Paul Nowak – 2022 Speech to TUC Conference

The speech made by Paul Nowak, the Deputy General Secretary of the TUC, to the TUC Conference on 18 October 2022.

President, Congress.

When I joined the GMB over 30 years ago, working part-time in ASDA, I never thought for one minute that I would have the honour and the privilege to be elected general secretary of the TUC.

So, I want to thank Congress for your support, and because trade unionism is always a collective endeavour, I want to thank every member, every rep, every full-time officer, every TUC staff member who has supported and helped me over the last 3 decades.

I promise to do what I can to justify that support, and to extend it to the next generation of reps and activists coming through, the people who are the lifeblood of our movement.

Now, last thing on a Wednesday afternoon is not the time for long speeches – and no doubt you will get to hear plenty of those from me in the months and years to come…so I just want to say three things.

First of all I want to sincerely thank Frances for everything she has done for the TUC.

Frances has been my good friend and colleague for over twenty years, so I am not an impartial observer, but I think it is absolutely right to acknowledge that she has been an outstanding leader of the TUC.

The first ever woman to lead our movement – and she won’t be the last – she has seen us through some incredibly difficult times.

· Ten years of hostile government, and austerity

· A vicious and vindictive anti-Trade Union Act

· Brexit

· And, of course, the pandemic and the cost of living crisis

Now, I could list all of her achievements in the face of those challenges, but let me just pick out one.

I have no doubt in my mind that if it wasn’t for Frances O’Grady, there would have been no furlough scheme.

It is thanks to her, that 12 million people saw their jobs and incomes supported during the dark days of the pandemic; 12 million people kept their livelihoods; 12 million people and their families were able to pay the bills.

Frances, thank for you for that and for EVERYTHING you have done over the last decade.

The second thing I want to say is this. I want my time leading the TUC to focus on one thing above all else.

Growing, diversifying and strengthening our movement.

More union members.

More union reps.

A genuinely active, confident, inclusive, vibrant and diverse movement – one that is as relevant to a young black woman working in digital or in a care home, as it is to this middle aged white bloke from Merseyside.

Think of everything we have debated so far this week.

· A £15 per hour minimum wage

· Rebuilding our public services, a proper industrial strategy

· A new deal for working people

· Decent employment rights and an end to fire and rehire

· Genuine equality and tackling racism and sexual harassment in our workplaces.

Our ability to deliver on all those things and so much more, depends on our ability to grow our movement.

· Only a stronger trade union movement can win disputes

· Only a stronger trade union movement can influence government & beat back hostile legislation

· And only a stronger trade union movement – indeed trade union and labour movement – can bring about the political change our members desperately need

We’ve grown the last four years out of five. That’s a start.

But let’s make sure that each and every year from now, we grow our membership, we expand our reps base, we extend collective bargaining – not waiting for political change, making that change happen here and now, workplace by workplace, dispute by dispute, campaign by campaign.

My last point is simply this.

Growing our movement will require a collective effort.

The TUC has and always be more than the general secretary, or the staff who work in Congress House, the regions and nations.

The TUC is its unions. You are the TUC.

48 unions. 5 and a half million members.

And if we are serious about growing our movement, we have to be serious about working together.

Not talking about working together, not passing resultions about working togther, actually working together.

· Supporting each other’s organising efforts

· Joint bargaining agendas that raise the bar for our members

· Sectoral co-ordination to stop employers playing one union off against another

· A shared political vision that inspires working people

· And in each and every dispute, standing by workers who take that difficult decision to strike, because their fight is our fight, and no worker should ever, will ever, stand alone.

That’s what will allow us to deliver on the things that matter to our members.

That’s what will enable us to win.

Not glorious defeats.

Not fighting the good fight but falling short.

Winning for working people.

That’s our job Congress.

Let’s work together,

Let’s fight together

Let’s win together.