Frances O’Grady – 2022 Speech to TUC Conference

The speech made by Frances O’Grady, the General Secretary of the TUC, on 18 October 2022.

Welcome to the TUC, our parliament for working people.

Represented, here in the Hall today, are millions of workers who keep the wheels of this country turning.

All they ask in return is respect, and fair pay.
And if it takes strike action so be it: we stand with you

So let’s hear it for:

Our incredible care assistants and NHS staff, rail and bus workers, dedicated posties, prison officers, call centre staff, dock workers, teachers, firefighters, university lecturers, civil servants and more…

Decent people who are honest and hardworking.

But, according to Liz Truss, British workers are layabouts, lacking graft, skill and application.

The Prime Minister believes that Britain’s poor productivity is down to the poor performance of workers.

That’s a bit rich from a PM whose own performance crashed the country
She didn’t even turn up for work yesterday!
And since her disastrous debut, we’ve had more U-turns than a malfunctioning Sat Nav.

And all this, after 12 long years of Conservative governments that have slashed, burned, and ripped off this country, something rotten.
While the sun was shining, the Tories didn’t mend the roof. They nicked the lead off it.

Let’s have a reminder of what’s happened under the Tories:

Which country has the worst investment in the G7?
The UK.

Which country has the worst wages growth in the G7?
Don’t need to tell workers this – the UK.

And which country has the worst economic growth in the G7?
Of course, the UK.

That’s your record, Prime Minister
That’s the country your party has been running for the past 12 years.

To be fair, under the Conservatives, some things are growing:

CEO pay – up.
Corporate profits – up.
Bankers’ bonuses – up.

And look what else:

The cost of mortgages.
NHS waiting lists.
Ambulance waiting times.
Child poverty.
Food banks.
Up. Up. Up.

That means more kids going to bed hungry.
More families afraid to put the heating on.

But there is a real plan for growth.
Trade unions want a growing economy that works for working people.
High investment, high skills, high wages.
Decent work, so workers don’t need to go on strike to defend their pay.

And we want a strong society that comes with growth, fairly-shared.
A well-funded NHS – schools – public services.
A safety net to help us all in a crisis.
No-one growing up, or growing old, in poverty.
A safe, secure, welcoming society.
And more than that – a country of music, culture, football, books and brilliant TV.

For over a decade, the TUC has made the case for investment, for R&D, for innovation, for skills.
To make things here in Britain.
To meet the challenge of net zero, with good green jobs.
And to harness the big gains of new tech, for all of us

We need an economy that rewards work – not wealth.
But under the Conservatives, working people have got poorer, while shareholders have got richer.
We’re in the longest squeeze on real wages since Napoleonic times.
And if ministers and employers keep hammering pay packets at the same rate, UK workers are on course to suffer two decades – TWENTY YEARS – of lost living standards.
Over the next three years alone:
Real earnings are set to fall by ANOTHER £4,000
We have got to stop the rot.
Families can’t afford to tighten their belts anymore.
They’re at breaking point.

Just look at that disastrous mini-budget.
Only a month ago.

I say this to Liz Truss: Your budget wasn’t pro-growth. It was pro-greed.
Tax cuts for the rich, with no plan for growth at all.
That’s why the markets got spooked.
That’s why the economy tanked.

The PM may have dumped Kwasi Kwarteng.
And is now hiding behind Jeremy Hunt
Or maybe under a desk?

But she can’t duck this:
We don’t trust her government with our economy.
Livelihoods are on the line.

Some say Liz Truss must go.
I think they’re wrong.
This whole rotten Tory government must go.
The Tories are toxic.
It’s time for change.
We need a general election now

We know who creates real wealth in this country.
It’s not hedge fund managers who made a mint by betting on the pound crashing.
The real wealth creators are the people of this country.

Jeremy Hunt may be the new face at No 11
But it’s still the same old story
Lift the cap on bankers’ bonuses
Drive down public servants’ pay
Handouts for the wealthy and big business
Cuts to UC and benefits

Give to the rich.
Take from everyone else.
Robin Hood in reverse.
(Shurwood Forest fracked)

Working people are not fooled by trickledown economics.
It’s the old Tory money trick.
Austerity means NHS waiting lists grow and businesses go bust.
When workers get more money, they spend it.
When the rich get more money, they offshore it.

So, I have a message for Liz Truss:
Working people are proud of the jobs we do;
We work hard
We work the longest hours in Europe.

Yet, thanks to your party’s 12 years in government, millions are struggling to make ends meet.
We don’t need lectures on working harder.
This country needs a proper plan for fairer, greener growth.

The prime minister must answer another question:
if you really care about hard graft and performance, how come you gave Jacob Rees Mogg a job?

A man best known for lying horizontal on the Commons’ benches.
Who aims to make life even harder on the shop floor.

He wants workers’ rights, that came from the EU, stripped from the statute book.

Important rights like holiday pay.
Time off for mums and dads.
And safe limits on working time.

But the minister for the nineteenth century needs to wake up.

The TUC has just asked people who voted Conservative in the last election what THEY think the government should do.
81 per cent of Tory voters say:
Protect our rights at work.

And more, we demand action to tackle corporate gangsters.

Never forget P&O.
A prime example of everything wrong with UK labour laws.

Loyal crew sacked without a second thought.
Shameless bosses admitting they’d broken the law.
And ministers letting them get away with it

Worse rights at work won’t rebuild Britain.
Britain only does well, when working people do well.
We demand a new deal for workers.

From Tolpuddle onwards, the establishment has always seen workers organising as a threat.
And, yes, we are.
We’re a threat to casino capitalism.
A threat to the notion that you can divide workers
A threat to exploitation and low pay.

So just when the citizens of this country are in despair;
when key workers’ kids are going to school with holes in their shoes;
And young families are worried sick about the mortgage;
This government’s top priority is attacking the right to strike to make it harder to win fair pay.

A cynical effort to distract from the chaos they have caused.

But I say this: if ministers want to pick a fight with us, we are more than ready

Today I give them notice:
We’ve already taken legal counsel.
We know you’re in breach of international law.
And trade deals that enshrine labour standards.
So, read my lips, we will see you in court.

This winter looks set to be a tough one.
We face an emergency made in Downing Street.
The lights could go out all over Britain.

Even with energy prices capped – average bills are set to double.
Other costs have gone through the roof too: Childcare. Food. Filling up the car.
No-one has cash to spare.

With inflation at 10%, we don’t need wage restraint.
It’s time for profit restraint.

Taxpayers helped business with their bills.
Now it’s time to make business play their part.
No layoffs this winter.
No boardroom bonanzas.
And no shareholder sprees.

Put the cap back on the bankers’ bonuses.
Let’s have a bigger windfall tax on greedy energy giants.
And don’t just bail out them out – bring them into public ownership.

And more:
Protect benefits against inflation.
Invest in public services.
And give us stronger workers’ rights

Our nation of grafters have earned a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.
That means a £15 minimum wage, as soon as possible.
Fair pay agreements to get wages rising for everyone

And it’s time to do right by the people who’ve done us all proud
They got us through the pandemic – and we owe them
Give public servants a real pay rise now

And on November 2nd, from every corner of the UK, we will rally to Westminster
And if this shower of a government is still clinging to power
We will demand a general election

We are trade unionists.
Just as when the TUC proposed furlough at the start of the pandemic, we’ve got answers to the problems Britain faces.

We’ve seen the difference our movement makes right around the world.
From Amazon to Starbucks: growing membership, winning deals
Proof that solidarity works.

Backed up by new laws from progressive governments from Spain to New Zealand
We hope soon, Brazil too.
Governments who know that good jobs and rising wages are the route to a decent life.

Change can come – we can build it.

Remember the kids who save half their school dinner to take home for tea.

Remember pensioners too poor to keep warm, and workers who can’t afford to get sick, while NHS waiting times soar.

None of this is inevitable.
These are political choices.
Made by politicians.
And we can vote them out.

As unions, our job is to win now and every day.

The bigger our movement, the stronger we are.
So, in formally moving the General Council statement, let’s reach out and tell workers why they should join

Trade unionism is the reasonable notion that your boss doesn’t have all the answers.
That working people together have a voice and power. And how that changes everything.

We are the people who brought you the weekend, the eight-hour day, equal pay.
We’re proud of our diversity.
Our wonderful President Sue Ferns.
And leading our fight against racism, Dr Patrick Roach.

We stand up for our class – a multiethnic, multiracial, working class of men and women.
In cities, towns and the countryside too.

We’re for all working people.
Yes, we have members on railways, in shops and factories.
But also in Uber, Deliveroo and Amazon

Whatever our background, race or religion everyone deserves a decent job, a pension and respect.

It wasn’t wages or workers that caused this crisis.
And we refuse to let workers pay for it.

People ask me: will the TUC coordinate strike action this winter?
And I say: We already are.

When workers are left with no choice but to vote for strike action for decent pay, I say:
Bring it on.

For the last ten years, I’ve been proud to lead the TUC.
And I’m passing the torch to my comrade, the brilliant Paul Nowak.

At heart, I believe that trade unionism is about friendship
Friendship between workers transforms what is possible.

Congress: we have hope.
Hope in young workers joining unions.
Workers backing workers.
Black workers and White workers, standing together.

Let’s take that message to workplaces and communities, in every corner of the country.
We can build a better world.
We will fight for our class.
And, together, we all win.

Solidarity.