UNIONS cannot “let division take root” in society and must play a fundamental role in countering hateful far-right narratives, the POA conference heard today.

Public and Commercial Services (PCS) general secretary Fran Heathcote told delegates they must provide education and achieve wins for members to avoid workers falling victim to “hopelessness and despair.”

She told delegates: “It is not asylum-seekers who have driven down wages. It is not migrants that are jacking up rents. It is not disabled people that are hiking energy bills. And it is not trans people who are dumping raw sewage into our rivers and seas.

“The people that are ripping us off are the low-paying bosses, the rip-off landlords and profiteering corporations.

“Our job as trade unionists, as reps within our respective unions, is to educate our members and to provide a counterweight to the right-wing press.

“But fundamentally, our role is to obtain a better standard of living for our members. Because when we don’t succeed [at this], hopelessness sets in and it’s on that despair that negative forces feed.”

Ms Heathcote described the rise of the far right as “a huge threat” to trade unions and public services, adding: “We cannot allow division to take root. Division in a workplace, in a union, weakens our movement.”

She also promised the PCS would back the POA’s campaign to reinstate officers’ right to withdraw their labour.

Ms Heathcote said: “PCS members who work in the prison system have the right to strike. Prison officers in Scotland have the right to strike. But prison officers in England and Wales do not.”

She added that her union supports the POA’s campaign to oust privateers like Capita from the pensions system, after PCS secured compensation for its own members affected by failures in the pensions scheme.

Ms Heathcote said the system was in “shambles” and was “fast becoming another Post Office scandal.”

“Whether it’s on Capita pensions, visa thresholds, or the right to strike, PCS is your ally. Your struggle is our struggle. And we will be campaigning alongside you every step of the way.”

The PCS general secretary highlighted the work her union has done alongside the POA and the RMT against recent government changes to visa rules, including salary thresholds.

And she congratulated the POA for forcing the government to reduce the pay threshold for prison officers.