TRADES council delegates from across the country will be gathering at Congress House on June 1-2  for the annual trades council conference. 

Against a background of several years of industrial unrest, trade unionists have led an ongoing fight back against a Tory government which has piled on the fiercest onslaught on jobs, wages and conditions and cuts to public services and there has never been a more urgent need to build a strong and united trade union movement.

Trades council delegates are groups of trade unionists who live and/or work and are active in their area. They are elected by local trade union branches to their local trades council. The more unions affiliate to their trades council, the stronger the trades council and the better chances of leading united campaigns of local trade unionists supporting unions taking industrial action.

Trades councils develop rank-and-file solidarity in their areas, linking workers with their communities and they have provided this support for over 100 years. 

They provide the vital link between the workplace and the wider working-class community. They encourage solidarity with striking workers involved in disputes by joining their picket lines. 

Union reps new to the movement welcome this show of solidarity from more experienced trade unionists which gives them the confidence to continue organising and maintaining their fight for a just resolution of their dispute. Trades councils also organise joint campaigns on issues such as health, education, welfare and transport.

Currently a great many trades councils are playing a key role in fighting anti-trade union laws, supporting campaigns for unionisation, joining marches calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and co-ordinating protests, vigils and local marches in their communities. 

Trades councils across the country have supported the fight in defence of terms and conditions of Clarkes workers in Dorset, Amazon workers striking for unionisation in Coventry, opposition to academisation by NEU staff in London and many other disputes.

In some areas trades councils join up to form a delegate-based county association (CA), which meets to co-ordinate trades council campaigns to ensure solidarity work across a wider area. CAs send delegates to their regional TUC meetings and conferences, and often have seats on the executive committee of regional TUCs.

The Greater London Association of Trade Union Councils (Glatuc), the trade union council body for London, brings together trade unionists from across the capital uniting all the 25-plus trades councils from across London boroughs.

The London Trades Council saw to the formation of Glatuc in 1860 at a time when the working man had still not achieved the vote. It played a key role in the creation of the TUC itself. This great campaigning tradition continues to this day.

Glatuc is the organisation attending to the annual May Day in London which was celebrated again this year with the traditional march from the steps of the Marx Memorial Library in Clerkenwell Green to Trafalgar Square, however many other May Days were organised across the country by different trades councils and CAs.

Conference provides delegates with an opportunity to network, share and discuss motions which if passed will form the basis of the next programme of work. 

This year’s motions include supporting campaigns to defend and fund the NHS, promoting public education, for the nationalisation of transport, energy, in defence of the welfare state, support for benefit claimants, strengthening health and safety in the workplace, highlighting the dangers of new technology and AI and calling for peace in Gaza. Defeating anti-trade union laws is the priority campaign for all trade unionists and taken out into communities by trades councils.

It takes place against a backdrop of a general election and the possible electoral defeat of the Tories, ongoing industrial unrest and war. A time when working people hope to see the back of this vicious Tory government which has brought years of misery to working people and their families but well aware they will need to continue the fight for a government which must represent their interests. 

Mary Adossides is president of the Greater London Association of Trade Union Councils.