'Our collective strength'

Unite delegate Faith Coker-Jarra moved a motion on the first day of TUC Congress on Sunday (September 15) on tackling the far right and the weaponisation of women and girl’s safety.

The motion, which first put forward at the TUC Women’s Conference in March, weighed up how trade unionists should respond to the rise of the far right, which has sought to justify its “violence, hatred and invective against Black and migrant people”.

Faith highlighted the debate at the Women’s Conference, which heard from many delegates about the attack on women’s rights from the far right to weaponise racist ends.

Calling this strategy “frightening”, she said it is used not just here in Britain “but in the US, Hungary, Italy, France and around the world where the far-right is growing”.

“Male politicians using the language of ‘protection’ to gather support and grow movements that when they attain power cut access to abortion, cut funding for the public services that women depend on, cut women’s rights both in law and the resources to exercise those rights, cut services for women escaping violence,” Faith noted.

She went on to say, “We know that many men arrested during the racist riots in the summer of 2024 had been reported to the police for violence against women and girls, including grievous bodily harm, domestic abuse, stalking and coercive control. One in five have been reported again since – in some regions, over half.”

Faith highlighted statistics showing that Black, Asian and ethnic minority women faced increased racism and gender-based hatred in the areas surrounding where the riots took place, with “women avoiding leaving their homes as a consequence”.

“As others have spoken about today, we need to counter the hatred, the racism and misogyny and the fundamentals,” Faith noted. “Our most powerful response to the rise of the far right is the actions we take and the wins we make.

“We are the movement that delivers real improvements in not just women’s lives – but everyone’s.”

She called on the trade union movement to put campaigns against sexual harassment and violence “front and centre”, as well as campaigns to fund public services and women’s health, safety and refuge.

“We are the movement where women’s voices are not just heard but acted on, we are the movement with women leaders at every level who deliver real change in our workplaces and for our communities,” Faith concluded. “That is our collective strength and we must use and develop it more.”

By Hajera Blagg

Photo by Mark Thomas