Received from: TUC Trades Union Councils Conference
Congress believes that solidarity with workers taking strike action is a fundamental principle of the trade union movement. Therefore, Congress applauds all local trades councils who have been working so hard during 2022 and 2023 to deliver picket line solidarity with strikers from across the spectrum of trade unions – both TUC affiliated and non-affiliated.
However, despite the best efforts of trades councils to reach out to unions, at local level and through regional TUC structures, seeking information on local disputes, their capacity to show solidarity and offer picket line support has in some cases been, limited by less-than-ideal communications between unions and trades councils. Often trades councils are the last to know about disputes, strikes and picket lines in their areas, including when and where the picket lines will be. This makes coordinating public support and inter-union solidarity more difficult and less effective than it should be.
Congress further believes that provision of accurate and timely information is crucial to every aspect of relationship building between trades councils, unions, and their branches. However, many trades councils lack vital information about union branches in their localities.
Congress therefore urges the TUC General Council to encourage all affiliated trade unions to:
i. ensure that all their media and communications officers and/or general secretaries have up to date contact details for all UK (and as appropriate Republic of Ireland) trades councils
ii. ensure, as a matter of routine, that relevant information, including media releases, are sent to all trades councils
iii. ensure that in the run up to and during disputes (whether local, regional, or national), trades councils are sent up-to-date information on strike dates and times, picket lines, how negotiations, if any, are proceeding, and the outcomes of these disputes.
iv. Congress also asks the General Council to write to all affiliated unions, requesting them to ensure that their regional officers are provided with the contact details of trades council secretaries in their region, and that these officers send the names of the relevant branches of their union to each trades council.
Trades Councils Conference