“If we stay together, believe you me, together we will win!”
That was the message from the new TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, when she addressed UNISON’s national delegate conference in Liverpool this morning.
“I want to talk to you about the challenges facing our movement,” she told them.
“We as trade unionists must lead the fight … against this incompetent shower of a government.”
Ms O’Grady had praise for the union as a whole – “I saw for myself the sheer strength of your organisation” at the TUC’s March for an Alternative in 2012, and for general secretary Dave Prentis.
She praised “brilliant campaigns such as A Million Voices for Public Services”, together with the union’s commitment to equality and “the fight against the fascist far right”.
Describing the coalition as “the nastiest, most right-wing, most ideological government that Britain has ever seen – government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich”, she pledged the TUC’s support for UNISON’s campaigns, including that for “decent pay in 2014”.
Saying that “we must prepare a trade union response that is strong, smart and imaginative”, she called for a “wide, deep, diverse alliance against the cuts.”
And she urged delegates: “let’s stick together in solidarity. Let’s fight for what we believe in”.
Ms O’ Grady addressed the conference as part of the TUC’s nationwide ‘austerity uncovered’ bus tour. The TUC and Britain’s trade unions are traveling across the country letting people tell their own story about life in Britain today.
