TUC unanimously condems SC ruling

[SexMatters84]

"TUC delegates agreed unanimously – that is an important word in this context and we shall return to it – to a motion condemning the Supreme Court ruling and insisting it contradicts the ECHR. Exactly how such a contradiction arises is neither here nor there, but it is unthinkable that when Churchill, de Gaulle and the victorious allied powers after the Second World War were considering the human rights framework that had to be instituted to prevent a repeat of the Nazis’ atrocities, they would have overlooked the rights of men in dresses to use women’s toilets."

https://open.substack.com/pub/tomharris2/p/trade-unions-are-no-longer-relevant

Yet again I am seriously considering whether to continue union membership considering these sort of antics. Sadly LWD and FiLia TU groups aren't changing Comrades minds! I support what unions achieved historically but nostalgia is no longer enough.

(Is there a thread already on this? Please link if so, I couldn't spot one.)

I don't understand on what basis they believe they can oppose the Supreme Court judgment or why they think they know more about human rights laws than the country's most senior judges.

Do they have the faintest fucking Scooby Doo how our legal system works?

Same for me with regard to UCU.

30 plus years a member. I clicked the dissatisfied option on why I was leaving- heard nothing in response.

Affinity is also far cheaper than UCU.

Female dominated organisations have generally been the ones most in thrall to GI, so more women involved may have increased the likelihood they went in that direction rather than lessened it.

It's the "be kind" instinct coupled with the "enforce social norms" instinct.

Affinity is also far cheaper than UCU.

Have they commented on Supreme Court judgement.

I had a quick look at their web site and couldn't see anything,

Thanks for the tip on Affinity - I shall investigate.

I think there’s a mix in the Communist party. Menno went to a meeting they had after the SC ruling and they were very hostile to him.

I've just been reading this article from Sky News App about the GMB and thought people might be interested if they hadn't seen it:-

news.sky.com/story/i-wanted-to-ask-this-union-boss-some-very-serious-questions-and-he-tried-to-run-away-from-me-13428193

That would not surprise me.

The UK Communists seem to be unusual in resisting GI. Most communist parties in most countries have embraced it, and ID politics generally.

So I would not be shocked if there are quite a few communists in the UK who also feel that way. It's a fairly internationalist movement.

Even if I agreed with the TUC in principle, the thing that strikes me is that their strategy is so flawed.

They seem to be banking on the idea that the SC judges are wrong as a point of law, but that would take years to change, even if they were right (they really should listen to one of Michael Foran's recent podcasts)

If they believe in their case, why not just campaign for a change in the law, particularly as they have a Labour government?

I also left my very TWAW union over this issue.

What fascinates me is how the unions are doing a very good job of dismantling themselves.

I can’t imagine the current strikes in London is making unions very popular either.

They can signal their virtue oppose it all until the cows come home, it won't make any difference. It would be like opposing gravity, it applies whether you like it or not.

In my experience of UCU, they're only interested in the opinions of those whom they represent when those opinions are in the interest of UCU.

Shower of absolute clowns, the lot of them.

Also, depends which Communist party it is.

If it's the main CPB which is behind the Morning Star, they're consistently GC though I have other issues with them.

If it's the CPGB who publish the Weekly Worker (more popularly known as the Weedy Wanker), they're a minuscule sect with a range of eccentric positions that go way beyond TWAW and extend to things like abolishing age of consent laws. Best avoided, though since there are only about 40 in the group that's not difficult.

Just seems to be hastening the arrival of driverless trains.

https://x.com/treesey/status/1965766075653800150

Where an extremely obvious male complains about being “outed” and refers to JK Rowling as “rotting in her mouldy castle”.

You can watch the men and the sappy handmaidens weigh in on the SC ruling here from 6 hours 22.47. It’s maddening.

Thinking out loud - What's their plan, in opposing it I wonder? Campaign for change or are they going to actually act in a way that is contrary to the law and advocate others do the same? Refuse to support members they don't agree with? Keep putting men up as candidates for women's officer?

How will it work? Eg. TW goes to them for support because he's been told not to use the women's facilities at work. What's their response? Work are in the right. They can say they believe TWAW all the like but that's not what the law says, in the real world.

I am so glad Sandie Peggie is taking action against her union.

I will look into Affinity too.
Today I got an email inviting me to UNISON's Trans Ally Training and I am trying to decide whether to go or not. I know this is cowardly of me, because I can't make a difference at all if I'm not there and there may be things that need challenging.

Bit rambling, sorry.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/women-are-leaving-unions-droves-we-need-answers

'STATISTICS published by the Department of Business and Trade reveal that trade union membership declined by 200,000 in 2022. Women employed in the private sector account for a staggering two-thirds of this decline (129,000).'

https://www.paulembery.com/p/trade-unions-have-a-woman-problem

'I have no doubt that the failure of the trade union movement to rally to the defence of female workers when, in many cases, they were at their most vulnerable will go down as a moment of ignominy in its otherwise proud history - a time when it elevated the extreme and illiterate demands of a small but vocal minority over the rights of an entire sex class.

Statistical Bulletin Gov.UK

The number of employees in the UK who were trade union members fell slightly by 38,000 on the year to 6.4 million in 2024.
The number of male employees who were union members fell by 172,000 to 2.7 million in 2024. The number of female employees who were union members increased by 134,000 on the year to 3.7 million.

Public and private sectors
The fall in trade union numbers among employees was also driven by the fall in private sector members, down 57,000 on the year to 2.5 million in 2024.
There was an increase in trade union membership numbers among public sector employees of 20,000 to 3.9 million in 2024, driven by an increase in female employee union membership of 87,000. The number of male public sector employees who were union members decreased by 67,000 in 2024.

Characteristics
Close to two-thirds (64%) of employee union members have a degree or equivalent or other higher education qualification compared to 51% of non-union employees and 53% of all employees.
Over 4 in 10 (43%) of employees who were trade union members had been with their current employer for 10 years or more, compared to under a quarter (23%) of non-union member employees.

Helen O'Connor (who wrote the Morning Star article mentioned above in 2022 in her personal capacity), was a nurse for 28 years and is now working for the GMB Union as a regional manager.

Perhaps her work has in some measure lead to the increase of 134,000 in women's Union membership in 2024.

Another vote for Affinity. I left UCU a few years ago over their refusal to support female academics. When my workplace tried get rid of me with completely fabricated gross misconduct charges the Affinity general secretary personally took on my case. He told me they had lots of new members who quoted the treatment of women in their old union as a reason for swapping to Affinity.

Absolutely. I regret having given them so much of my money over the years. Wish I’d known about Affinity years before I did.

Same here — I left my union over this kind of absolute nonsense, and now wish I’d never spent all that money, time and effort over twenty years of union membership (and I was involved in the local branch organisation). I too feel like all the positive, progressive things I believed in have just crumbled away. I never expected men’s rights to swallow everything up like they have, thirty years after I believed things were always going to get better.

Oh and @Maray1967 @slug @SidewaysOtter my union was UCU too.

In the Times:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/362580b3-d815-481f-8e9b-cebb37b7ee19?shareToken=cd18a63b9660dedbdda7b73d1a8d05e2