OUR PUBLIC services are in an unprecedented crisis. There is a funding crisis across the union, with many of our services on the brink. Pay for local government workers has also stayed low, with our pay not rising in line with inflation and not addressing the years of low pay. However, underfunding and pay are just one side of the coin; we are facing a huge crisis with the outsourcing and privatisation of our services. So, what is on the agenda to challenge the status quo and energise the members into action?

This morning will see a debate on Organising to Win, the union’s strategy which has driven membership growth and victories, including a £40 million pay rise for NHS healthcare assistants and forcing employers to negotiate through escalating pressure and empowering members and stewards to take action for themselves.

The union is now expanding its work into organising harder-to-organise workers in social care. This debate will highlight the need to build on this activity in the union and develop our organisation of our branches.

We will then hear a debate on the worrying rise of Reform UK and how the union should respond to the threat of a Reform government and Reform-run councils. However, it also has to be made clear the role that the Labour Party has played in the rise of Reform. With successive Tory and Labour governments committed ideologically to an agenda of austerity and war, working-class people have become jaded with the Establishment parties, and there has been little hope for genuine change in the country. It must be clear that the union must respond to the threat of Reform by getting more militant and organised in our workplaces and providing a political alternative.

The Employment Rights Bill will be debated, and while the motions support the government, we can expect to hear about the need to extend the present rights in the Bill and to reverse the amendments. Workers need full employment rights from day one on proper contracts and full access to trade unions and collective bargaining.

The week will see two major guest speakers. Lee Saunders, president of the US Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, will report to the conference about the reality of living in the US under Donald Trump and his allies, and Shaher Saed, the general secretary of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions is addressing conference about the reality for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

The debate on the composite motion on Palestine is titled Building support for a Palestinian State. This motion is essential as the Labour government still hasn’t committed to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a full arms embargo on Israel.

It is essential that Unison put maximum pressure on our government to sanction the Israeli government, impose a full arms embargo and hold those complicit in war crimes accountable. In addition to this, we must force the government to recognise the state of Palestine and stop denying the Palestinian people the right of sovereignty and self-determination.

The final main debate will be on climate change and the need to turn commitment into action. How do we make sure our workplaces and employers take climate change seriously? How do we become greener as individuals and build that into collective action? 2026 will be the Year of Green Activism in Unison.

With the Labour Party not delivering for our members, Unison, as the largest public service union in the country, needs to hold the Labour government accountable. Hopefully, we come out of the conference stronger and more united to fight for our members.