Unite back at Labour conference

Unite is back at Labour Party Conference this year, bigger and bolder than ever. Dozens of delegates from Unite – lay members from sectors across the economy, representing the incredible diversity of our union – are in attendance this year.

They’ll by moving, supporting and voting on motions that will directly shape Labour Party policy. Some of the key debates Unite is leading are set to include discussions on rebuilding our economy; reindustrialising our communities, insourcing, regulating AI in the interests of working people, and much more. It will be trade union democracy at its finest.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, recently re-elected to lead our union, is at the forefront of national media coverage of the conference, with Unite members’ demands setting the news agenda.  On the first day of Labour Party Conference today (Sunday 27), a comment piece by Sharon Graham was published in the New Statesman. In it, she called for the unfreezing of income tax thresholds as the best way to improve living standards for working-class people. She argued that the measure would also help neutralise the ever-increasing threat of the far right.

She wrote, “How can it be right that at the same time as wealth taxes on the top 1 per cent are routinely dismissed as unworkable, that 1 in 4 of us will end up paying 40 per cent tax by the end of the decade, compared to just 1 in 10 in 2019? The wrong people are about to be told to pay again. Nurses, midwives, teachers, crane drivers, paramedics, biomedical scientists, engineers, energy plant machinists: workers it was never intended to hit.

“It’s ridiculous and points to the fact that we are not all in it together,” Graham added. “That balance must be restored.”

Unite members are not only framing the debate at the conference itself; they’ll be making demands of our government beyond conference at key fringe events in the week. Events include two on construction, which UniteLive has previously highlighted. There will also be a fringe event on social care, one on enhancing Black voices in the Labour Party, a trans rights rally, as well as an event on solidarity with Cuba.

As ever, UniteLive will bring you full coverage of Unite at Labour Party Conference, with reporting on Unite delegates’ contributions in conference debates, as well as Unite fringe events. You can also expect a photo gallery each day with highlights of Unite at conference. Stay tuned on UniteLive for more.

By Hajera Blagg

Photo by Mark Thomas