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result of overcrowding and underfunding and low pay. The scourge of redundancies, zero hours
contracts and low pay have plagued many of our affiliates again. We had to fight in one sector for
the very survival of national collective bargaining, and in this sector we won.
We note with pride that many GFTU affiliates have a high density of membership, strong
membership affinity and extensive collective bargaining arrangements. Compared with the
workforce and Movement generally, GFTU unions have exemplary records in these regards.
The generational and entirely ridiculous economic shift away from manufacturing towards financial
speculation has skewed the economy and threatened the very existence of some unions. The mining
union NACODS left us this year as the last coal mine closed. Community, the union for life, has had
to brave the near closure of the steel industry and work to save the heart of our economy and
actually reopen closed steel plants. We need a real economy of industrial production, not the
candyfloss of the City of London.
No area of working life whether in sport, finance, entertainments, industry, transport, criminal
justice, health or education has escaped the destructive hand of the market.
But no matter how inclement the weather, trade unions remain the most resilient organisations in
society and the best, because they find ways of surviving and prospering. The GFTU is here to
support this process in new ways.
This was true 100 years ago when our predecessors met at the time of the First World War with all
of its appalling slaughter. It was true in 1927 just after the General Strike and start of the Great
Depression when our predecessors planned a great centre for trade unionism in London which the
GFTU built as Central House where work started in 1930. It was certainly true of the post war
generation and all the hundreds of unions that made the GFTU a key player in the reconstruction of
the country at that time. 60 years after the creation of the NHS it faces its toughest time.
This spirit of resilience and rebuilding is with us today and we can celebrate that there is a renewed
confidence that the GFTU will support all of our affiliates in prospering and growing and doing things
better.
Practical support for members and affiliated unions is grounded in our sense of history, now
advanced in our education programme. It is bolstered by our recognition that in campaigning,
organising and educating trade unionists need to get more than bread on the table, our imaginations
must be stirred too and the roses of art and culture must be nurtured throughout the movement to
inspire us again.
There is no avoiding the GFTU’s long held belief that science, technology and manufacturing renewal
remain the central priorities if the economy is to benefit us all. I for one believe that the coincidence
between our membership of the EU and the destruction of our manufacturing base was not in fact a
coincidence. I see new opportunities now.
In the coming period I believe that we must do much more work to assist the complex processes
taking place to rebuild manufacturing and high tech industrial production. We should become
prominent in this as an organisation again.
Our generation must leave the GFTU stronger for future generations and I am confident that through
the important discussions of this BGCM we will do so. The historic strength of the GFTU lies in the
determination of small groups of unions achieving great things. We have determination and
ambition. It has been a great privilege to work with you all.