A proud tradition of equality and justice

“I am proud to be able to say that the past year has seen our union at is best,” said President Catherine McKenna, on the opening day of UNISON's national delegate conference in Brighton.

 “It’s a time of political instability, domestically and globally, and it’s a time when UNISON members continue to struggle with the cost of living and our public services are still dealing with the devastating impact of the years of cuts and underfunding.”

Celebrating victories

“But we have come out fighting. We have delivered for our members and, as a result, there is much to celebrate. Our Pay fair for patient care campaign has now smashed through the £200 million milestone in money won for health workers. This is real money in members’ pockets, helping them pay rent, mortgages, heating bills and put food on the table.”

Catherine went on to celebrate legal victories for members. “We have secured major equal pay victories at councils in Birmingham and Southampton. We have won major race and disability discrimination cases for members across the union. Most importantly, we have stood up for members that have just wanted fairness and dignity at work.

“We have also been taking the fight directly to employers with major industrial action disputes. We currently have 48 live disputes and I want to pay tribute to every member, who has stood on the picket line this year. It is never easy and can be a scary and daunting, particularly for those taking extended strike action, such as the Gloucestershire phlebotomists and those still fighting today, including those involved in the Ash Field Academies dispute.

“We stand together and in the first four months of this year, the industrial action fund paid out over £750,000. We need to continue to work together,” she announced. 

Standing together

The president then went on to talk about the importance of inclusion over division. 

“For me, inclusion means making sure that every member is properly represented in our union. Being from Northern Ireland, I understand deeply what division can do to communities. Members from every UNISON region will have seen a rise in division over the past year – in our communities, in our workplaces, on the streets.

“It is more important than ever that we stand up to those actively seeking to sow hatred and division. We’ve seen it very clearly in recent days with the unforgivable behaviour of Nigel Farage, calling for, in his words, ‘pure cold rage’ and shamefully seeking to exploit tragedy and directly fuelling street violence.”

Catherine then became visibly emotional as she spoke of recent ugly scenes in her home city.  

“I say this with a heavy heart, but tensions were quickly exploited in recent days by people seeking to spread fear, racism and hatred in Belfast. Instead of allowing communities space to react calmly, far right agitators sought to stir up anti-immigrant sentiment and violence, burning people out of their homes.

“Some of those people are our members: hospital workers, care workers and school support staff and they are here today.” 

This led to a loud and supportive round of applause from the audience. 

“As someone who grew up understanding the damage that division can cause, I know where hatred and scapegoating can lead. We cannot allow working class communities to be divided. We cannot stay silent when migrant workers and refugees become targets for intimidation and blame and we must stand firmly on the side of anti-racism, solidarity and unity.” 

Campaigning 

Catherine said that there have been many highlights of her year as president, including a visit to Colombia with Justice for Columbia on behalf of the union. 

“I was on a delegation of other trade unions as an international election observer. It was a huge honour to play a part in improving the democratic process.” 

Internationally, the president's charity of the year has been supporting Women in Hebron, a fair trade cooperative supporting Palestinian women in the occupied West Bank through the production and sale of handicrafts. 

Another highlight for Catherine this year was attending national women’s conference. “This is where my own journey as an activist began. I’m incredibly proud to have helped to establish the low paid women’s network and thankful to the national women’s conference, which gave me confidence and encouragement and ultimately helped me to become the woman I am today.”