LAST WEEK, the STUC congress took place. This normally brings trade unionists together from across Scotland and afar to discuss challenges ahead for our movement and celebrate our wins. But this year it was broadcast into kitchens, living rooms and home offices. 

Arguably it was one of the most open conferences for years. If there was an official location for this event it was a council house in Kilwinning of the outgoing president Jackson Cullinane from Unite.  

It was a little disappointing we could not reward Jackson within more normal traditions for the wonderful stewardship in these difficult times. 

I know a lot of us were thankful for Jackson’s leadership and judgement and I wish good luck to the new incoming president, Mary Senior, who is the first UCU nominee to hold the position.

One thing we can take away from this congress is the wonderful work across unions in workplaces and communities during this pandemic. Amid the mounting challenges one thing is now clear. Pay is a health issue. 

We have argued this for years. Premature deaths in deprived areas are substantially higher than in neighbouring affluent areas. 

But those statistics had become simply a matter of opinion, depending on the colour of ribbon worn. Evidence is screaming out the facts.  

No, this virus doesn’t discriminate. But the government does.

Both Scottish and Westminster governments need to make moves to protect workers within the many workplaces across Britain where there is no union providing stewardship or enforcement of guidelines.  

In these workplaces, covering a majority of workers, there is nothing to stop corners being cut.  

Many are not covered by sick pay schemes, leaving workers out of pocket for doing the right thing and following guidelines. 

With only statutory sick pay provided, this is increasing the risk to the health of individuals and colleagues.  

As a movement we have sung in unison “Not a single wheel will turn without our muscle,” knowing that it is us that keep everything going.  

This has now been proven without doubt. They need us to keep the economy going.  

At the same time the reward to our amazing heroes, the key workers, is pay freezes and redundancy.  

I can’t stress enough, therefore, the importance of highlighting to your friends and family the importance of joining a trade union. You just might save their lives.  

I personally have experienced a rise in people who are not union members contacting me looking for employment advice and help.  

These members have said that this has “never happened to me before.”  

I can say categorically a lot of these cases are blatant “economic” sackings. 

Companies push workers out on the flimsiest of grounds — sacked and not made redundant in order to save money.  

This leaves them unable to access a range of benefits and a lot of this could have been stopped simply by being a trade union member. 

The STUC conference highlighted the crucial work that trade unions have been doing to protect members.  

This is not just on terms and conditions but safety. It means organising our reps and activists in workplaces to put pressure on the Westminster and Scottish governments and working locally with councils.   

I will admit these have been tough times for our movement. Speaking personally, it has been great to see how our movement has adapted. 

However, the frustration can be felt and I think it’s largely to do with the nature of campaigning. 

In normal pre-Covid times you get on to the street and talk to people, build the picture, gather information and develop strategy. This builds the narrative of the campaign organically.  

Ultimately, however, the push to online platforms will only add to our collectivism and help to include more people, especially here in Scotland where geography can isolate activists with the divide in rural and urban areas and lack of access to public transport. 

We have seen this within Unite Community with our universal credit campaign successful in winning the temporary additional £20 payment rise.

The announcement came after Unite Community’s national day of action in July. 

It is due to end in the new year, which is why Unite Community has called another day of action.

Overall, however, we need a fairer system. In Scotland, in the middle of a pandemic, care and crisis grants were down by £1.3 million from 2019.  

We need to campaign to get this money into communities to support workers and their families.  

If you are looking for more information on this please visit the People’s Assembly Fife Facebook page. 

We are coming into the festive period with many people struggling to keep a roof over the heads.  

Because of this Unite Community Scotland is running a Christmas appeal to encourage our members, activists, representatives and branches to donate to foodbanks for Christmas and beyond.

From congress to activism, to fighting for health and safety, to donating to foodbanks, we are fighting to protect all our people, it is clear to me that we don’t just fight for bread. We fight for roses too.

Jamie Caldwell is a community organiser for Unite the Union, Scotland.