At this year’s Trades Councils conference there were around 70 councils represented. There are now 157 Trades councils and 23 County associations which is an increase of 31 from the previous year...
It was quite a left-wing conference but also quite old. There were three people under 40, a dozen 40-50, and all the rest...
We opposed the idea of “promoting the Morning Star as our daily paper” and tackled those who thought that Europe was to blame for attacks on the working class. One delegates made a speech about how “all this [cuts, etc] is coming from Europe”, and reiterated it in a later speech. We explained how the British ruling class are happy to attack the working class in Europe or out.
The conference is allowed to pick one motion for TUC Congress, and our choice of the strongest motion against the anti-union laws was picked. This tells the TUC to campaign against the anti-union laws, but also to support all workers in struggle, including those taking “unofficial” action when they fall foul of the anti-union laws...
• Full report at