, both between pupils and towards staff.

Congress notes that these issues are interrelated; many young people do not get the support that they need to support their learning, and that this unmet need can lead to increased disruption and violence in schools. Furthermore, that education staff are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain quality education.

Congress affirms the following principles:

1. Education is a quintessential public good.

2. Post-16 education has a key role in tackling inequality, mitigating climate change, and rebuilding our communities, and is essential to national renewal. It must be properly publicly funded, accessible, and democratically governed.

3. Trade unions are vital in defending the rights of post-16 education workers and learners.

4. The cut in arts subjects is detrimental to the health and careers of individuals and damaging to communities.

5. The central importance of a quality education system that provides all young people with the knowledge, skills, and confidence that they need to succeed in life, both personally, within their communities, and in workplaces.

6. That a quality education system should be a safe place of work with sufficient support and resources for staff to work in a long-term, sustainable manner.

Congress calls on the General Council to support and amplify affiliates’ campaigning for:

I. the benefits to individuals and society of a well-funded, quality education system

II. increased ASN/SEND funding and resources

III. zero tolerance of violence in our educational establishments

IV. increased funding to deliver quality education with reduced class sizes and weekly class contact time.

Congress resolves to:

i. campaign for a fully funded national education service ensuring decent pay, secure employment and professional autonomy

ii. lobby the government to reverse HE-funding cuts, abolish student fees and introduce a new system underpinned by public funding and equitable distribution of students between institutions

iii. demand pay parity between FE and schoolteachers, backing coordinated industrial action where needed

iv. support joint campaigns resisting cuts, closures, and mergers

v. campaign for restoration of all art’s subjects

vi. produce, by next year’s Congress, a TUC report outlining a bold, progressive vision for a national education service, free at the point of use from cradle to grave.

Mover: University and College Union
Seconder: Educational Institute of Scotland
Supporter: Artists’ Union England

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Motion 53 Scrap audition fees and other hidden costs for arts courses in higher education

Received from: Equity

Congress notes that:

i. applicants for performing arts courses in higher education generally have to audition: 94 per cent of Equity student members had to audition for their course

ii. over half of those members (57 per cent) had to pay a fee, typically between £40 and £80 for their audition, and 75 per cent of working-class respondents to an Equity survey said they had been prevented from applying from a course because of audition fees

iii. audition fees are the tip of the iceberg in terms of barriers facing working-class performers building a career in the performing arts, alongside low pay, precarity and inadequate social security.

Congress calls, therefore, on the TUC to:

a. support Equity’s demand of education institutions to scrap audition fees, following the example set by the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, who scrapped such fees in 2022 in an “effort to increase access and diversity”

b. urge arts education institutions to further remove hidden course costs – such as for materials and equipment – and cover expenses for attending auditions

c. encourage the government to make it a condition of public funding that arts education institutions must not charge audition fees.

Equity

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Motion 54 Inclusivity in our schools

Received from: NAHT

Conference notes education is vital in creating a society rooted in equality and justice for all people. An exclusionary education system will mould the minds of future generations, perpetuating existing discrimination throughout society. Education must reflect the needs of all pupils, school staff and school leaders.

Congress believes:
i. the national curriculum and qualification specifications must promote further inclusivity for all students.

ii. all school students deserve the right to access to a high quality and inclusive sex education, and as such the parental right to withdraw children from sex education must be revoked

iii. the government must mandate anti-racism training for all school staff as part of Keep Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) training.

iv. government must develop high-quality training specific to schools and educational institutions to support all education staff in spotting the signs and identifying the current risks associated with far-right and misogynistic extremism

v. reasonable adjustment passports hold the potential to make all workplaces more inclusive for disabled members of staff.

Conference calls on the TUC to build on and further develop their work:

a. challenging discriminatory rhetoric in wider society, which inevitably influences school children

b. supporting unions to challenge all forms of discrimination in the workplace

c. ensure fighting discrimination is a core tenant of all union workers, within all professions, and across society as whole.

National Association of Head Teachers

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Motion 55 Ending Physical Punishment of Children (EPOCH)

Received from: AEP

Congress notes that:

i. corporal punishment of children remains legal in England and Northern Ireland, despite overwhelming evidence of its harmful impact

ii. the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by the UK, affirms every child’s right to protection from all forms of physical violence

iii. many countries, including Scotland and Wales have already legislated to prohibit all corporal punishment, setting a progressive example

iv. research consistently shows corporal punishment to be an ineffective behaviour strategy for children, with links to increased aggression and negative impacts on both mental health and educational outcomes.

Congress believes that:
a. all children have the right to grow up free from violence in all settings, including in the home.

b. corporal punishment undermines the development of safe, respectful and nurturing environments for children.

c. trade unions play a key role in advocating for all children’s rights and welfare.

Congress resolves to:

1. urge the UK government to legislate against all forms of corporal punishment, including at home, in England, in line with international human rights standards – and to call on the Northern Ireland Assembly to follow suit

2. support public education campaigns that promote positive, non-violent forms of discipline and parenting

3. work with affiliate unions, child welfare organisations and community groups to advocate for a cultural shift away from physical punishment

4. ensure union-affiliated training and professional development for those working with children includes guidance on positive behaviour strategies.

Association of Educational Psychologists

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Motion 56 Knife crime and social media

Received from: NASUWT

Congress notes with deep concern the growing role that social media plays in escalating violence among young people, particularly in relation to knife crime. Online platforms are increasingly used to promote gang rivalries, glamorise violence, and spread fear in communities already suffering from austerity driven cuts to youth services, education, and policing.

Congress believes that social media companies have a responsibility to monitor and remove harmful content that incites or glorifies violence. The failure of tech giants to act swiftly and transparently is putting lives at risk and fuelling a public health crisis.

Congress further notes that the root causes of knife crime, including poverty, inequality, exclusion, and lack of opportunity, must be tackled alongside any action on online content.

Congress calls on the General Council to:

i. campaign for stronger regulation of social media platforms, including mandatory reporting, faster removal of violent content, and meaningful penalties for failure to comply

ii. support trade unions representing workers in tech and content moderation, ensuring that digital safety is a public good, not just a corporate responsibility
iii. lobby for urgent investment in youth services, education, mental health support, and community policing to address the underlying drivers of knife crime

iv. work with community organisations to develop education and outreach initiatives that counter violence, promote digital citizenship, and give young people hope and alternatives.

NASUWT

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Motion 31 UK resilience

Received from: Prospect

Congress welcomes the government’s intention to review of UK resilience.
The national risk register identifies vulnerabilities related to national security, natural and environmental hazards, transport infrastructure, and human, animal and plant health.

These risks are intensified by further public sector budget cuts, attacks on public-interest regulation, and long-term failure to invest in the skilled staff who are essential to maintain and operate these essential systems and services.

The frontline of scientific resilience work has rarely looked so vulnerable. Whether deployed in research, monitoring and warning systems, or emergency response, this capacity needs to be protected and enhanced as we meet and increasingly complicated and dangerous array of threats.

Congress therefore calls on the General Council to press for government action to:

i. ensure that all relevant bodies, including incident responders, are fully resourced and invest to retain and develop their skilled staff.

ii. redress the balance between core and competitive funding for research and innovation and provide longer-term budget certainty.

iii. enhance cross-departmental collaboration to ensure that knowledge and good practice are shared effectively.

iv. lead a national debate about the importance of this work and counter the rising tide of misinformation in the public domain.

Prospect

AMENDMENT

Add to end of first sentence:
“and the publication for the first time of a version of the Chronic Risks Analysis, including climate change, along with guidance on how this can be used by policy makers, resilience practitioners and businesses.”
FDA

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Motion 32 Public sector productivity

Received from: FDA

Congress recognises that measuring productivity in the public sector is inconsistent, with no clear definition due to the complex nature of what public services deliver and how outcomes are measured and attributed. Too often, the debate on productivity simply focusses on reducing input.

Similarly. the government’s approach to digital and AI has been driven primarily by cost-cutting, as we saw in the recent spending round with cuts of 15 per cent to the government departments admin budgets by 2030, expected to deliver “leaner, more productive, and more efficient public services”.

Congress welcomes the opportunity that AI and digital can play in transforming public services. Research conducted by the FDA showed that most members were positive about better use of technology. Done well, innovation could make public service jobs more fulfilling, improve services, and deliver better value for money. However, implementation is crucial.

Congress recognises that a strategy only to deliver short term savings would not realise the long-term benefits provided by new technology and could lead to disengagement and opposition from public servants. FDA’s survey revealed that 90 per cent of respondents had not been consulted about the use of AI and 70 per cent had not received any training.

Congress calls on the General Council to:

i. work with affiliates, academics and Govt to help develop a more robust methodology on measuring public sector productivity

ii. continue to combat myths around productivity and hybrid working

iii. ensure that worker involvement and consultation remain at the heart of the TUC approach to digital and AI.

FDA

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Motion 33 Standards in government

Received from: FDA

Congress welcomes the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. The work of that committee, and creation of the Seven Principles of Public Life, or Nolan principles as they’re known – honesty, integrity, objectivity, accountability, selflessness, openness and leadership – have helped shape the standards landscape over that period.

Congress recognises that the final principle, leadership, is vital in government and the Prime Minister sits at the apex of the standards regime. Congress further recognises that where this fails, as it did with a series of previous prime ministers, relying on the “good chap” principle to enforce standards can have disastrous consequences for public servants, as well as for public confidence in government.

Congress calls on the prime minister to demonstrate that final Nolan principle of leadership, not limited to how he himself acts as prime minister, but in establishing a robust ethics regime across government and public service.

Congress therefore calls upon government to:

i. set a firm timetable for establishing their promised Ethics and Integrity Commission to deliver consistent and coherent standards across public service

ii. consult widely, including with trade unions, to determine the scope and powers of the Ethics and Integrity Commission

iii. establish a principle of regulatory rather than voluntary standards across government and public service,

iv. ensure all regulatory bodies on standards are fully independent with powers of enforcement.

FDA

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Motion 40 Subsidiary companies

Received from: Unison

Congress condemns the call from the NHS England chief executive for NHS trusts to outsource swathes of functions to SubCos (subsidiary companies) in order to make financial savings.

Congress asserts that the use of SubCos in the NHS – and trading companies in local government – has often been associated with downward pressure on staff terms and conditions.

Congress notes that savings through SubCos have only come through diluting pay and conditions or by avoiding tax – which just means there is less funding available for public services.

Congress further notes that this is why NHS England guidelines have until now actually restricted the use of SubCos, prompted by strong union campaigning.
Congress is alarmed that NHS England’s new push for SubCos runs directly contrary to Labour manifesto commitments on insourcing, but Congress believes that government ministers cannot hide behind this being an NHS England policy – these decisions are being taken on their watch.

Congress recognises the success that unions have had in fighting off SubCos in the past and welcomes the strong local and national response that unions have made to the resurrection of this divisive policy.

Congress therefore calls on the General Council to:

i. support unions in their national campaigning against subsidiary companies

ii. support local union organising campaigns to prevent the transfer of NHS staff to SubCos

iii. work with unions to develop and promote evidence of the negative impact SubCos have on the NHS

iv. campaign for the insourcing of staff who have already been transferred to these companies.

UNISON

AMENDMENT

In paragraph 2, sentence 1, after “downward pressure on staff terms and conditions” insert:
“, creating unfair two-tier workforces across public services and entrenching inequality in our country.”
Add new bullet after bullet iv.:
“v. call on the Labour government to deliver its insourcing and procurement manifesto commitments in full, including applying the scope of a reinstated and strengthened two-tier workforce code and public interest test to wholly owned subsidiaries.”
GMB

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Motion 41 Inequalities in maternity care

Received from: RCM

Congress notes with grave concern the continuing inequalities apparent in maternity services, including that:

i. the risk of maternal death for Black women in England is three times that of white women

ii. Black babies are more than twice as likely to be stillborn as white babies

iii. women in England’s most deprived areas had a maternal mortality rate nearly twice that of women in the least deprived areas

iv. stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates for babies born to mothers in the most deprived areas remain significantly higher than those born to mothers in the least deprived areas

v. a recent review found that disabled mothers had a 44 per cent higher chance than others of having a stillbirth.

Congress welcomes:

a. the commitment in last year’s Labour election manifesto that in government the party would “set an explicit target to close the Black and Asian maternal mortality gap”

b. the promise by the secretary of state for health and social care in June to take “the challenge of tackling inequalities across pregnancy and birth head on”.

Congress notes the national maternity investigation in England, to report by Christmas.

Congress, therefore, calls on:

1. the investigation to include recommendations aimed at eliminating inequalities in maternity care

2. the UK government to implement those recommendations

3. the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to consider which recommendations would be effective in their territories

4. all the governments of the UK to cooperate in eliminating these inequalities.

Royal College of Midwives

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C08 Retaining and valuing the NHS workforce to deliver the NHS 10-Year Plan

Received from: RCM, Royal College of Podiatry

Comprising of Motions 42, 43 and 44 plus amendments

Congress welcomes the ambition of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan but warns it will not succeed unless the government takes immediate action to retain existing staff. The NHS faces over 121,000 vacancies in England alone. Poor pay, work-related stress, and limited progression opportunities continue to drive staff out of the service, undermining delivery of the 10-year plan.

The government’s 10-year plan rightly highlights the need for the NHS to focus more on prevention to reduce demand on acute services. The ambition to prevent illness and tackle inequality must be matched with the investment, workforce planning and infrastructure needed to deliver it. Many of the services mentioned, from personalised care planning to community rehabilitation, require a properly resourced dietetic workforce. Yet right now, vacancies across the profession remain high, and there is insufficient capacity in many areas to meet existing demand, let alone expand provision.

Workforce retention must be a national priority. The latest NHS Staff Survey showed 44.8 per cent of respondents had felt unwell due to work-related stress. Over the past 16 years, many NHS staff have seen a real-terms loss exceeding 20 per cent, fuelling record vacancies and undermining safe staffing.

Congress welcomes that:

i. places on UK midwifery courses have risen, increasing the domestic supply of midwives

ii. we are seeing more midwives in post, as increasing numbers qualify from these courses.

However, Congress is concerned at the findings of a UK-wide RCM survey, from May, of its final-year midwifery student members, that 84 per cent were not confident of securing a job as a midwife post-qualification. Congress resolves to support the RCM’s work for properly staffed maternity services in all parts of the UK.

Congress notes with concern the growing pressures on university finances and the serious impact this is having on their capacity to deliver sufficient courses for allied health professionals (AHPs), including podiatrists.

AHPs are ideally placed to deliver this preventative agenda, yet funding for those wishing to train in these critical roles, including through apprenticeships, is being cut. This makes it increasingly difficult for prospective students to access courses, undermining the workforce pipeline. When AHP students are able to graduate, they are now facing widespread recruitment freezes and delays in filling vacancies.

Smaller professions such as podiatry are disproportionately affected. As a field already experiencing a worrying decline in numbers, the continued erosion of training opportunities will have devastating consequences for patient care, particularly in areas like diabetes management, falls prevention and maintaining mobility and independence.

Congress notes that:

a. many midwifery students across the UK face significant financial hardship

b. fatigue and burnout caused by staff shortages undermine safety

c. NHS midwives and maternity support workers across the UK work an estimated 140,000 unpaid hours’ overtime per week, according to 2024 Royal College of Midwives (RCM) surveys.

Many student midwives take on large amounts of debt to support themselves during their studies and that UK health services invest in them through clinical placements, and all that is for nothing if, faced with no offer of midwifery employment, newly qualified midwives start working in unrelated jobs out of financial necessity.

We call on Congress to support efforts to secure sustainable funding for universities and for AHP education. We also call for increased bursaries, grants and apprenticeship support to remove financial barriers for those wishing to pursue these essential careers.

We call on the government to urgently intervene before long-term damage is done. We urge the TUC to work with health unions, professional bodies and student organisations to lobby the government to safeguard and expand training places, ensuring our communities continue to benefit from high-quality, preventative healthcare delivered by well-trained AHPs

Congress calls on the UK government to:

1. commit to a funded strategy for fair, above-inflation pay and restore NHS pay to competitive levels

2. ensure healthcare workforce planning is improved to avoid stop-start training and recruitment

3. remove barriers to career progression across Agenda for Change, including for allied health professionals

4. embed flexible working, CPD access, and wellbeing support to reduce burnout and improve job satisfaction

5. engage in meaningful consultation with recognised trade unions during the implementation of the 10-year plan whilst retaining experienced staff across the NHS

6. ensure that shift of focus from sickness to prevention is properly funded and utilises the skills of the whole NHS workforce and improve working lives

7. implement the recommendations of the RCM’s 2024 State of UK Midwifery Student Finance report

8. ensure that all newly qualified midwives are offered employment as midwives.

Mover: Royal College of Midwives
Seconder: Royal College of Podiatry
Supporters: British Dietetic Association, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy

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Motion 45 Reducing health inequalities through nutrition and prevention

Received from: BDA

Congress notes with concern the deepening health inequalities across the UK, driven in large part by unequal access to affordable, nutritious food. As of January 2025, 7.3 million adults were experiencing food insecurity, disproportionately affecting children, disabled people, and single-parent families.

Congress acknowledges the publication of the NHS 10-Year Plan and its stated focus on prevention and population health. For this vision to succeed, the strategy must tackle the root causes of dietary inequality, including poverty, access, and education, through coordinated cross-government action and long-term public health investment.

Programmes such as Healthy Start remain essential lifelines but continue to be underfunded and poorly promoted. Community-led initiatives that improve access to nutritious food must be scaled up, particularly in areas of high deprivation.

Dietitians, as the only regulated health professionals specifically trained in nutrition, have a critical role in delivering this agenda. Their expertise should be embedded across multidisciplinary teams working in community settings to reduce health disparities and ease pressure on NHS services.

Congress calls on the government to:
i. expand and properly resource food access schemes including Healthy Start

ii. invest in local nutrition support targeted at areas of high need

iii. ensure the NHS 10-Year Plan delivers measurable action on diet-related health inequalities, backed by a well-resourced workforce including dietitians.

British Dietetic Association

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Motion 49 Fund our fire and rescue service

Received from: FBU

Congress condemns 14 years of damage to the fire and rescue service under Conservative-led governments. This included politically driven austerity, cutting 20 per cent of the workforce, along with pay freezes, pay caps and pension attacks.

Congress rejects the deregulatory agenda of successive governments over many decades, which the public inquiry found was central to the causes of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Congress opposes efforts to privatise the fire and rescue service and opposes handing over fire authorities to police and crime commissioners.

Congress welcomes the pledges made by the Labour government to establish national standards for the fire and rescue service, providing a better service for the public and to further professionalise the workforce.

Congress welcomes the Ministerial Advisory Group on Fire and Rescue, with the key role for the FBU. Congress supports its development into a statutory advisory body.

Congress is disappointed that central funding for fire and rescue services in 2025–26 increased by only 1.4 per cent, lower than the current rate of inflation.

Congress notes that the June 2025 Spending Review did not set out the sustained level of investment necessary to renew the fire and rescue service.
Congress resolves to support the FBU’s campaign to:

i. lobby the Westminster government and devolved governments for sustained investment

ii. lobby fire employers, boards and mayors on fire budgets

iii. organise a programme of meetings and lobbies both nationally and locally

iv. make the case for sustained investment in the fire and rescue service to all politicians.

Fire Brigades Union

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Motion 50 Zane’s Law

Received from: FBU

Congress believes that the current UK regulations regarding toxic waste disposal from historic and currently approved landfill sites are dangerously inadequate.

Congress is appalled by contaminated land, which risks human life and our environment.

Congress is saddened by the death of seven-year-old Zane Gbangbola and his father’s paralysis from hydrogen cyanide poisoning, during catastrophic flooding in 2014. Flood water passed through an historic landfill site, known to the authorities, carrying hydrogen cyanide into Zane’s home.

Congress notes that firefighters are on the frontline of the climate crisis, seeing a significant increase in flood and wildfire incidents. Specialist HAZMAT firefighters detected high levels of hydrogen cyanide gas in Zane’s home.

Congress wholeheartedly supports the Truth About Zane campaign, which is fighting to address the crisis of contaminated land.

Congress further supports the introduction of Zane’s Law, which demands:

i. every local authority must keep a regularly updated register of land that may be contaminated

ii. the Environment Agency must keep a national register of contaminated land

iii. all registers must be accessible to the general public

iv. local authorities must fully inspect all registered contaminated land and enforce remediation

v. inspection and remediation must include previously closed landfill sites

vi. the Westminster government must provide the necessary funds for local authorities to meet these requirements

vii. ministers must follow the ‘polluter pays’ principle: to recover costs as appropriate where those responsible for the pollution can be identified.

Fire Brigades Union

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Motion 20 Action against assaults on public-facing workers

Received from: RMT

Congress is concerned at the continued endemic of workplace violence and abuse against public-facing workers.

For example, a recent RMT survey of 6,000 public transport workers found:

i. two-thirds experienced workplace violence in the past year, the vast majority experienced violence multiple times

ii. three-quarters informed their employer, but only a third were satisfied with their employer’s response. Over two-thirds who did not report said it was because such incidents are now considered ‘part of the job’

iii. over three-quarters would take industrial action if they felt their employer was not doing enough to protect their safety.

Congress believes far more needs to be done by employers and government to prevent assaults and support workers.

Congress welcomes that some unions have secured greater legal protections for many workers and agrees to campaign for similar legislation for public transport workers and collate any evidence that identifies where legislation can be improved.

Congress is concerned that whilst there can be no excuse for assaults, there can be wider underlying causes that must be addressed, including cuts to staffing levels, austerity, worsening public services, the normalisation of violence through social media, cuts to law enforcement and growing misogyny, racism and LGBT+ and disability related violence.

Congress believes assaults should never be considered ‘part of the job’ and agrees to hold a day event with unions no later than Congress 2026 to discuss strategies to assist the General Council in producing an action plan to support affiliates in their campaigning against workplace assaults.

National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers

AMENDMENT

After paragraph 8, add:
“Congress applauds the union-led campaigns to tackle assaults and protect the health and safety of workers, through legislation, regulation, education and community engagement.”
Fire Brigades Union

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Motion 21 Dignity for train drivers

Received from: ASLEF

Congress recognises the work that train drivers do to transport people and goods across our country.

Congress notes that many transport workers, particularly those in rail freight and the wider logistics sector, lack many basic necessities like clean, safe fully functioning toilets and washing facilities, as well as the ability to access them.

Congress commends the work of ASLEF and its Dignity for Drivers report which highlights the issues that train drivers face every day.

Congress notes with the alarm that nearly 70 per cent of drivers who responded said their employer does not provide safe, clean, accessible toilets that they can easily use at work, and nearly 80 per cent said they were expected to work over four hours before having a suitable break.

This leads to drivers deliberately dehydrating or using make-shift methods to relieve themselves.

Congress recognises the long-term health issues that could be caused by an inability to use the toilet and the mental health stress of worrying about this while at work.

These issues are compounded for people with disabilities such as Crohn’s disease, and also for people who are menstruating or going through the menopause.

Congress therefore calls on the general council to:

i. convene a roundtable of relevant trade unions from the transport and logistics sector to discuss the issue of welfare facilities and breaks, building on the TUC’s current campaign

ii. lobby the government to deliver the promised health and safety review as part of the make work pay agenda.

Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen

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C05 Protecting transport workers from harmful dust, fumes and poor air quality

Received from: Royal College of Podiatry, TSSA

Comprising Motions 22 and amendments

Congress notes with serious concern the growing reports that workers, including transport workers, particularly those working on stations and platforms, are being exposed to dangerously high levels of airborne dust, harmful fumes, and poor air quality. Numerous studies, including those on the underground and rail networks, have revealed particulate matter and toxic fumes from train braking systems, diesel engines, and maintenance activities at concentrations significantly above recommended health limits.

This prolonged exposure places transport workers at increased risk of respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular problems, and other long-term health complications. Workers are often confined to poorly ventilated environments with limited protection or monitoring in place.

Congress believes every worker has the right to a safe and healthy working environment. The current lack of enforceable air quality standards, effective ventilation, and real-time monitoring in workplaces, including on stations and platforms is unacceptable.

Congress calls on the TUC to:

i. lobby government and transport authorities to introduce legally binding, higher quality air quality standards for dust and fumes in workplaces, in line with recommendations from the WHO and the Institute of Occupational Medicine

ii. demand urgent investment in ventilation, air purification, and monitoring systems

iii. ensure trade unions are fully consulted in safety planning and environmental health reviews.

We must act now to protect the health and safety of all workers, including transport workers.

Proposer: Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association
Seconder: Royal College of Podiatrists

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Motion 57 Safer Inside Prisons Charter

Received from: POA

Congress supports the Joint Unions in Prisons Alliance (JUPA) Charter to address the urgent and growing concerns around safety, wellbeing and working conditions for staff across the prison estate. JUPA is a coalition of 10 national trade unions representing most workers in prisons. The charter sets out a clear and actionable framework to tackle the key health and safety issues facing prison workers. Three of the most pressing issues facing prison workers today are:

i. violence in the workplace – the charter calls for robust preventative measures, improved incident response and a zero-tolerance approach to staff assaults

ii. exposure to psychoactive substances – the widespread use of psychoactive substances poses serious health and safety risks. The charter demands enhanced detection, intervention and support systems to protect staff from the harmful effects of these substances

iii. condition of the prison estate – many prison facilities are outdated, overcrowded and in disrepair. Specific examples include the presence of asbestos in a large proportion of the prison estate. Rat infestation which is a health risk to prisoners and staff. There have also been recent concerns about the lack of infrastructure investment and concerns around radon levels particularly in HMP Dartmoor.

Congress therefore calls on the General Council to campaign with government and respective employers in the Prison Service to work collaboratively with JUPA in resolving these issues of health and wellbeing for workers.

POA

AMENDMENT

Add new bullet after bullet iii.;
“iv. Congress notes that these issues are exacerbated by chronic prison overcrowding, which makes rehabilitation less effective.”
Add a new paragraph at the end of the motion:
“To campaign for measures to reduce overcrowding in prisons. This should include more investment in the public sector prison estate and the recruitment of the professional and specialist prison staff needed for prisoner rehabilitation.”
Prospect

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Motion 58 Probation workload crisis – a danger to public safety

Received from: NAPO

Congress notes the serious position in relation to the workload crisis in the Probation Service.

Government ministers agree that the Probation Service does the ‘heavy lifting’ in terms of trying to supervise an increased number of clients in our communities yet has failed to recognise the imperative of stemming the loss of both highly experienced staff and newer workers.

This situation threatens to undermine the broadly welcomed initiatives in the Sentencing Review to reduce the reliance on short term prison sentences and break the cycle of recidivism. Moreover, it presents a serious threat to public safety and requires bold spending decisions to boost the morale of a beleaguered workforce and attract, and better retain, new employees.

Congress therefore commits to explore opportunities to publicise the crucial role that probation workers have in our communities and supports the campaign objectives of their recognised trade unions to:

i. secure a realistic pay increase for Probation Service staff, which properly recognises these exceptional circumstances

ii. achieve safe and sustainable workloads

iii. achieve these objectives a campaign of industrial action maybe required.

Napo

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Motion 59 Where next for Cafcass?

Received from: NAPO

Congress recognises that the family justice system is in a markedly worse state than at any time in its history.

This has been presided over by the previous government whose austerity policies have had a deleterious impact on Cafcass staff as they have tried to deal with massively unrealistic workloads and record numbers of private and public law applications from families facing desperate times.

Whilst it is true that some reductions of workload have been recorded in some Cafcass regions, and that the pathfinder mediation project is demonstrating early positive results, it needs to be recognised that this is largely due to the selflessness of Cafcass staff, many who continue to carry unreasonable caseloads and work unpaid hours.

Congress therefore calls for the government to:

i. initiate an urgent review into the operational status of Cafcass to determine whether it’s current placement under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice best serves the taxpayer and the children and families who rely on its services

ii. establish an urgent independent review into Cafcass workloads underpinned by time and motion studies. This will help determine measures to identify a safe individual workload figure to protect staff from burn out or exploitation and provide safe and adequate staff, so that a higher quality of service can be offered to future children and families.

Napo

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Motion 69 Rail Freight Future

Received from: ASLEF

Congress reaffirms its commitment to lobby for the expansion of publicly owned rail freight with a view to re-nationalising the sector.

Congress commends ASLEF’s Rail Freight Future campaign for highlighting the role that rail freight can play in delivering the government’s missions and the need to address the current unlevel playing field between road and rail freight which encourages a race to the bottom between rail freight operators.

Congress notes the support offered by government to decarbonise road freight but understands that the most efficient mode to move freight in bulk inland is via rail and is concerned that the same level of support to decarbonise rail freight is not being offered.

Congress understands that supply chains are dependent on multiple modes of transport and that efficient and climate friendly supply chains work best with the use of different modes of transport.

Congress has concerns that the freight and logistics section of the industrial strategy focused heavily on road and not the whole sector and expects this to be addressed in the government’s upcoming plan for the sector.

Congress therefore calls on the general council to:

i. support ASLEF’s Rail Freight Future Campaign

ii. lobby the government to ensure that rail freight is part of the forthcoming freight and logistics plan

iii. call on the government to address the unlevel playing field to ensure that efficient, climate friendly supply chains are affordable

iv. lobby the government to invest in decarbonising the railways for freight by reducing the railway electric levy charge

Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen

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C12 A just transition for railway workers

Received from: RMT, TSSA

Comprising Motion 70 plus amendments

Congress welcomes that train operating companies (TOCs) will be brought into public ownership and, alongside Network Rail, brought under Great British Railways (GBR). Congress also reaffirms the commitment to lobby for GBR to absorb open access operations and rail freight services.

However, Congress notes with alarm that unnamed sources from the Department for Transport have suggested thousands of jobs may be lost in the transition due to duplication of roles; and further notes that terms, conditions and benefits have already been threatened in negotiations over TUPE from TOCs to the Department for Transport Operator.

Congress strongly believes that GBR is the opportunity to level-up pay and conditions for rail workers and should involve an expansion of investment in our railways, making them more efficient, more passenger friendly, and upgrading infrastructure – making redundancies unnecessary. Congress believes that this opportunity should extend to any future insourcing of operations and services into GBR.

Congress resolves to campaign to:

i. protect jobs and ensure there is a just transition for transport workers with access to training and redeployment where necessary

ii. level-up pay, terms, and conditions in the transition and implement collective bargaining arrangements for all workers, across the industry

iii. invest in a safe and accessible railway for all – reducing violence and harassment on the network, reversing cuts to BTP, maintaining safety standards and adequate staffing levels

iv. put passengers and workers at the heart of GBR, integrating ticketing systems and timetabling across the entire transport network while simplifying fares and refunds, and putting worker and passenger representation on the board

v. expand investment in rail, putting it front-and-centre in plans to upgrade our infrastructure and make the whole-economy transition to net zero

vi. the London and Liverpool City Region mayors to take rail services they are responsible for into public ownership

vii. support RMT’s ‘Better Jobs Better Services’ campaign which demands the ending of outsourcing of essential rail services including cleaning, station staffing, catering, security, infrastructure and engineering services.

Mover: Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association
Seconder: National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers
Supporter: Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen

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C07 Tax wealth, fund public services and shift power in favour of working people

Received from: NASUWT, Unite

Comprising Motions 28, 29, 34, 35 and 36 plus amendments

Conference knows that workers and their families can see every day that the economy is broken. After years of falling living standards working people’s family budgets remain under huge pressure.

Congress notes that we are the sixth richest economy in the world, but our economy has deep inequalities and the way that wealth is divided is increasingly unequal.

The UK is home to a record number of billionaires, and the top one per cent hold more wealth than the entire bottom 50 per cent. In 1990, there were just 15 billionaires in the UK, but since then their number has jumped to 156. The wealth of the richest in society continues to soar. The richest 50 families are worth about £500bn, the same as half the entire UK population.

The UK has greater wealth inequality than most developed economies. Last year’s report by The Fairness Foundation found the UK’s wealth gap has grown by 50 per cent in eight years, while the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that destitution had increased by 150 per cent in the last seven years. Fairer, better taxes can deliver a stronger economy, reduce poverty, fund better public services and national defence. Yet wealth is taxed at far lower rates than income, and in many cases not taxed at all. This is a political choice. Ordinary workers are paying more while the super-rich hoard wealth and benefit from outdated, unfair tax rules. The government must urgently explore how the UK’s tax system could be reformed, including to ensure that wealth and the highest incomes are taxed more fairly.

The UK welfare system – both the state pension and working age benefits – is one of the least generous among comparable nations. Congress is dismayed the government has attempted to cut welfare benefits as a direct result of the continued refusal to tax wealth and acceptance of self-imposed fiscal rules.
Furthermore, while the government’s industrial strategy and Employment Rights Bill are welcome first steps they don’t go far enough to tackle the legacy of decades of weak business investment, offshoring, outsourcing, privatisation and austerity.

Congress is concerned this approach is leaving the door open to the far-right Reform, who offer no solutions and only sow more division.

Congress condemns 15 years of Conservative-led Westminster governments’ austerity policies. They created a profound crisis affecting all public services and the staff delivering them – from the NHS to local government, education and social care. Years of underinvestment and austerity have left vital services overstretched, understaffed and unable to meet the needs of our communities.
Congress notes the harm caused by fourteen years of substantial real-terms cuts which continue to impact adversely on children’s life chances and on the living standards, morale and wellbeing of our communities.

Congress is dismayed that too many public buildings, including schools and hospitals, are in a dire state of repair.

Congress further asserts that real-terms cuts to spending on our public services and welfare system will reduce opportunity for our children and young people, further damaging life chances and hit the poorest hardest.

In 2024, the country voted for real change and to end austerity.

Poverty isn’t just morally wrong, it’s bad for the economy and has considerable economic and social costs. Tackling poverty, inequality and lack of opportunity should be a key government priority.

So, there is a choice. Congress believes that the money is there to address this. HMRC estimates the UK tax gap to be £46.8bn, and outside tax experts estimate it to be more than twice that – around £100bn. If we taxed the richest one percent just one percent, that would generate about £25bn. We need a wealth tax now.

Congress therefore believes that politicians must make the case for redistributive taxation and a more equal society.

Trade unions support progressive taxation. We agree with a system that ensures we all contribute to the revenues the government needs to improve our public services, reduce poverty and grow our economy – and where those with higher incomes, who are better able to afford a higher contribution, pay a larger share.

But our current system is broken and the UK tax system needs urgent reform.
Those at the top have seen their wealth grow – while paying far lower tax rates than many whose incomes come from earnings.

Congress calls on the General Council to press the Labour government to:
i. commit to taxing wealth, not just work
ii. oppose austerity and promote tax justice as a means to fund public services
iii. support a crack-down on tax avoidance and tax evasion
iv. restore and expand social security spending for children and families in need, the unemployed, disabled people, and pensioners
v. remove the punitive welfare policies introduced during Tory austerity, including the two-child benefit cap
vi. commit to protecting benefits for disabled and vulnerable people
vii. end punitive sanctions and invest in DWP’s workforce, to provide essential help and support
viii. invest in HMRC’s workforce to go after tax avoiders and evaders. Congress is appalled by the recent findings of the Public Accounts Committee that HMRC does not know how many billionaires pay tax in the UK or how much they contribute overall.

Congress believes Labour should adopt policies that begin to restructure the economy to improve productivity and investment and bring about a fundamental and irreversible shift in the balance of wealth and power in favour of working people. This is to include devolving power to workers through:

a. extending sectoral collective bargaining throughout the economy to enhance cohesion in our communities through improved living standards, job security and embedding trade union values of solidarity and equality

b. creating conditions to allow unions to negotiate the delivery of Labour’s pledge to oversee the “biggest wave of insourcing in a generation”, to reduce inequality and improve public services:

 – a new economic strategy which removes restrictive and arbitrary fiscal rules and raises day-to-day public spending
– an improved industrial strategy to create a new generation of publicly owned or supported industries, including particular consideration to water, transport, mail, telecommunications, steel and energy industries, ensuring there are stable universal services and utilities across the country.

Congress therefore agrees to campaign for:
1. an increase in taxes on those with the highest incomes
2. the urgent introduction of progressive wealth taxes
3. increasing capital gains tax
4. reforming pensions tax relief
5. a windfall tax on highly profitable banks
6. full funding of our public services to ensure that schools, colleges and other frontline services can recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver the high-quality services that the public expects of the welfare state
7. the removal of opportunities for CEOs and corporations to exploit our public services for profit and to line their own pockets
8. capital budgets to be increased across the whole public sector to ensure buildings are safe and well-maintained.

Congress agrees to launch a high-profile and constructive campaign in support of the above and consider a national demonstration against austerity in spring 2026.

Mover: Unite
Seconder: NASUWT
Supporters: Public and Commercial Services Union, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, Accord, National Education Union, Communication Workers Union,
Fire Brigades Union

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Motion 30 A new approach to public services

Received from: CSP

The recruitment and retention crisis in the NHS is deepening, with serious consequences for patient care.

Low pay remains a leading factor driving physiotherapists and other health professionals out of the service.

Recruitment freezes are worsening the situation.

Nearly half of CSP workforce reps are reporting recruitment freezes or delays in filling vacancies. One in ten members are saying their organisation has frozen all clinical recruitment.

This impacts the quality, safety, and the sustainability of care. Two-thirds of NHS physiotherapists report unsafe staffing levels – at a time when demand for physiotherapy has never been greater.

We urgently need workforce investment. The decision-making that sits upstream from this crisis needs a reset.

Congress calls on the TUC to press government for a new approach to public sector pay, with the government committing to:

i. pay restoration across the public sector over the lifetime of the current parliament, with annual pay rounds settled by the start of each financial year from 2026

ii. that future pay rises are funded with additional public expenditure, so that public services and the UK’s devolved nations are not forced to freeze recruitment or cut access to services

iii. a funding plan for the workforce and service-transformation commitments in the NHS 10-Year Plan.

Chartered Society of Physiotherapy

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Motion 26 Player workload and wellbeing

Received from: PFA

Congress supports the work being undertaken by the Professional Footballers’ Association to address the damaging impacts on its members of increased player workload.

The PFA is working with stakeholders and fellow international player unions to ensure there is decisive action taken to address the development of a global calendar that has resulted in a cycle of year-round football for the most in-demand players.

Congress notes the worrying impact that this is having on the mental and physical wellbeing of PFA members, the lack of meaningful rest and recovery afforded to players, and the potential issues the current calendar causes with the fulfilment of players’ contractual rights to properly protected breaks.
Congress also notes the wider impact of competition expansion at international level and the changes already being forced on domestic competitions in the English game.

Professional Footballers’ Association

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Motion 46 Protecting the public and healthcare professionals from role substitution in health care

Received from: HCSA

Congress believes that clear role definition within health and social care settings helps reduce risk, improves patient outcomes, and enhances the quality of care provided while improving worker wellbeing, along with improved work environment and culture.

Congress believes that patients must be protected from the potential harm from situations where there is confusion about roles of healthcare team members.

Congress believes that every patient should receive safe and effective care from the NHS, private providers and healthcare regulators to ensure that:

i. When a patient is speaking to any member of the healthcare team it must be mandatory to ensure the patient is clear of the role that person performs, so that the patient’s expectations, confidence and reliance on the information, advice or care provided is appropriate. Roles must be clearly defined.

ii. No healthcare workers should be encouraged or coerced into taking on additional activities or responsibilities that are beyond their training, competence and capability to provide safely. Staff must not be encouraged to perform beyond the bounds of their current competence and training.

iii. Workers who are developing their competence must have the requisite education, training and support available to build skills and knowledge before being required to undertake new activities. Credentialled, quality checked training must be available to support professional development and achieving additional qualifications is necessary for some development.

iv. Where an individual is learning new skills there must be appropriate supervision from a suitably registered health professional, ensuring support and guidance is available whenever needed.

Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association

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C02 Tackling the far right

Received from: EIS, Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers

Comprising of Motions 09 and 10 plus amendments

Congress recognises the critical role trade unions play in creating a fairer and more equal society. At the same time, Congress acknowledges the significant challenges, both now and in the future, facing the anti-racist and anti-fascist movements. Congress notes with alarm the continued rise of far-right ideologies across the UK and internationally. These ideologies foster division, racism, misogyny, ablism, homophobia and transphobia.

Unions are working with the Labour government to undo the damage done to our society by 14 years of Conservative rule. However, the scale of this task, industrially and economically, is huge.

Over a decade of neglect and underinvestment has left millions of working people across the country struggling to pay their bills and access basic services. Many are feeling that nothing in the country works as it should and are disillusioned with national politics.

These frustrations are being exploited by the far right to fuel their politics of hate and division. This also enabled Reform to take control of 10 councils and one mayoralty at the 2025 elections – with major implications for local government workers and the communities they serve.

Congress believes that all workers have a role in resisting the far right, with education workers having a critical role. Schools, colleges, and universities must be places where rights, democracy and equality are taught, practised, and safeguarded. Educators must be supported to counter hate, promote critical thinking, and create safe learning environments for all students. The teaching profession must also campaign to protect staff from intimidation and inclusive curricula from corrosive far-right influence.

Congress also acknowledges the significant efforts by far-right groups to subvert public discourse, spread misinformation online, and exploit economic hardship by scapegoating migrants and other marginalised communities. Trade unions have a proud history of challenging fascism and the politics of division that serves the interests of the wealthy, and this Congress reaffirms its commitment to opposing the far right wherever it appears in the present.

The Employment Rights Bill recognises that focussing on re-balancing the economy, strengthening union organising and extending collective bargaining will promote racial justice and tackle inequality. Delivering real change for communities is essential to turning the tide against the far right.

Congress congratulates both the TUC on the publication of their strategy to tackle the far right and affiliates for implementing the strategy and giving it such high priority, something which has built on previous work.

Congress calls upon the Labour government to be bold in its vision, to push back on far-right narratives – to end to the demonisation of migrants and refugees –and to commit to delivering for working people quickly. The surest way to defeat grievance politics is to improve jobs, raise living standards and invest in our public services and communities.

Congress calls on the General Council to:

i. continue to coordinate the trade union movement to counter far-right ideologies

ii. update and promote the TUC’s guidance on the rise of the far right

iii. produce materials to support union workplace representatives to resist far-right ideologies

iv. ensure union equality reps have statutory paid time off to negotiate with employers as part of new facility time legislation

v. work with unions to help protect staff against far-right intimidation

vi. lobby UK and devolved governments to fund the embedding of anti-racist education in curricula, together with education for peace and digital literacy

vii. collaborate with civic society organisations to resist the far right organising.

Proposer: Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers
Seconder: Educational Institute of Scotland
Supporters: UNISON, Unite, University and College Union, National Association of Head Teachers

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Motion 11 Challenging the misogyny, misogynoir and anti-feminism of the far right

Received from: CSP

The union movement has a vital role in tackling the politics of the far right, in the workplace and in our communities.

We recognise the TUC’s work to support union reps and members in having those difficult workplace conversations that are vital in combatting the politics of hate.

This work could be strengthened with a sharper focus on the misogyny, mysogynoir and anti-feminism that act as golden threads, connecting the contemporary far right.

The far-right shares inextricably intertwined agendas – it seeks to defend the dominance of whiteness, and also the dominance of patriarchy.

This produces particular risks for Black women. We know from the NHS Staff Survey that black women are the most likely to experience discrimination from colleagues.

The far rights’ project seeks to universalise this discrimination, harassment, and sexualised behaviours that our members face daily.

Congress calls for the TUC to:

i. review its leading union education courses, to highlight the misogyny, misogynoir and anti-feminism that is foundational to the contemporary far right

ii. compile information on how affiliate unions have acted on the recommendations contained in its groundbreaking And Then it Clicked… report on Black women’s experience of sexual harassment in the workplace

iii. through political lobbying, continue to support the union movement’s workplace and community organising against the far right.

Chartered Society of Physiotherapy

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Motion 12 Tackling misogyny, sexism, the rise of incel culture and the far right

Received from: TUC Women's Conference

Conference recognises the publication of the National Police Chiefs Council’s report on violence against women and girls (VAWG) and its description of online influencers driving misogyny.

Conference also recognises the 37 per cent rise in VAWG-related crimes between 2018/19 and 2022/23. These crimes are becoming more complex and proliferated, with online incidents of harassment, revenge porn and stalking becoming more common.

Conference recognises that some online influencers are increasingly producing harmful content. Alleged sex trafficker and rapist Andrew Tate has been increasingly cited as an influencer, with his content easily accessible online and unrestricted on platforms.

Conference is concerned about the rise of the ‘incel’ movement in the UK. The term ‘incel’ stands for ‘involuntary celibate’, who are primarily men, who struggle to form romantic or sexual relationships despite wanting to. The movement is an online subculture where misogyny is promoted by individuals who blame women for their lack of sexual activity.

Conference acknowledges that the incel movement has been linked to several high-profile incidents of violence in the UK and globally. Further almost 1,000 references to dehumanising misogyny or violent action against women are recorded each day in the ‘incelosphere’.

Conferenced notes a large rise in the number of young men referred to the prevent scheme over the women-hating incel ideology resulting in it being described as an ‘emerging risk’.

Conference notes with concern that much of the political dialogue running up to the general election last year moved further to the right and that whilst the Tories may have lost the general election, this was in part because their vote was split by traditional Conservatives and the emboldened far right in the shape of the Reform Party.

The far-right riots in this country and the rise of the far right across the globe are a concern for female trade unionists because a covenant of the far-right ethos is ‘a woman’s place is in the home’.

Old-fashioned views are setting back in. Women are openly mocked in the workplace, rights to abortion are under constant attack and sexual harassment is still prevalent.

Conference notes that:

i. right-wing ideology is directly fuelling racism, misogyny, and hatred across the country

ii. 2024 Police Chiefs’ Council reported, two million women a year are victims of male violence

iii. the impacts of misogynoir faced by Black women

iv. the rise of the Incel movement and its appeal to young men

v. too often gender stereotyping is still prevalent in all sectors, including in the creative industries.

Conference commends government plans to introduce peer-to-peer influencers in schools to help counter the misogynistic content presented to young males online.

Trade unionists must lead with education and have important conversations with fellow employees to make them aware that misogyny and the far right go hand in hand.

Conference calls on the TUC:

a. to raise awareness of the incel ideology and the dangers it presents to women and girls

b. Women’s Committee to continue to campaign against sexual stereotyping in all its forms

c. to call on members to monitor the extent and influence of incel/misogynist ideology in UK workplaces and communities

d. to formulate recommendations to challenge misogynist/incel culture in workplaces, and communities

e. to lobby the Labour government to add misogyny to the definition of hate crimes

f. develop strategies to counter the widespread escalation of misogyny on social media platforms

g. campaign for the implementation of stronger regulation to ensure misogynistic content or content/users that encourage VAWG are banned from social media platforms in the UK.

h. lobby government to provide the necessary resources and guidance to support schools to play their part in tackling misogyny, misogynoir and VAWG.

i. invite a speaker from one of the organisations who specifically tackle incel culture and violence, such as Hope Not Hate, Refuge or the NSPCC to address the 2026 TUC Women’s Conference

j. to enable and support TU Representatives to produce recommendations that challenge current portrayals of women in media images and combat stereotypical storytelling of women’s lives

k. affiliates to share and discuss the report commissioned by TUC Black Women and Sexual Harassment Advisory Group on the sexual harassment experienced by Black Women and to take action to address this

l. assist with sharing best practice on the production of guidelines and talking points that reps can use to counter misogyny in the workplace

m. support the work of the NUJ in educating and supporting journalists and communications professionals to improve the ethical and accurate reporting and portrayal of women.

TUC Women’s Conference

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Motion 13 And Then it Clicked…

Received from: TUC Black Workers Conference

Conference notes with concern that racialised sexual harassment and misogynoir in the workplace goes unreported and unacknowledged.
Conference commends the groundbreaking TUC report on sexual harassment of Black women in the workplace.

Conference also notes that hair discrimination and cultural bias are firmly rooted in systemic racism, which is not only an everyday issue for Black women but a form of violence.

We call upon Congress to:

i. ensure misogynoir is recognised as violence and racialised sexual harassment of Black women

ii. actively adopt the term misogynoir

iii. build an industrial response to misogynoir

iv. campaign against hair discrimination in the workplace including education establishments

v. look into producing resource/ information on misogynoir for workplace reps to identify, tackle and better understand representing those who are subjected to racialised sexual harassment

vi. campaign for zero tolerance on racialised sexual harassment in the workplace

vii. consider an anonymised reporting mechanism for Black women to share, discuss and, access appropriate support and healing services

viii. replicate the reporting of racialised sexual harassment in the same way as the anti-racism task force tracker.

TUC Black Workers Conference

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C03 Recognition and respect for migrant workers

Received from: PCS, Unison

Comprising Motions 14, 15 and 16 and amendments

The government’s white paper heralds significant changes to the UK’s immigration system. It will end overseas recruitment in the NHS and social care for any role below degree level, double the qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) for work visas, and reshape and limit immigration for work.

Congress asserts that migrant workers are not responsible for poor pay or exploitation within the labour market. Exploitation was rampant in social care before overseas recruitment started. Restrictions on migrant workers do not protect against exploitation; it makes exploitation more common.

Congress believes that scapegoating migrant workers for the ills of our labour market doesn’t tackle the far right, it encourages them. The creation of more short-term, rights-restricted schemes risks creating super-exploitation of precarious groups of migrant workers.

Migrant workers have kept vital services running. Congress opposes any moves to retrospectively extend the qualifying period for ILR from five to 10 years. This would breach trust and leave workers trapped in exploitation for another five years, rendering them second-class citizens in the UK for longer.

Congress believes that the rhetoric of some ministers and further immigration legislation legitimise the arguments of Reform UK and other far-right parties.
Congress recognises that the Skilled Workers Visa scheme, introduced in the aftermath of Brexit, has consistently failed to meet its intended objectives. While the policy was designed to facilitate the entry and retention of essential workers to address skill shortages across the UK, its rigid criteria and income thresholds have instead exacerbated labour gaps in critical sectors.

The current framework has led to the unjust deportation of workers – many of whom are Black and from marginalised communities – simply because their earnings fall below arbitrary thresholds. Alarmingly, this includes dozens of civil servants employed by the government itself, highlighting the contradiction of a state that underpays its workforce while penalising them for it.

Closing the Social Care Visa scheme to new applicants while increasing income thresholds for renewals leads to vital care workers being deported and unsafe staffing levels.

Congress condemns this policy failure and calls for the repeal of the existing legislation with an immediate replacement developed in full consultation with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and include robust protections for all current visa holders, particularly those already contributing to public service.

Until such reforms are enacted, Congress commits to supporting all workers facing deportation under this flawed system. We further demand an immediate suspension of all deportation proceedings related to the Skilled Workers Visa until a fair and humane alternative is implemented to lower visa renewal thresholds and address staffing crises through raising wages and establishing minimum staffing level requirements in care.

Short-termism and underinvestment created the NHS’s workforce crisis. Insufficient allied health professionals (AHPs) have been trained to meet current and future demand, whilst terms and conditions contribute to a retention crisis. Nowhere is this more evident than radiography, with staff shortages the root cause of excessive waiting lists for diagnosis and cancer treatment.

The government is investing more, including funding more radiography equipment and staff, but it will take many years to close the gap between demand and supply. The UK is reliant upon successfully competing in the global marketplace for skilled AHPs into the 2030’s, regardless of how many new student and apprenticeship places government fund.

The NHS has pockets of excellent practice but for a majority of new internationally recruited AHPs the offer is insufficient and uncompetitive. Proposed changes to immigration rules are also counter-productive, particularly doubling the qualifying time to secure a right to remain to 10 years, actively discouraging women with young families from choosing the UK.

Congress therefore calls on the TUC and its affiliates to campaign for:

i. a sector-wide visa scheme in social care, enabling migrant workers to challenge bad employers without the threat of dismissal and removal

ii. retention of the five-year route to ILR, and a commitment not to apply any change retrospectively

iii. greater protections for migrant workers from exploitation and strengthened access to trade union rights

iv. a rights-based visa system for migrant workers.

Congress calls on the TUC to:

a. work with partners, including Stand Up to Racism, to oppose the scapegoating of migrants in areas with Reform UK MPs and councils.

b. champion the importance of international recruitment in sustaining an NHS recovery

c. actively oppose any immigration rule changes that make it harder to recruit and retain internationally trained AHPs

d. press government to fund competitive recruitment and retention offers so the NHS can compete internationally

e. assist AHP unions in identifying and promoting best practice in recruiting, onboarding and retaining any overseas professionals.

Mover: UNISON
Seconder: Public and Commercial Services Union
Supporters: National Education Union, GMB, Society of Radiographers

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Motion 47 Local government funding crisis

Received from: Unison

Congress is alarmed by the ongoing financial crisis facing local government. Over a decade of austerity has devastated vital services. One in four councils are at risk of financial failure by 2026/27, with many already cutting services and staff.

Local government workers have borne the brunt of these cuts, enduring job losses, real terms pay reductions and overwhelming workloads, while continuing to deliver essential services to communities, from social care and housing to education and public health.

Despite recent additional funding from the Westminster government, this falls short of addressing the £8.5bn gap councils face. Years of underinvestment have left authorities unable to meet demand, especially in areas with the highest levels of deprivation. Council tax rises cannot compensate for a broken funding model that punishes areas with the greatest need.

Congress believes a fair funding settlement for local government is essential to rebuild services and restore dignity to local government work. There is money in the economy – local government must be a political and economic priority.

Congress calls on the General Council to:
i. stress how pivotal councils are to helping deliver all aspects of the government’s Plan for Change

ii. support coordinated campaigning for urgent reinvestment in local government

iii. highlight the social and economic costs of cuts and the value of restoring council services

iv. press the UK and devolved governments to reform local authority funding

v. consider all appropriate campaigning tactics including industrial action to win a new settlement, including mobilisations that visibly demonstrate public support.

UNISON

AMENDMENT

Add new bullet after bullet v.:
“vi. call on the government invest and fully rebuild children’s services to support children and ensure families get the best start.”
NASUWT

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Motion 06 Self-employed workers

Received from: AUE

In July, AUE published a new report, an inquiry into the lives of the Artists’ Union England membership and the role of contemporary artist unions in building grassroots power in the arts.

Key findings of the report include:

i. 79 per cent do not earn enough from their art practice to live on.

ii. More than 50 per cent earn less than £15,000 a year from all types of work they do.

iii. Cuts to cultural funding and welfare have severely impacted artists’ livelihoods and wellbeing.

iv. The vast majority of members will rely solely on the state pension when retiring.

v. They are less likely to own their own home and to rent privately.

While £126bn is generated for the UK economy annually by creative industries, this wealth doesn’t benefit the vast majority of creatives whose skills, talents and labour are responsible for it.

Congress calls on the TUC to:

a. use the report to raise concerns of self-employed workers

b. work with creative sector / other unions representing self-employed members to strengthen organising

c. ensure issues highlighted in the report are a priority for campaigning

d. write to government highlighting these concerns and seek a meeting to discuss solutions, involving relevant unions

e. call on affiliates who engage self-employed artists to sign up to the AUE Good Practice Charter

f. call on businesses to use AUE rates of pay guidance when engaging visual artists

g. campaign for fair/equal pay, safe and healthy working conditions, access to pensions, affordable housing and studios.

h. campaign for restoration of creative subjects on all school/college curriculums.

Artists’ Union England

AMENDMENT

Add new bullets after bullet h.:
“i. to campaign for tighter rules and penalties on the late payment of invoices”
“j. to work with the UK Labour government to extend the benefits of the Make Work Pay agenda to self-employed workers.”
Community

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C01 Organising and bargaining

Received from: CWU, National Education Union

Comprising Motion 01, 02 plus amendments and 03

Congress notes that despite some years of growth, union membership been on a downward trend for four decades, currently standing at 22 per cent of the workforce, with less than 50 per cent of public sector workers and less than 12 per cent of private sector workers in a union. Younger workers are also less likely to join a union and new research shows a similar trend with lower-paid workers.

The cause of this is clear. The unbridled growth of the gig economy, outsourcing, agency work, new technologies and AI has encouraged employers to adopt cheaper more fragmented employment models, which are nearly impossible to effectively unionise. The decline in membership has been accompanied by growing inequality. Real wages for most workers are barely above their pre-2008 level.

This is a pivotal time for the trade union movement. The Labour government’s transformative agenda on employment rights offers an unparalleled chance for union growth. Truly realising its potential requires effective organising, particularly in the private sector and amongst young workers. Success hinges on our ability to equip reps and organisers with the skills to leverage new rights and digital tools, fostering inter-union collaboration, and navigating new legislation adeptly.

Congress welcomes the new TUC strategy to support union organising seeing it as crucial for union growth securing high-quality, unionised jobs across the UK. Congress notes the TUC’s digital campaigning and organising support for affiliates, including the new Digital Organisers Academy, as well as the TUC’s Digital Lab supporting digital change in unions.

Congress welcomes the TUC’s expanded trade union education offer. Empowering reps and organisers to fully utilise new Employment Rights Bill provisions is vital for union growth. Congress notes the ongoing issues regarding the funding of in-person TUC Education training for union reps.

Membership has not declined because trade union values are unpopular with working people. Recent experience has proved that assertive trade unionism wins for members and attracts new ones. Collective bargaining is an effective way to redress income inequality and the misery it causes. Individual rights in the workplace can only take us so far – we need a raft of new collective rights and sectoral bargaining agreements, alongside greater cooperation between unions and new models of unionism.

Congress agrees that the TUC:

i. produces concrete steps to establish sectoral collective bargaining and enduring structures that embed union organisation and capacity, including a sectoral bargaining strategy to be agreed by the General Council, and a plan to introduce sectoral level agreements in at least three sectors

ii. convenes a working group and summit to both produce the sectoral bargaining strategy and report to the General Council, in six months, on greater cooperation between unions and new models of trade unionism that can organise more effectively within sectors of the economy based on:

– The co-ordination of a significant organising drive across unions with a commitment to developing a common sectoral bargaining agenda across sectors to be agreed by the General Council. With a focus on tackling inequality, insecure employment and poor working conditions.

– Greater co-operation between unions, and an end to inter-union competition to prioritise the interests of working people.

iii. campaigns for the Labour government to build on the new deal for workers and remove significant legal and structural barriers to trade union organisation, collective bargaining, extending sectoral bargaining agreements in this parliament, to address growing work and wealth inequality. This will include resisting attempts to weaken the provisions of Employment Rights Bill, particularly in relation to issues of recognition and balloting for industrial action

iv. takes action to improve member recruitment and retention through better data analysis, recognising this as a key growth opportunity.

v. provides direct support to affiliated unions in understanding and utilising their data for retention, organising and growth, acknowledging challenges faced by smaller and mid-sized unions.

vi. builds effective links with social justice campaigns that are in the interests of working people.

Congress also calls on the General Council to demand the government to:

a. fulfils its pledge of the “greatest number of insourcings in a generation,” starting with the civil service. Bringing contracts back in-house will boost accountability, improve services, and secure better conditions for workers, including younger workers.

b. makes union recognition, and contribution to established grouped trade union facility time arrangements, a condition for receiving public funding in all sectors, including multi-academy trusts, free schools, and publicly funded independent schools.

Mover: National Education Union
Seconder: Communication Workers Union
Supporters: Accord, NASUWT, Public and Commercial Services Union

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Motion 04 Organising and delivering for young workers: age-related redundancy pay

Received from: Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers

Congress believes that young workers, like all workers, need and deserve a fair deal at work. We welcome the government’s revised remit for the Low Pay Commission last year to help eliminate the wage disparity for young people in the national minimum wage. The Employment Rights Bill also includes several commitments that will have a positive impact on young workers, including helping to tackle one-sided flexibility.

Congress firmly agrees that the next step is looking at other age-related employment provisions with a view to removing all age-related discrimination.
The government has committed to gathering further views on strengthening the collective redundancy framework in 2025. Congress is clear that any further review of redundancy provisions must address the entrenched age discrimination within statutory redundancy pay.

Congress also welcomes the provision of trade union access to workplaces and the simplification of the statutory recognition process within the Employment Rights Bill. Congress recognises that to deliver parity in all areas of employment legislation, we need to use these tools to redouble our efforts in organising young workers, who are essential to the future of the movement.

Congress calls on the General Council, in co-ordination with the Young Workers Forum, to:

i. continue to push for action on all issues affecting young workers

ii. make the case for equitable redundancy pay in government consultation responses, specifically when the government comes to gather views on strengthening the collective redundancy framework

iii. develop a national organising young workers strategy, to help secure the future of the trade union movement.

Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers

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Motion 05 Recruitment and retention of young members

Received from: TUC Young Workers' Conference

Conference recognises:

i. Young workers face significant challenges, including insecure work, low pay, and lack of workplace protections.

ii. The new Employment Rights Bill in the UK, itself the culmination of the CWU’s years of campaigning for a new deal for workers, will bring with it an era of increased workplace access and legislation which needs to be enforced and arbitrated.

iii. Trade union membership among young workers remains low, often due to a lack of awareness about unions and their benefits.

iv. The Summer Patrol is a Norwegian organising project involving visiting workplaces to engage young workers regarding their conditions at work. This project has been running for over 40 years and has become a core component of their organising approach ensuring young workers are aware of trade unions and their rights. It helps reduce opportunities for employers to take advantage of young workers who may be unaware of their rights. It also builds union activism, profile and cohesion.

Conference believes that recruiting and retaining young members is essential for the future of the trade union movement. Young workers bring energy, innovation, and diversity, and their active involvement will strengthen unions’ ability to tackle the issues they face.

We call on the TUC to:

a. encourage all unions to develop youth-focused recruitment strategies, targeting industries with high numbers of young workers, such as retail, hospitality, and the gig economy.

b. promote digital campaigns using social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to engage young workers with relevant and relatable content, as we have seen in Unite

c. support leadership development and representation for young members, ensuring their voices are heard at all levels of union structures.

d. launch a national campaign strategy for recruiting young workers highlighting the role of unions in improving conditions for young workers, and to monitor membership trends to ensure progress.

e. put together a strategy for implementing Summer Patrol in the UK as an annual and ongoing feature of TUC activities to organise young workers. Introducing Summer Patrol to the UK at this moment is timely and offers a proven model for how we can organise to enforce legislation on the ground.

f. call for increased placements at universities for students, ensuring they are meaningful and provide relevant valuable experience. Additionally, urge unions to advocate for better career development opportunities within workplaces, making roles more attractive to young workers and enhancing retention rates.

By investing in young workers futures, we can better engage young members within the trade union movement.

g. By committing to these actions, the trade union movement can empower the next generation and secure its future strength.

TUC Young Workers Conference

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C04 Strengthening the Employment Rights Bill

Received from: BFAWU, POA

Comprising Motions 17, 18 and 19 and amendment

Congress notes the Employment Rights Bill introduced by the new Labour government to strengthen the rights of workers in the workplace.

We welcome real improvements to workers’ rights and conditions, including the commitment to repeal some of the most recent Tory anti-union laws, such as the Minimum Service Levels Act 2023 and the undemocratic ballot thresholds introduced by the Trade Union Act 2016.

This Congress welcomes the specific seafarer protections included in the Employment Rights Bill and congratulates this government on seeking to deliver a generational shift in UK maritime employment protection.

However, many anti-union laws continue to limit workers’ ability to organise, take action and win improvements through collective strength – especially the continued ban on solidarity action.

There is also insufficient commitment to strengthening collective bargaining, which is vital to reversing the long-term decline in wages and conditions. The Bill further leaves dangerous loopholes around ‘fire and rehire’ practices and zero-hour contracts that employers will continue to exploit. Congress is concerned about delays in implementing even the reforms promised.

Congress notes that the Labour government informed the POA they do not intend to restore the right to strike for prison officers in England/Wales or Northern Ireland and they are prepared to defend Tory legislation in the European courts.

This was after the general secretary of the TUC wrote a letter offering a potential way forward on a without prejudice basis to ascertain whether agreement could be reached with government and employers that would mean there was no need to rely on Section 127 of the Criminal Justice Act 1994 which restricts prison officers from taking any form of action.

Offshore employment contracts persist in the shipping industry and have the effect of denying many UK resident seafarers full UK employment and social protections. These issues are compounded by the widespread use of ‘flags of convenience’ (FOCs), which undermine good governance and effective control of ships by bona fide flag states such as the UK.

Congress therefore calls on the TUC to:

i. draft a comprehensive workers’ rights package including:
– immediate repeal of all anti-union laws
– a full ban on ‘fire and rehire’ and zero-hour contracts
– a £15 per hour minimum wage with no age exemptions
– a statutory right to collective bargaining for all workers

ii. coordinate a national campaign, including opposition to austerity and industrial action if necessary.

Congress condemns government for not exploring potential avenues of agreement with TUC intervention and Congress vows to continue the campaign to bring government to the table for negotiations that prison officers lack the basic human right to withdraw their own labour on a without prejudice basis.

Congress calls upon the TUC General Council to support Nautilus International’s and RMT’s campaign for:

a. delivery of legislation that will support and protect the employment of UK resident maritime professionals through the enaction of cabotage and/or domestic employment quotas that will help revitalise coastal communities and regenerate coastal community wealth building

b. a review of ‘offshore employment’ practices to ensure UK seafarers benefit from full UK employment and social protections

c. the enforcement of Articles 91 and 94 of UNCLOS, which mandate a ‘genuine link’ and ‘effective control’ of ships to eradicate flags of convenience and to seek to tackle this on the international stage

d. the strengthening of the Employment Rights Bill (ERB) Mandatory Seafarers Charter to contain further protections and provisions including holiday and sick pay, pensions and crewing levels, as pledged by Labour.

e. the fullest possible application of the ERB for seafarers.

These actions are essential to promote employment of UK seafarers to ensure better regulation and enforcement in the shipping industry and decent working conditions for all maritime professionals, including ratings.

Mover: POA
Seconder: Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union
Supporters: Nautilus International, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers

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Motion 48 Fair funding for local authorities

Received from: Unite

Conference notes with deep concern the mounting debt crisis facing local authorities across the UK. This was caused by years of Tory government underfunding but is now being perpetuated by the failure of the Labour government to restore fair and sustainable funding.

Wages are under attack. We are still losing libraries, youth services, community centres, and timely repairs to homes and roads. Social care, children’s services, and public health are not addressing people’s needs. This is austerity by another name.

Councils are being forced to borrow more and more heavily just to meet statutory obligations. Most of this debt is owed to the Westminster government, which charges inflated interest rates above standard gilt rates. As of 2024, local authorities hold £122bn of debt. This number is growing.

To meet these mounting costs and pay for past mistakes bankrupt councils are slashing services and attacking workers through job cuts, below-inflation pay offers, and fire-and-rehire tactics – as seen in the ongoing Birmingham bin workers’ dispute. Workers should not be made to pay the price for the failure of politicians.

Conference believes that workers and communities must not bear the burden of a crisis they did not create. Cuts to services and pay are political choices, not inevitabilities.

We call on the TUC to campaign urgently for:

i. restructuring or cancellation of local government debt to future-proof local authorities

ii. a new, fair, multi-year funding settlements based on need

iii. an end to imposed pay cuts by local authorities

iv. unequivocal support for the Birmingham bin workers

Unite

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Motion 37 Wages not weapons

Received from: UCU

Congress recognises:

i. that Britain’s public services, public goods, and core infrastructure – including education, healthcare, local government, mail, and transport – continue to suffer from chronic neglect and underinvestment

ii. this harms working people, holds back unions and compounds national decline.

Congress further recognises that:

a. rearmament is not a suitable standalone foundation for national renewal

b. moreover, there can be no meaningful national security in the absence of massive public investment to rebuild the social and economic fabric of working-class communities

c. political pressure from Trump continues to ratchet up expected levels of spending on defence, potentially climbing to 5 per cent of gross domestic product

d. in the current political context, ever-higher expenditure on arms will inevitably mean less money for our education, health, and councils, and the green transition.

Congress believes:

1. we should stand, in our best traditions, for peace and against militarisation

2. that actively campaigning for ever-higher spending on arms risks signalling approval of a wider drive to war, in the dangerous context of renewed great-power rivalry

3. that British participation in the F-35 programme implicates it in Israel’s grave violations of international law in Gaza.

Congress resolves to:

I. reverse policy, dating from 2022, of support for immediate increases in defence spending

II. prioritise campaigning for public investment in Britain’s public realm, decimated by austerity

III. commit to a safe, liveable planet

IV. reaffirm that our movement’s priority is welfare and wages, not weapons and war.

University and College Union

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Motion 60 Back Britain’s potteries

Received from: GMB

The Stoke-on-Trent potteries are the historic home of the UK ceramics industry, providing highly skilled, decent and unionised jobs in working-class communities. However, global undercutting and failure to provide UK energy security has left the potteries in crisis.

Congress notes that:

i. ceramics sustains tens of thousands of jobs through using local supply chains, the gas network and supplying goods to many sectors in the economy
ii. illegal ‘dumping’ of ceramic goods from competitors abroad and high energy costs in the UK threaten what is left of this world-leading industry.

Congress believes that:

a. government support for ceramic manufacturers with electricity costs must be matched with support for costs of gas as the industry’s main form of energy supply and key to its lower-carbon future through investment in hydrogen and carbon capture technologies

b. leaving unionised UK industries to collapse while importing what they make from other countries with lower labour standards is against trade union values

c. public procurement rules must ensure more contracts are awarded to UK suppliers who utilise domestic supply chains and unionised workforces.

Congress calls on:

1. the TUC and affiliate unions to pledge support for GMB’s campaign to save Britain’s pottery industry by signing The Potters’ Pledge petition

2. the TUC and affiliate unions to commit to purchasing a share of their ceramic needs from unionised UK manufacturers, approved by The Potters’ Pledge campaign

3. the government to urgently take further action called for by Britain’s pottery workers to save their industry and put ceramics at the heart of UK industrial strategy.

GMB

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Motion 61 Securing our steel industry

Received from: Community

Congress recognises the vital importance of the UK steel industry to our national economy, resilience, and security, as well as its central role in supporting regional economies across the country. Congress notes that steel provides thousands of high-quality, skilled jobs and is a cornerstone of our industrial base.

Congress acknowledges the Labour government’s commitment to delivering for steelworkers through the development of a steel strategy and deployment of the £2.5bn steel investment fund. Congress welcomes the decisive steps the government has already taken in support of our steel sector, including measures to ensure more UK steel is used in public procurement, action to protect our markets from cheap imports, and partially addressing the longstanding issue of uncompetitive energy costs. Congress also celebrates the government’s historic intervention to seize control of British Steel which prevented the closure of the blast furnaces and mass job losses.

Congress recognises, however, that UK steelmaking remains under huge pressure and more must be done to deliver the level playing field we need to be internationally competitive. Moreover, Congress strongly believes the government must stand ready to intervene to protect our strategically important steel assets wherever they are at risk.

Congress calls on the General Council to work with the Labour government to:
i. continue championing and supporting the steel industry at every level

ii. ensure the government uses all available levers to lower wholesale energy prices for UK steelmakers

iii. collaborate on developing and delivering the steel strategy
iv. safeguard the UK’s strategic steel assets and primary steelmaking capability.

Community

AMENDMENT

In paragraph 1, sentence 1, after “central role in”, insert: “UK infrastructure projects and maintenance”
In paragraph 2, sentence 3 after “job losses”, insert:
“at the site and in the supply chain. Further, Congress celebrates the £500m contract to provide British Steel for the UK’s railways.”
In paragraph 3, sentence 2, after risk, insert:
“, including in the supply chain where rail freight is essential for the delivery of the raw materials and finished steel products”
Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen

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Motion 68 Future-proofing UK maritime skills and training

Received from: Nautilus

This Congress notes with concern the continuing challenges in future-proofing and growing UK maritime skills and training. Currently, the government is falling short of the Maritime Skills Commission’s (MSC) recommendation for 100 per cent funding, which creates disincentives for shipowners and financial barriers for young people, leading to dropouts and a lack of diversity in the Maritime Industry.

Congress notes that the fragmentation of maritime training and a lack of direct accountability for training providers to the Maritime & Coastguard Agency and DfT further exacerbate these issues.

Congress believes that inadequate investment in our Merchant Navy’s skills base undermines national security and resilience.

Congress calls upon the TUC General Council to support Nautilus International’s campaign for:

i. 100 per cent SMarT funding and a minimum training allowance to support trainee maritime professionals, recognising the significant economic return (£4.80 to GDP for every £1 invested)

ii. the establishment of a single national maritime training provider accountable to the MCA and DfT to ensure consistent, high-quality training provision

iii. a comprehensive review and reform of the UK Tonnage Tax to incentivise shipowners to register vessels on the UK flag and provide quality onboard training and subsequent employment to British seafarers. These measures are crucial for securing a steady stream of highly skilled maritime professionals, supporting a just transition, and revitalising the nation’s maritime industry and its contribution to the nation’s security and resilience.

Nautilus International

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C10 AI and the creative industries

Received from: Equity, MU

Comprising Motions 62, 64, 65 and 67 plus amendment

Congress notes that creative industry workers are the backbone of the UK’s world-leading performing arts and entertainment industry, yet often find themselves in precarious working conditions.

Generative AI continues to transform work in the industry, as engagers turn to AI to create, for example, synthesised voice content, a digital replica of a performer or to train foundational AI models.

Artists frequently find that their image, likeness or voice has been used in generative AI without consent or remuneration, for uses beyond those originally agreed, and for which engagers rely on broad transfers of intellectual property rights.

Congress recognises the rapid developments in artificial intelligence technologies in recent years, with decisions taken by publishers on the deployment of technologies within newsrooms. AI policies developed by organisations must be produced in conjunction with unions through meaningful engagement that ensures the voices of journalists are considered.

The use of AI within journalism must only ever be as an assistive tool with human oversight, to ensure safeguards including on the protection of public trust and confidence in journalism. As mis/disinformation is promoted by AI technologies, government can play a crucial role through sustainable funding of the BBC World Service, to ensure it has the necessary resources to combat harmful rhetoric.

Congress is alarmed by approaches adopted by big tech seeking financial gain at the expense of rightsholders. Across sectors including books and photography, breaches to legal protections afforded journalists have occurred, leading to the use of protected works without express consent or fair remuneration. Freelance journalists face an uphill battle with limited resources to oppose the unlawful use of their content by AI developers to inform and train technologies.

Developers must be mandated to reveal sources of their training data where breaches have occurred, to allow journalists to seek redress, and legislation must require rightsholders to opt-in, not out to the use of their works.

In 2024–25, the Musicians’ Union and Council of Music Makers took part in government convened negotiations with major labels for fair pay and contract terms. Despite intense government pressure, the major labels refused to pay a greater share of streaming revenue to musicians. Session, or backing, musicians still receive no streaming royalties and many featured artists are stuck on outdated royalty rates negotiated before streaming became the main way that people consume music.

Meanwhile, the government intends to weaken the protection provided by the copyright regime, by introducing an exception to copyright where content is used for the purpose of training AI.

The upcoming artificial intelligence (AI) bill is a historic opportunity to change copyright law and ensure musicians get a fair deal from both AI-generated music and music streaming.

Congress notes the development of the TUC pro-worker AI and innovation strategy.

Congress condemns the:

i. absence of the government publishing the response to their consultation on copyright and AI, which closed in March 2025

ii. government’s delay in introducing a bill to regulate AI, which they announced would be before Christmas 2024, but which has still not been tabled

iii. UK government in following the US by refusing to sign (in February 2025) a statement on inclusive and sustainable artificial intelligence for people and the planet signed by other countries

iv. UK government’s decision in June 2025 to oppose an amendment to the Data Bill that would have forced AI companies to declare if and when they used copyrighted material.

Congress calls on the TUC to campaign to ensure:

a. the AI Bill provides appropriate and proportionate remuneration for musicians from both AI-generated music and music streaming

b. AI developers training on copyright works are required to report which works they trained on and that AI-generated works are appropriately labelled for consumers

c. musicians are given the right to contract adjustment, which would allow old royalty rates to be increased to modern digital royalty rates

d. featured artists, songwriters and composers can claim their rights back from record labels and music publishers after a certain period of time, like in the US

e. the implementation in full of AI for Creative Workers: a TUC manifesto

f. ethical guidelines are developed for backstage, technical and other non-performing roles on use of generative AI tools and content

g. protections for backstage, technical, and support workers whose skills, labour or roles are impacted by generative AI, including where no IP or copyright protections apply

h. AI generated content is labelled as such

i. rights of all workers are protected from AI companies stealing their creative work and to actively campaign for the protection of creative workers’ copyright

j. transparency of production on all products, media and creative works created by AI

k. the government monitors AI usage and properly limits its expansion.

Congress also calls on the TUC to:

1. lobby government to introduce a regime of personality rights, under which artists could better protect and licence their voice, likeness and other aspects of their personal image

2. work with the government and its newly created Information Commissioner to push for improved enforcement of data protection rights in respect of generative AI

3. campaign against the government’s intended introduction of a “text and data mining exception” to copyright protection.

4. support the NUJ’s AI campaign urging an end to rightsholders’ copyright breaches by big tech

5. collect data and information related to the numbers of jobs being lost to AI in the public and private sectors, and its effect on creative self-employed workers

6. work globally with other unions and campaigns to develop AI that is open, transparent, ethical, safe and trustworthy, in order to encourage positive outcomes for labour markets, ensuring sustainable AI while promoting international cooperation and governance.

Mover: Equity
Seconder: Musicians’ Union
Supporters: National Union of Journalists, Artists’ Union of England, Prospect

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C11 AI and the future world of work, including finance sector

Received from: Aegis, Community

Comprising Motions 63 and 66 plus amendment

Congress acknowledges the transformative impact of AI in the workplace, and the opportunities that it presents for innovation and efficiency in finance and other sectors. However, as AI becomes more integrated into our daily lives, we must harness its benefits whilst ensuring responsible use and safeguarding the interests of the workforce.

Conference notes the rapid integration of AI and automation in the finance sector – used in algorithmic trading, customer support, compliance, and back-office functions – with 75 per cent of firms already deploying AI and another 10 per cent planning adoption in the next three years.

Conference further acknowledges that a 2017 Opimas study estimated around 230,000 global finance sector jobs could be automated by 2025, particularly in asset management and junior analyst roles. Meanwhile, the Tony Blair Institute projects that one to three million UK private sector jobs may be displaced by AI over coming decades, with roughly 60,000–275,000 jobs lost annually at peak, predominantly in banking, finance, administrative and customer-facing roles.

Congress recognises the importance of preparing workers for the challenges and opportunities AI presents. Accessible training and retraining programmes delivered during working hours, as well as maintaining transparency around the use of AI in work, are vital to ensure employees can adapt to technological change, without fear of AI undercutting jobs.

Congress believes that AI should enhance work – not replace it. Conference believes AI must not be a threat to workers. It risks economic inequality, job degradation, and weakening of collective bargaining unless managed properly. We must ensure that AI is used to free up staff time, increase productivity and maintain high-quality employment, rather than undermine job security.

Congress, therefore, calls on the TUC to:

i. work with employers to ensure that AI does not limit entryways for young people into employment and that apprenticeships incorporate AI to prepare workers for the future

ii. encourage employers to offer retraining opportunities on AI and new technologies, to ensure that workers can fully engage with the changing modern workplace

iii. call for companies to adopt responsible AI policies, ensuring that new technologies are not used for undue surveillance activity or to impinge upon workplace protections

iv. lobby the government to ensure that employers are required to undertake, and act upon the findings of, equality impact assessments before implementing AI

v. lobby the government to work in partnership with unions and employers to develop frameworks for responsible AI use, ensuring workers’ voices are heard and their rights safeguarded. This must include strong protections against the use of algorithmic management decisions throughout recruitment and employment processes

vi. lobby government for robust AI regulation in financial services, with mandatory employment impact assessments and oversight of job losses

vii. insist on union consultation before AI implementation in workplaces

viii. develop a just transition framework, including job security, retraining programmes, redeployment plans, and sector-specific upskilling

ix. secure representation for unions on AI ethics and governance bodies within the finance industry

x. equip finance-sector union reps with AI literacy and negotiating capacity.
Conference resolves to work with affiliates, regulators, and employers to safeguard jobs, defend workers’ rights, and ensure AI-driven change benefits all, not just shareholders.

Mover: Community
Seconder: Aegis
Supporter: Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers

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C13 Europe matters

Received from: MU, Prospect

Comprising Motion 73 plus amendment and Motion 74

Congress notes that international developments have brought into sharper focus the importance of co-operation with the EU on defence and security.

It also notes the continued significance of UK trade with the EU, and the potential for this to boost domestic economic growth.

Congress considers that the upcoming review of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement will have direct consequences for working people including for employment and social protection, environmental safeguards, energy security and carbon markets, and cross-border mobility for scientific research teams and creative workers.

Touring artists and musicians have now been struggling with the impacts of Brexit on touring in the EU for several years, with their opportunities severely impacted.
Conference welcomes the recent government discussions aimed at improving post-Brexit cultural and professional mobility but notes that while initial agreements were reached on security, defence, and the fishing industry, it remains uncertain whether a firm agreement can be secured for touring artists.

Trade union representation on the Domestic Advisory Group can make an important contribution to the outcome of that review.

In addition, Congress welcomes continuing work and solidarity with the ETUC, including on strategies to counter the far right.

Congress therefore calls on the General Council to:

i. promote the importance of the UK’s relationship with the EU across the economy

ii. assess the impact of emerging political developments and ensure that the interests of working people are at the heart of decision-making

iii. critically evaluate proposals to change the Trade and Co-operation Agreement and press trade union priorities through the Domestic Advisory Group

iv. lobby the UK government to fully rejoin Erasmus+, bringing benefits to both university students and staff and enriching our country

v. maintain pressure on the UK government to make good on their manifesto commitments and remove barriers for musicians touring in the EU as part of the reset of the UK-EU relationship

vi. request that the ETUC discuss touring artists, the creative industries and vital cultural exchange, with a view to establishing UK/EU working parties to address barriers including carnets, cabotage, VISA and work permits.

Mover: Prospect
Seconder: Musicians’ Union
Supporter: University and College Union

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Motion 08 Expanding equal pay legislation

Received from: Unite

Despite progress in workplace equality, pay gaps remain a harsh reality. Women are still paid less than men for the same roles. BAEM workers are often underpaid compared to their white colleagues. Disabled workers face both physical and economic barriers, and LGBT+ workers still encounter wage discrimination and bias, often hidden beneath the surface.

Equal pay is not just a matter of fairness as it’s perpetuating discrimination not to address it.

While employers must commit to full pay transparency, fair promotion practices, and regular mandatory audits, the Labour government, under the Plan to Make Work Pay proposals, must go further when expanding equal pay legislation.

We call on the TUC to support:

i. increasing the scope of the current proposals on race and disability pay gaps from employers with over 250 employees to those of 50 and over

ii. legislating for compulsory action plans, alongside pay audits as reporting the issues alone do not address pay inequality, clearly demonstrated by the persistent gender pay gap

iii. ensuring that any enforcement unit has effective statutory powers to demand employers comply as too often the remedy falls on workers to pursue lengthy tribunal claims

iv. including LGBT+ pay audits and action plans into future legislation as research confirms this must be included in any action on pay inequality

v. continue to commit to include outsourced workers as a comparator, regardless of length of service, as contracting out has too often been used by employers to avoid paying equal pay.

Unite

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C06 Advancing neurodiversity rights in the workplace and championing inclusive support for neuro-diverse staff

Received from: Aegis, SoR

Comprising Motions 23 and 24 plus amendments

Conference recognises the growing number of neurodivergent workers, including those with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other conditions. Despite protections under the Equality Act 2010, many still face discrimination, inaccessible recruitment processes, inflexible approaches to hybrid working, inconsistent use of reasonable adjustment passports and lack of workplace support.

There is growing research showing the cost and risks of not developing inclusive practices. There is also encouraging research showing how cost-effective and neuro-diversity sensitive changes can improve productivity and outcomes for all staff and patients. These include:

i. Autism friendly waiting areas.
ii. Virtual department or hospital tours.
iii. Patient experience videos.
iv. Testing processes so they’re accessible.
v. Awareness training for whole teams.

Hospitals can be stressful and intimidating places for anyone to visit or work. This can lead to poor communication which contributes to increased patient risk and inefficient treatment. These risks and costs are amplified for patients and staff with neuro-diversities.

Investing time to ensure clear communications about expectations, simplifying systems, and adopting inclusive spaces benefits all patients as well as those healthcare staff with neuro-diversities. Likewise, considering neuro-diverse needs in work design, training and development for students and staff also reduces burnout and stress and improves retention – supporting better productivity and outcomes for patients.

Conference welcomes increasing awareness of neurodiversity across unions and employers but believes national action is urgently needed.

Congress therefore calls on the TUC to:

a. work with unions and relevant charities to champion inclusive practice as part of a safer and more productive NHS

b. develop focussed modules for health and safety reps and equality reps to conduct audits for inclusive spaces, systems and practice

c. actively promote examples of good practice and how these benefit all service users and staff

d. support training for unions’ representatives in understanding and championing inclusive spaces, systems and practice across NHS and other public service settings.

e. campaign for:

– strengthened equality legislation that explicitly protects neurodivergent workers and mandates neurodiversity training for employers
– statutory timelines and legal rights to reasonable adjustments, including for those awaiting a formal diagnosis
– recruitment reform requiring accessible processes, clear role descriptions and inclusive assessment methods
– mandatory neurodiversity workforce reporting, particularly in large employers and the public sector
– investment in inclusive apprenticeships and tailored work experience for neurodivergent young people
– a national neurodiversity strategy, co-created with disabled people and with union involvement, and the appointment of a dedicated minister for neurodiversity
– inclusion of neurodivergent needs in workplace health and safety law, including manager training and sensory risk assessments.
– support for parents and carers of neurodiverse individuals
– the commission of research into the experiences of and challenges facing neurodiverse workers, to ensure that this strategy is grounded in their lived experience and informs the work unions and the TUC are doing going forwards.

Conference resolves to support unions in promoting workplace neurodiversity and campaigning for legislative reform that ensures equity, dignity and opportunity for all workers.

Proposer: Society of Radiographers
Seconder: Aegis
Supporters: Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers,
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, FDA

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Motion 25 Paid worktime for nursing parents

Received from: Royal College of Podiatry

This Congress demands that nursing parents are paid when they feed their child during working hours.

For example, whilst the NHS in England and Wales will provide facilities to breastfeed in work time, some are refusing to pay a parent for the actual time that they feed their child.

This Congress believes that in all workplaces parents should be given paid time off to feed their child – especially when space has been provided for this purpose. Although breastfeeding breaks to express milk in a private space are typically included in policies across most organisations, the act of feeding a child during work time often is not.

Supporting nursing parents in the workplace is essential for promoting family wellbeing and child health. Paid time off to feed children not only facilitates better work-life balance but also contributes to improved employee morale and retention.

We call on all workplaces to ensure that nursing parents have the option for paid time off to feed their child without facing stigma or penalties.

We therefore urge the TUC to actively campaign to remove barriers for parents in their workplaces and to promote policies that ensure that parents and their children are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.

Royal College of Podiatry

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Motion 07 Supreme Court ruling – active support for trans and non-binary workers

Received from: TUC LGBT+ Conference

Conference believes that:

i. transgender rights are human rights

ii. transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people are entitled to live and work free from prejudice and harassment

iii. the discrimination faced by transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people reflects a rigid gender conformity that oppresses all women.

Conference notes that:

a. the Supreme Court ruling of the 16 April goes against both recent and past European Court of Human Rights judgements

b. on 11 June, during evidence to the Women and Equalities Select Committee, the current EHRC chair Baroness Falkner was asked about how draft EHRC guidance to service providers on asking people about their birth sex in order to access toilets can be in accordance with the Human Rights Act 1998 Article 8 Right to Privacy

c. Baroness Falkner responded that the EHRC “[does] not think Article 8 rights apply”

d. that the interim guidance issued by the EHRC is flawed and inconsistent on the inclusion of transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people in public life, including as employees seeking to impose a duty excluding many workers from single sex spaces in workplaces and public life

e. the EHRC consultation period on its ‘guidance’ is insufficient for full consideration by affected parties of the implications of said ‘guidance’

f. the TUC has robust policy, consistently passed at Congress in the last seven years.

We note since the Supreme Court ruling, there has been a surge of transphobic hate promoted by the far-right, for political advantage. That the rise of far-right hate against LGBT+ people including trans people, as well as against migrants, women and all minority groups, is dangerous and a threat to trade union values.

This conference believes that trade unionists must oppose the imposition of gender stereotypes, protecting the dignity and safety of all workers.

Conference therefore calls for the TUC, LGBT+ Committee to:

1. campaign publicly on its policy for gender self-declaration

2. work with government to update and improve the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Equality Act 2010 to achieve social equality for all transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people

3. develop guidance on challenging transphobia in the workplace and negotiating improved workplace policies that are inclusive of transgender, non-binary and gender diverse workers.

4. campaign for full rights for transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people in the workplace and wider society.

5. continue supporting the Trade Unions for Trans and Non-Binary Rights Network

6. invite the Minister for Women and Equalities to meet members of the TUC General Council and the TUC LGBT+ Committee to discuss this issue.

7. actively work on all provisions of policy relating to trans and non-binary workers adopted at TUC Congress

8. ensure trans and non-binary voices and experiences are included in all work on these issues.

TUC LGBT+ Conference

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C14 The crisis in Palestine

Received from: National Education Union

Comprising Motion 71 plus amendments

Congress notes:

i. Israel’s ongoing genocidal onslaught on Gaza has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, including 18,000 children. Key workers have been targeted by Israel, with 166 journalists and media workers, 120 academics, 1,580 health workers and over 224 humanitarian aid workers killed since 2023.

ii. Alongside widespread destruction of vital infrastructure including homes, hospitals, schools, and universities, Israel is blocking food and humanitarian aid, causing starvation and the spread of preventable disease.

iii. Threats by Israeli government ministers including Netanyahu, supported by Trump, to ethnically cleanse Gaza, while settler and army attacks on Palestinians have increased significantly in the occupied West Bank, where the demolition of Palestinian homes at record levels and planned construction of tens of thousands of settlement units are further contributing to annexation.

iv. Britain, as a party to the Genocide Convention, has obligations to prevent and punish genocide.

v. Despite words of condemnation, the British government continues to export weapons and military technology used by Israel in Gaza, including parts for F-35 fighter jets.

vi. On May Day, Palestinian trade unions reiterated their call for unions across the world to escalate campaigns “to end this shameful complicity in Israel’s illegal occupation, colonial apartheid and genocide” through boycotts, divestment and sanctions.

Congress reaffirms its existing policy supporting Palestinian rights.

Congress urgently calls on the UK government to:

a. take meaningful action to secure an immediate, complete, and permanent ceasefire with full access for food and aid delivery into Gaza, an end to the siege and the release of hostages

b. implement international court rulings and immediately recognise the State of Palestine contributing to a two-state solution

c. immediately end all arms trade and military collaboration with Israel in line with international law

d. implement a total ban on all trade which aids or assists Israel’s violations of international law including with Israel’s illegal settlements

e. repeal the authoritarian proscription of Palestine Action under counter-terrorism laws and uphold and strengthen the right to peaceful protest following the arrest of activists, including Ben Jamal, on peaceful Palestine Solidarity Campaign marches.

Mover: National Education Union
Seconder: UNISON
Supporters: Unite, Public and Commercial Services Union, Artists’ Union England

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Motion 72 International solidarity with journalists

Received from: NUJ

Congress notes records held by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) indicate the killings of at least 122 media professionals globally in 2024.

Around the world, journalists carrying out their professional duties have been targeted for their reporting and efforts exposing truths and injustices despite committing no crime. Palestinian journalists reporting from Gaza where no foreign media access has been granted by the Israeli authorities, continue to inform the world through their bravery in unimaginable conditions.

Congress believes the trade union movement must continue to be vocal in its solidarity for journalists worldwide, whether in Iran, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Ukraine or elsewhere. This must extend too, to women journalists working under oppressive regimes in the face of abuse and hostility.

Attacks on journalists and journalism at home or abroad must never be accepted, and data-gathering of incidents help build an evidence base to lobby for change.

Congress notes the NUJ’s Journalists’ Safety Tracker collating anonymous submissions of abuse, harassment, legal threats and proceedings brought against journalists to stymie their reporting, aims to capture incidents and counter the perception that abuse is simply part of a journalist’s job.

Congress instructs the General Council to:

i. continue to stand in solidarity with journalists globally, condemning attacks against media workers wherever they occur

ii. support the proposal of a UN convention on the safety and independence of journalists and other media professionals developed by the IFJ and backed by the NUJ.

National Union of Journalists

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Motion 75 Year of trade union climate action 2025–2026

Received from: BFAWU

Congress welcomes the 2024 TUC motion recognising that the climate emergency is a trade union issue impacting all jobs and workers. Congress reaffirms its support for climate-related workplace action, including heat strikes, and the call for a year of trade union climate action 2025–2026, now also national policy for several affiliated unions.

Congress recognises:

i. workers are already suffering from extreme weather, flooding, and unaffordable fossil fuel energy

ii. the UK is unprepared for escalating climate disasters

iii. a rapid, just global transition from fossil fuels is essential to avoid catastrophic climate breakdown.

Congress calls on the TUC and affiliates to:

a. support and organise a workplace day of action on 14 November 2025 and support protests on the global day of solidarity on 15 November 2025, during COP30 in Brazil.

Congress resolves to:

1. promote green bargaining in all union training, campaign for facility time for green reps, build national and regional green reps’ networks

2. encourage unions to organise outreach events, including workplace discussions and joint actions with other unions and civil society on climate, housing, health, fuel poverty and anti-racism during 2025–2026

3. support global solidarity initiatives including the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and climate justice finance such as Brazil’s proposed two per cent tax on billionaires

4. promote and support mobilisation around the workplace day of action on 14 November 2025 and global day of solidarity on 15 November 2025, during COP30 in Brazil

5. instruct the TUC Just Transition team to produce and coordinate publicity and promotion to support affiliates throughout the year.

Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

AMENDMENT

In bullet 3., after “billionaires” insert:
“, while understanding that future fossil fuel production can only be ended when and where a fully funded workers’ plan for jobs has been agreed and delivered in full”
Unite

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Motion 38 Disabled workers oppose welfare reforms

Received from: TUC Disabled Workers Conference

This conference notes with anger the government’s spring statement, published on 18 March 2025, which attacks disability benefits (proposed significant welfare changes to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and Universal Credit (UC)) this will force disabled workers into unemployment.

This conference condemns the UK government’s plans to cut £5bn from PIP, which represents an unacceptable attack on disabled people.

Disabled people use PIP to pay for extra disability-related costs, including therapies not available on the NHS, to help them continue working.

These proposals reduce disabled people’s choice and autonomy and will create more poverty and isolation. The government has ignored disabled people’s advocacy organisations’ evidence on the damage this will cause and instead followed the same “blame” narrative as the Tories.

Conference recognises that:

i. PIP and UC are claimed by thousands of disabled workers

ii. PIP is not an out-of-work benefit but a lifeline that helps disabled people manage the additional costs of their conditions – in work or not

iii. attacking PIP will make it even harder for people to meet the extra costs of having a disability, including those already in work

iv. employers will lose experienced, loyal workers. The treasury will lose tax and NI contributions potentially worth more than a disabled worker’s PIP, disabled workers will contribute less to the economy and unemployment benefits claims will increase

v. analysis by the New Economics Foundation on the impact of the proposed cuts shows £6.7bn would be taken directly out of the pockets of disabled people

vi. up to 1.2 million disabled people will lose between £4,200 and £6,300 a year by 2029–30. Plus, the carers who will lose carer’s allowance

vii. £23bn in benefits and passported entitlements go unclaimed annually

viii. over half of the 16 million people living in poverty have a disability

ix. cutting support under the false pretence of boosting employment is unjust and economically incoherent

x. leading disability organisations have warned that the planned cuts will have catastrophic consequences for disabled people

xi. these changes include blocking under 22s from claiming.

The benefits system isn’t perfect but reform cannot be used to fill the budget deficit left by the Tories. Disabled people must be involved in designing a welfare system that is fit for purpose now and in the future.

Conference believes:

a. it is unjust that disabled people are forced to bear the burden of government spending choices

b. PIP is an essential non-means-tested benefit recognising additional costs of living with a disability/ long-term health condition

c. the proposed reforms attack disabled people’s rights and dignity, risking deepening discrimination/social exclusion.

Conference calls on TUC Disabled Workers Committee to work with the General Council, and other trade unions to:

1. lobby government to stop the proposed changes and work with disabled people and workers on any proposed welfare changes

2. campaign for a fully resourced, supportive social security system

3. demand that instead of these regressive changes government provides a fair social security system providing dignity/respect, genuine consultation on policy with disabled people and investment in independent living, inclusive employment and accessible services

4. publicly condemn proposed changes, demanding immediate withdrawal

5. oppose all cuts to PIP and disability benefits and campaign for the expansion of financial support for disabled people

6. challenge the government and demand immediate assurances that PIP will not be cut or frozen

7. launch coordinated campaign against the cuts, highlighting their impact on disabled people

8. mobilise trade union members to stand in solidarity with disabled people through public campaigning, lobbying, and direct action

9. organise a demonstration and lobby of parliament in support of disabled workers as a launchpad for sustained trade union action in defence of workers and young people

10. organise a weekend demonstration against Labour austerity as a launchpad for sustained trade union action in defence of workers and young people

11. organise an accessible static protest against the proposals in Parliament Square before changes are implemented

12. campaign against the proposals including lobbying individual MPs and the government

13. work with disability rights organisations to resist these attacks and push for policies that genuinely support disabled people’s rights, independence, and inclusion in society

14. work closely with unions to challenge the implementation of this policy

15. collaborate with disabled people’s organisations – amplifying opposition

16. reaffirm their commitment to the TUC Welfare Charter.

TUC Disabled Workers Conference

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Motion 39 Oppose disability benefits cuts emergency

Received from: TUC Trades Union Councils Conference

This conference notes the Labour government’s spring statement published 18 March 2025 attacking disability benefits.

This conference recognises:

i. up to 1.2 million disabled people will lose between £4,200 and £6,300 a year by 2029–30. Plus, the carers who will lose carer’s allowance.

ii. recent NEF analysis of the impact of the planned cuts shows £6.7bn would be taken directly out of the pockets of disabled people

iii. £23bn benefits and passported entitlements goes unclaimed annually.

iv. over half of the 16 million people living in poverty have a disability

v. attacking PIP will make it even harder for people to meet the extra costs of having a disability including those already in work.

This conference instructs the TUCJCC to campaign to oppose the attacks on disability benefits to demand:

a. a fully resourced, supportive social security system

b. opposition to government scapegoating of claimants and shift the focus onto employment rights and tackling employers’ discrimination, low pay and poor working conditions as set out in the TUC Welfare Charter

c. full support for young people’s right to access disability benefits

d. removal of assessments from fat-cat providers and return to public sector delivery in the DWP with a complete overhaul to support claimants

e. opposition to government plans to make entitlement to the health component of UC totally dependent on the award of PIP removing the specific support which addresses the impact of disability on being able to work

f. opposition to the four points requirement for PIP which will slash entitlement for new claimants and at the review stage

g. a completely voluntary approach for disabled claimants to access fully staffed support to find work

h. a halt to target-driven approach in DWP and put the emphasis on getting a quality decision right at the outset to reduce the hardship and lengthy time taken to dispute and appeal decisions

i. investment in public services including the NHS, social care and crisis services to alleviate the impact of poverty and highlight how the disability benefit cuts will increase pressure on these vital services

j. to build support for the TUC Disabled Workers Committee to organise a demonstration and lobby of Parliament in support of these demands and for the TUC to organise a weekend demonstration against Labour austerity as a launchpad for sustained trade union action in defence of workers and young people.

TUC Trades Councils Conference

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EM1 Defend the right to protest, defend democracy

Received from: UCU

Congress notes that:

i. we are witnessing an alarming attack on the right to protest in Britain, inaugurated by Tory legislation in 2022 and 2023

ii. there has recently been a serious escalation in this authoritarianism, widely condemned by leading human-rights organisations. Such escalation has included:

–    the Metropolitan Police’s unprecedented imposition of stringent restrictions on every recent national march for Palestine

–    the increasingly lengthy custodial sentences given to climate justice protestors

–    the political prosecution of four leading organisers of the Palestine Coalition which oversees the national marches

–    the home secretary’s abuse of anti-terrorism legislation to ban a non-violent, direct action group, persecute opponents of this move and target peaceful activists

–    the government’s pursuit of the Crime and Policing Bill, which would further empower the police to restrict mass protest.

Congress believes that:

a.  these attacks on the right to protest seriously endanger democracy

b.  worsening authoritarianism ultimately threatens trade union freedoms

c.  especially with the far right on the rise, a Labour government should be defending basic human rights and democratic norms, not imperilling them.

Congress resolves to:

1. write to the prime minister, the home secretary and the mayor of London, reflecting the ‘believes’ clauses, conveying our unified opposition to all aspects of this worsening authoritarianism

2. demand, in such a letter and in a public statement, an immediate end to attacks on the right to protest and, specifically, an end to the punitive, political use of sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act by the Metropolitan Police

3. support campaigns defending the right to protest.

Mover: University and College Union
Seconder: National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers

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EM2 Counter-mobilising to fight the far right

Received from: PCS

Congress notes:

i. that the High Court decision of 15th August on the Bell Hotel at Epping will only increase the confidence of those far-right groups at the heart of the wave of often violent protests that have once again swept Britain this summe

ii. that Tommy Robinson former leader of the English Defence League will seek to build on this  on his so-called free speech – in reality a far-right protest in London on Saturday 13 September

iii. that Robinson is being strongly backed by the world’s richest man Elon Musk and a host of far-right figures, including ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who wish to divert attention to migrants and away from the growing inequality in our society

iv. Congress congratulates the TUC General Council for supporting the counter protest initiated by Stand Up to Racism.

Congress believes:

a. that mainstream politicians aping the rhetoric of Reform UK has only played into the hands of those wishing to target and abuse asylum seekers and diverts attention from the real causes of the problems our society faces.

Congress resolves to:

1. urge members to support the counter mobilisation on Saturday 13 September

2. continue to support anti-racist organisations like Stand Up to Racism, HOPE not hate and Show Racism the Red Card.

3. seek to deepen the links between the trade union movement and anti-racist organisations at a national, regional and local level in order to build organisation and strengthen our counter narrative.

Recommendation:

I. To endorse the submission of the above emergency motion.

Mover: Public and Commercial Services Union
Seconder: National Education Union

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EM3 Transport for London industrial relations

Received from: RMT

Congress notes:

i. On 4 September, RMT announced a dispute covering outsourced cleaners employed on London Underground.

ii. On 7 September, strike action is commencing on London Underground.

iii. In the same week, strike action is to commence on Docklands Lights Railway (DLR) operated by a private contract let by Transport for London, together with another strike by DLR sub-contracted cleaners.

Across Transport for London (TfL) subsidiary companies and contracts there is a breakdown in industrial relations on public transport.  This has been fuelled in part by TfL’s failure to meaningfully address the concerns of all staff in an increasingly pressurised workplace, coping with a massive increase in passengers with high levels of assaults, stress and fatigue.

Notably, the Greater London Authority Transport Committee issued a statement on 2 September calling for TFL to reconsider its approach to staffing stations to improve staff safety.

Congress is also dismayed that on some contracts presided over by TFL there is no company sick pay, poverty wages and the use of zero-hour contracts.

Congress is also appalled to learn this week the recently appointed Elizabeth Line Concession Operator will close all its ticket offices by August 2027.

Congress notes the mayor of London is chair of Transport for London and has ultimate responsibility.

The mayor needs to exert far greater control over Transport for London to improve industrial relations. Congress calls on the mayor, in consultation with affiliates, to urgently call a summit to resolve disputes, improve industrial relations, end outsourcing and retain ticket offices.

Mover: National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers
Seconder: tbc

 

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EM4 Defend TikTok workers – no to union busting, yes to real jobs

Received from: CWU

Congress notes with grave concern the recent announcement of mass redundancies of approximately 500 London-based content moderator employees, in the TikTok Trust and Safety team. In proposing to sack half of their workforce, the global social media giant has threatened the livelihoods of those who helped them achieve such immense profit and market dominance.

Congress notes that TikTok plans to replace these workers with offshore jobs and artificial intelligence-based moderation systems, endangering the safety of their platform and undermining their UK workforce.

This is a cynical attempt to union-bust and endanger online safety, as the CWU’s national tech branch, UTAW, has been organising TikTok moderators since November last year. Widespread media coverage and whistleblower reports indicate that TikTok senior management timed the redundancies to thwart the union recognition ballot, which was set to begin on 29 August.

Tech giants like TikTok cannot be allowed to act with impunity, thwart union efforts to organise within the tech sector and threaten the safety of our online spaces, in the name of profit.

Congress calls on the TUC to lobby the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology and the Labour government for an investigation into this union busting, for concrete action on preventing the offshoring of UK moderation/online safety jobs and legislation that prevents human content moderators being replaced with AI.

Mover: Communication Workers Union
Seconder: USDAW

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EM5 Oppose Isaac Herzog’s visit to Britain

Received from: National Education Union

Congress notes:

i. On 4 September, it was announced that Israeli president Isaac Herzog will visit Britain on 10 and 11 September.

ii. Herzog is the head of a state that is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

iii. In January 2024, the ICJ cited statements made by Herzog – that sought to dehumanise Palestinians and called for their collective punishment – as plausible evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent towards the Palestinian people. Herzog’s chilling statements include that there “are no innocent civilians in Gaza” and that Israel will “fight until we break their backbone”. Sickeningly, he was even pictured writing messages on bombs in preparation to be dropped on Gaza.

iv. As a state party to the Genocide Convention, Britain has a responsibility to prevent and punish genocide including by bringing to justice those responsible for incitement to commit genocide.

Congress believes:

a. Faced with overwhelming evidence of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which includes the systematic killing of education, health, media and other workers, no Israeli government official should be welcomed to Britain, and no British minister should be meeting with them as part of such a visit.

b. If this visit goes ahead, Herzog must be subject to robust action and investigation by the police.

Congress resolves to:

1. Call on the prime minister and home secretary to prevent Isaac Herzog from entering Britain.

2. Support protests against this visit if it goes ahead.

3. Continue to support and promote the workplace days of action in solidarity with Palestine.

Mover: National Education Union
Seconder: University College Union

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EM6 A new threat to all workers: up front charges in employment directories

Received from: Equity

Congress:

i. recalls the motion passed at 2024 Congress supporting the repeal of the unfair exemption for the performing arts and entertainment industries contained the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003

ii. recognises that performers and creative workers continue to pay significant fees to be included in casting directories – recruitment costs which should be borne by engagers

iii. notes the judgement laid down on 3 September by Her Honourable Justice Howells in the High Court, which dismissed a challenge to the charging practices of Talent Systems Europe (trading as Spotlight), the dominant casting directory in the UK entertainment industry, led by a group of Equity members.

Congress further notes:

a. the judgement of the High Court has worrying implications for working people across the UK, who may now be left unprotected from up front charges by similar platforms elsewhere in the growing gig economy.

Congress believes:

1. the judgement fails to acknowledge the imbalance of power in the entertainment industry while defending a status quo for casting directories at the expense of low-paid creative workers

2. that the tax on hope shouldered by creative workers in a sector marked by insecurity and unpredictability must end

3. that this judgment opens the potential for exploitative practices for workers across the economy.

Congress resolves to support:

I. the appeal against this High Court judgement

II. Equity in convening unions to fight the economy wide implications of this judgement.

Mover: Equity
Seconder: CWU

Lost motions
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Motion 76 Reform of the TUC

Received from: CWU

Despite the election of a Labour government and the positive first step of the Employment Rights Bill, the trade union movement faces historic challenges and obstacles to growth. It is clear the challenges that working-class people face cannot be resolved without innovative and radical thinking on how the TUC carries out its industrial and political work.

Therefore, Congress agrees that it is time for a top to bottom review of the TUC, including its overall structures, role and purpose in the wider labour movement.

The review will be undertaken through a General Council working group, reflecting the diversity of the members we represent, with a report and recommendations being published to the General Council and voted on at the 2026 TUC Congress.

As a minimum, the review must recommend an enhanced democratic structure for the TUC and therefore, Congress agrees that the recommendations must include:

i. a five-year term for the elected general secretary of the TUC

ii. a deputy general secretary elected for a five-year term

iii. proposals for reform of TUC structures so it is driven by harnessing the power of trade unions and expanding collective rights in every workplace in the UK

iv. a plan to unite and raise the living standards of working-class people, across ethnicity and gender, in response to the changing political landscape and to counter the rise of the far right.

Communication Workers Union