- Conference
- 2024 National Young Members' Conference
- Date
- 22 November 2024
- Decision
Conference notes with concern the resounding victory of Donald Trump in the United States Presidential Election. This decision will have global repercussions. His first term, according to Amnesty International, was ‘marked by bigotry, xenophobia and white supremacist rhetoric, and led to extensive human rights violations’. The lives of young women, Black, LGBT+ and disabled people everywhere are at risk.
The global far-right movement congratulated Trump after his victory. This included UK figures such as Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, and the far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson. Trump’s victory may lead to parties like Reform UK building on this momentum in the UK. This poses a real risk to groups routinely targeted by Trump such as migrants, women, LGBT+ individuals, and disabled people. We have already seen the devastating impact of far-right ideas in the UK with growing mobilisations of Tommy Robinson supporters and racist attacks in August 2024. Young workers – who may identify with many of these at-risk groups – must stand together to push back against the far-right.
Trump’s continued bouts of misogyny across his campaign, and the seismic effect of rolling back reproductive rights in his first term, show that he is a threat to women’s rights globally. Numerous Reform UK candidates were reported to have made ‘widely offensive’ remarks about women, making it clear that misogyny is also being normalised in the UK. Trump’s second term is likely to continue his efforts to erase protections for LGBT+ people against discrimination, and limit access to gender-affirming health care. Young people, who are more likely to need access to abortion, or to identify as gender-diverse, are at greater risk as rhetoric attacking gender identity and bodily autonomy spreads globally.
During Trump’s presidency, public services in the U.S. suffered from budget cuts, deregulation, and withdrawn investment, especially in healthcare, education, and environmental protection. This led to reduced resources, job losses, and increased strain on workers, disproportionately impacting vulnerable communities and providing fertile ground for far-right ideas to take hold.
Young people, who will experience the worst impacts of unfettered climate catastrophe, are more affected by these decisions. UNISON must take a stand to protect our public services and show solidarity with global movements against the far-right. We must recognise the global consequences of Trump’s victory, and the need to campaign in the UK against the economic and social conditions that led to his victory.
Conference asks the National Young Members Forum to:
1)Encourage Regional Young Members Forums to engage with anti-racist groups in line with UNISON’s values such as Stand Up To Racism, and encourage their members to attend local demonstrations.
2)Promote the work of Hope Not Hate on challenging the rise of fascism in the UK.
3)Work with the National Women’s Committee to campaign around global reproductive rights.
4)Work with Labour Link to influence the Labour party to promote policies supporting youth employment, training and social integration, in Westminster and the devolved parliaments.