- Conference
- 2025 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 17 October 2024
- Decision
- Carried
This Conference notes:
• That in recent years LGBT+ people, and particularly Trans people, have been at the sharp end of attacks. This has been a conscious part of scapegoating by politicians with the ‘war on woke’ as they seek to divide and weaken us.
• Anti-Trans rhetoric leads to physical assaults. Home Office statistics in 2023 revealed that hate crime against Trans people increased 11% from the previous year, and 186% in the previous 5 years.
• The continual attack on Trans people, their identity and their right to exist from individuals and groups who describe themselves as gender critical. This is often co-ordinated on social media platforms.
• That gender critical groups and individuals often organise around women only spaces and the idea that Trans people having rights means that women will lose rights. This is a reactionary idea that has always been used when those racing discrimination organise and fightback.
This Conference believes:
• That Trans women are women and Trans men are men, all our LGBT+ comrades must be respected.
• That Trans equality is a trade union issue. Trade unions are about uniting us to make us stronger and we oppose all divisions amongst our class.
• Women’s rights are not diminished by Trans people having more rights. Rights are not in finite supply. In fact when we unite and organise together, we can often win more rights for all.
• Therefore that women have a vested interest in standing alongside our Trans comrades in solidarity and in resistance and all of us fighting back together.
This Conference calls upon the National Women’s Committee to work with the National LGBT+ Committee to:
• Co-produce a myth-busting factsheet, with all the self-organised groups in UNISON, to counter the idea that an increase in Trans rights would mean a decrease in the rights of others.
• To work with all other relevant bodies in UNISON such as, but not limited to, the NEC and the Labour Link Committee as part of a campaign for the Labour government to introduce self-ID for Trans people as they had originally pledged to do in 2019.
• To continue to roll out the UNISON Trans ally training in to branches.