IN ITS 137th year, the Big Meeting remains a lodestar for a reviving workers’ movement, Durham Miners’ Association chair Stephen Guy told the Morning Star at the weekend.

“The theme of the Gala this year is ‘rise up’ — that derives from the last 12 months of industrial struggles we’ve had.

“And if government and employers don’t change their position, I’m afraid we’re going to have another 12 months of this, if not longer.”

But three-quarters of Britain’s workforce aren’t in unions — should unions’ priority be reaching out to those outside the labour movement, rather than on events that preach to the choir?

“We’ve got a quarter of a million people here — I don’t think you can say this is just the movement talking to itself,” Guy retorts.

Pointing to the huge crowds, many not trade union activists, who come to the Gala field each year, he adds: “It would be an insult to this audience and to our speakers to say they’re preaching to the converted. These speeches are addressing the government, addressing employers on behalf of the working class, and addressing the working class.

“I’ll be encouraging people not in a union to join one — that’s where you get your protection.”

The Gala is deeply associated with the heritage of north-east England — with a history of coal-minining, trade unionism and Labour politics. Yet much of the region turned blue at the last election. Does that show that that culture is on the way out?

“No, because the Gala keeps growing.

“I think the election was a cry for help from the communities. I think they had their fill of being let down by successive governments, blue and red. There was no industrial strategy for the mining communities after coal; they were left isolated, and the changing voting pattern reflects that.”

He’s not especially impressed with the current Labour Party — “I’m not in a political party at the moment, you can make of that what you will” — but believes north-east voters will turn their backs on the Tories at the next election.

Who they should back is a trickier question. Addressing the Gala, Guy outlined a list of demands unions should insist on in return for their support: some are in the “new deal for workers” package drawn up by Labour and the Institute of Employment Rights when Jeremy Corbyn was leader, and have so far survived in its policy offer, such as employment rights from day one and the introduction of sectoral collective bargaining, but others, such as legalisation of secure online balloting and an inquiry into Orgreave, are not currently Labour policy.

“There may be an opportunity for other, smaller parties to come through. I’m not going to give advice to the Labour Party right now, I’m here to represent trade unions, but we have a fantastic Labour politician addressing the Gala, Zarah Sultana. She has been chosen because of her politics, and the crowd will be wanting to hear that kind of politics.”

True, but socialist Labour politicians are not that common — and seem to have a habit of getting purged. I raise the case of Jamie Driscoll, the North of Tyne mayor excluded from selection for the enlarged North East mayoralty.

“I find it unusual for a city mayor not to have made the shortlist. There’s some ambiguity about why — some claim it was because of a meeting with Ken Loach.

“All I’ll say on that is that Ken Loach is a respected guest at the Gala today. He was expelled from the Labour Party for supporting Labour Against The Witch Hunt — a group that was proscribed, then people retrospectively punished for having supported it before it was banned.

“Ken Loach has never let the Durham miners down and we won’t let him down. His new film, The Old Oak, is getting rave reviews, it’s set in Murton, a fantastic mining village and we’ll have 400-500 people from Murton on the streets of Durham today.

“There’s one line in that film, ‘we eat together, we stick together’ — I think there are people who could learn a lot from that message.”

There were those on the platform who said the miners would have won had the whole trade union movement stood with them. PCS president Fran Heathcote noted other defeats resulting from disunity, describing the “betrayal” of the 2011 pensions strikes as pivotal in ushering in a decade of crippling austerity. There are lots of disputes currently, but is the movement doing enough to unite them into one struggle?

“The unity of the trade unions is what today is all about. I see plenty of that. There is room for improvement, we could co-ordinate better, and I think the Gala could actually be a platform for unions to come together and work together.”