OUR 128th Annual STUC Congress is the biggest and most important gathering of trade unionists in Scotland. As we come together in Dundee, we do so at a time when the stakes for working people have never been higher and the power of our movement has never been more essential.

This Congress doesn’t just mark another year in our proud history. It marks a moment of transformation. The opportunity for real change is now, but it will only be realised if we fight for it, together, as a united and growing labour movement, rooted in every workplace and every community.

Our theme this year: Building on the New Deal for Workers isn’t just a slogan. It’s a call to action. While we’ve helped drive out the worst UK government in living memory, the damage they inflicted still lingers in our economy, in our services and in the lives of working people.

The Tories may be gone, but their wreckage remains. Now it’s time to clean up the mess and that work starts here.

We have a new government that says it wants to listen to workers. Good. But listening is not enough. Promises are not enough.

What working people need — and what they demand — is delivery. They voted for a different future and it’s time that future was built. That means delivering the New Deal for Workers in full and without delay.

No more fire and rehire. No more zero-hours contracts. No more barriers to union access. No more excuses. Workers need power, dignity and security and we’ll accept nothing less.

In Scotland too, after 18 years in power, the SNP cannot keep hiding behind Westminster austerity. Our members see the reality in their workplaces and their communities: crumbling services, growing inequality, wages that don’t stretch, bills that keep rising. They’re tired of being told to wait. Tired of timidity. They want bold action and they want it now.

That starts with public services. Scotland’s workers kept them running through Covid and through the cost-of-living crisis, but now those very services are on the brink.

Our NHS is buckling. Councils are stripped to the bone. Schools are losing staff and vital social care is being left to a postcode lottery.

We need investment. We need a plan and we need to put an end to profiteering — in care, in transport and in energy. Whether it’s buses that don’t show up or a wildly expensive, care homes run for profit, or energy giants pocketing billions while people freeze, the answer is the same: public services must be publicly owned, publicly run, and publicly accountable.

In the care sector, our demands are simple and fair: a minimum of £15 an hour, collective bargaining rights and a model of care that respects both the worker and the recipient.

The National Care Service in its current form may have failed, but the principle must not. We need a new plan, one that prioritises dignity, not dividends.

We also demand energy justice. That means bringing key infrastructure back into public hands. Frankly, the political failure of both our governments regarding Grangemouth cannot be forgiven and it’s high-time they were held to account if we ever hope to make a just transition a reality.

But let’s be clear: all of this will take political courage. It will mean standing up to those with power and wealth, taxing them fairly, and refusing to let billionaires dictate the future while working people pay the price. That’s what social justice really looks like.

Justice must stretch beyond our own borders. Our movement must continue to show solidarity with Ukraine and also stand unwaveringly with the people of Palestine, pushing for peace, accountability and urgent humanitarian aid.

We must also recognise the threat rising within. Across the UK, far-right forces are filling the void left by political complacency.

When governments fail to deliver, disillusionment breeds danger. Reform and their ilk are rising by speaking to real grievances but with false answers rooted in hate, not hope.

That’s why we must fight harder than ever, not just for better policies, but for a better politics. A politics that unites, not divides. A movement that welcomes every worker – migrant, trans, disabled — and builds a future where equality isn’t controversial, but compulsory.

So let us move forward with pride and purpose. Let’s push our governments to be braver, faster and fairer. Let’s demand the future we’ve earned.

Enjoy Congress 2025. Let’s get to work.

Roz Foyer is general secretary of the Scottish TUC.