UNISON’s women’s conference in Liverpool celebrated the power of working-class women’s collective strength - and trans inclusion

[IwantToRetire]

A key focus of Ms Egan’s speech was the union’s position on advocating for the union’s trans members in a hostile political climate.
“As a union we have always stood for equality – for women, for Black members, for disabled members, for LGBT+ members, for all who face discrimination.

“And I want to be absolutely clear: I stand proudly and unequivocally in defence of LGBT+ rights. And I am a proud trans ally. Equality is not negotiable. And discrimination in any form has no place in our union, in our workplaces or in society.

“Your conference last year, and our national delegate conference, reaffirmed our commitment to trans rights. And we needed that clarity, because the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of ‘sex’ in the Equality Act has had a profound impact on our trans, non‑binary, and gender‑diverse members.

“We cannot hide from it. We cannot pretend it doesn’t matter. But we can fight to change the law when it comes to legal gender recognition.
“Nobody should have their dignity taken away because of the sex they were deemed to be at birth. Too many countries have moved forward on gender recognition while the UK falls behind. That must change and UNISON can be at the front leading that change and making that change happen.

“Let me say this from the heart: there is no contradiction between the rights of one worker and another. The only contradiction is between workers and employers. And no stroke of a pen in Westminster will silence us or weaken our defence of the working class – a working class that is diverse, made up of people of all backgrounds, nationalities, and genders.

“Our UNISON branches turned out in force to support trans rights when the ruling was handed out with one clear message: when trans rights are under attack, we stand up and we fight back.

https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2026/02/when-working-class-women-organise-nothing-can-stop-us/

The speech itself is quite long, but I thought worth highlighting this bit.

Unison continue to demonstrate that they despise women

Unions act on the motions their members ask them to raise and vote how their members ask them to vote. Unions are member led. If your union does not reflect your beliefs then ask them to raise a motion that does.

On a superficial level yes. But usually there are more motions than can be taken, and then the selection process shows who is in charge of the agenda.

As in Labour Party conference and no doubt others.

But the point of the OP is, not whether this reflects members but that yet another organisation is making the Supreme Court ruling about trans people, and not about women regaining their rights.

Which makes me wonder has any union represented women making complaints at work about having to share toilets and changing rooms with men?

Blah blah blah, none of us want them to have no rights deary. Jeez when are they going to stop equating wanting to retain our own rights with according to them not wanting them to have any rights at all.
At no point has anyone said trans people should have no rights.

I read somewhere the Gen Sec of Unison's niece is 'trans' so another handmaiden who's using her position of power to promote her own agenda. This blatant bias means the union will own defend members who have the right 'attitude', someone really needs to sue the unions, starting with Unison.

Unions act on the motions their members ask them to raise and vote how their members ask them to vote. Unions are member led. If your union does not reflect your beliefs then ask them to raise a motion that does.

None of that jives with my 'lived experience' of Unison. The one time I went to conference, way back in the Blair years, the branches from the North of England proposed the motion that the Union withdraw funding from the Labour Party because the Labour Governments policies were throwing thousands out of work up North. The paid union were against it, every time some one spoke for the motion, someone from the bull pit would come down and speak against. Eventually they called for a show of hands, and even a blind person could see it was to close to call. The stewards who were lining the walls even came forward to do a count, when the President declare the vote was against the motion. There was uproar, half of the conference walked out, and went home. The vote was a blatant fix. That's when I left the union, so the idea that unions are member led is naïve in the extreme.

Unions are democratic. Members nominate and then vote for who represents them. If your current union rep doesn’t represent your views then don’t nominate them, nominate someone who does, attend the AGM and vote for that person. If you’re passionate enough to complain then harness that passion to bring change. Unions serve their members and are funded by members. Members decide the direction. If you want change, you need to bring change.

Oh sweet summer child, you surely can't expect any woman to believe that little fragment of catechism.
UK Unions were always bastions of sexism & misogyny & they still are.

Edited for typo

They were. But instead of getting slowly better, they are actually getting worse. When the leader of UNISON says she wouldn't feel comfortable defending the Darlington nurses (or was it Sandie Peggie?), you think, what's the point of unions, then?

…and what changes if you do nothing? Nothing. Do nothing, get nothing. If you’re a paying member then act. Change requires action.

Has anyone kept a list of all the women who’ve taken serious workplace grievances to employment tribunals, and won, after being ignored or even vilified by their union reps?

I’ve read of several where employers were letting men use women-only spaces. But those cases were just the few who actually get as far as a tribunal.

From my own experience, misogyny seems commonplace in trade unions. And that’s a disgrace.

Perhaps some of you paying members need to step forward then? If nothing changes, nothing changes. It requires more effort than complaining for sure but members hold the power in a democratic process. Use it.

Democratic where the winning candidate for leadership was able to contact members using the membership list many more times than other candidates?

Agreed. Sexism on the right centres on a woman being the property of an individual man. Sexism on the left centres on the women within a group being the collective property of the men within that group.

Growing up in the West Country, I went to some 'Young Farmers' (close proxy for Tories) and some 'Young Socialists' events. (There was very little entertainment on offer in my remote cluster of villages.)

The 'Young Farmers' were quite women-friendly. They had young women in positions of responsibility, and any unwanted romantic interest was fairly easily rebuffed. Not perfect, but much better than expected.

The Young Socialists were, in contrast, pompous & righteously earnest. There were no women on its board, and the young men seemed to think a liberal attitude to sex was obligatory for all leftwing females. Rejection was met with fury/disbelief.

There should be no expectation the average Union will want to take the side of women over men. That isn't how the collective male left thinks.

I actually spent a fair bit of my life in the West Country, so I get that, @KitWyn ! 😀

I think what is puzzling it how on a feminist forum someone would think one patriarchal structure among the many that we have in the UK, would somehow not be as sexist, and anti woman as any other.

Just because its a Union doesn't mean it isn't sexist.

And there is loads of written material about how unions, like Labour operating hidden networks to ensure certain decisions get taken and others somehow lost when compiling the agenda for a meeting or a conference. (Wasn't there one union conference where GC members were booed in the main hall.)

Not forgetting that Birmingham City Council is now in debt because the Trade Unions conspired with the Council to deny equal pay for women.

All a bit Alice in Wonderland.

Birmingham's only one of several Councils who made shabby backroom deals with Unions to favour The Lads. Female workers eventually had to take their employers & their Unions to Court.

Then there's the Monaghan Report, AFAICS nothing has improved at the GMB since that damning document.

Remember when Unite, Unison & the GMB voted as a bloc against a motion upholding women's existing sex-based rights at the 2024 Scottish Labour Conference? The motion had good CLP support & would have passed without that reflexive Union deference to male demands.

Then change it. Nominate someone who won’t do this, attend the AGM, vote for THEM.

The most active and vocal members get their voice heard, be THAT member.

Use your vote, maybe stand up yourself if another member will nominate you.

Or just remain complaining how corrupt and unfair it all is amongst yourselves, do none of the above and get what you’ve always got.

Up to you.

Nobody as naive as you should be up this late @2pence.
Up the wooden hill with you.

Lovely that we’re supporting women here isn’t it? I’ve given some factual advice on the collective power you all hold. If all you’ve got is insults about my naivety…Summer Child…Up the Wooden Hill…then frankly you don’t have what it takes to bring change and advocate for others and I apologise that my words have triggered your own feelings of inadequacy to the point that you need to mock and attack and try to belittle me. Hope you get some sleep yourself tonight.

"Mock", certainly, risible content elicts its inevitable result.
The rest? You seriously over-estimate the energy you arouse.

Nobody is belittling you.

If anybody you are belittling others.

You are implying none of us have done anything other that sit and complain.

Many of us have on an occassion or even years of battling to have a voice in male dominated environments, and not only been ignored by men but been stabbed in the back by women who see being male allies is more important that solidarity with other women.

And it doesn't change.

Sadly, there are very few not only properly run democratic parties, networks, campaigns.

But, and this is genuine, if you know of even one union, or whatever that has responded to women working to challenge the male dominant culture.

The Darlington nurses formed their own union because they couldn't get any support from their union. This seems to be the only answer to all the unions being anti women.

https://x.com/DarlingtonUnion

Seymour Millen is a comms official for Unison. He has also responsible for a group in Brighton and Hove knocking on doors asking residents to boycott products from Israel. It’s all dressed up as ‘be kind’ but I find it uncomfortable.

https://news.sky.com/story/the-english-city-where-volunteers-go-door-to-door-telling-people-to-stop-buying-israeli-products-13505817

The Darlington Nurses did something. They acted, things changed because they acted.

You can harness your collective power. You can make your voice the loudest. Or you can give up because what’s the point, nothing changes eh? Only one option will change anything.

@2pence yes you are correct the Darlington nurses did do something and it worked. They were originally members of unions - unions that refused to support them in favour of supporting the rights of a man who declared himself female. Working class people fought hard for unions to support them. Sandie Peggie, Darlington Nurses did not get the support from unions. Trans ideaology has infiltrated every part of society and the ‘no debate’ mantra means anyone with gender realist views are deemed to be unkind. Unions need to support everybody and that includes biological women.