Three delegates from Stroud Trades Council (from NEU, Unite and USDAW) attended this event in Bridgewater on Saturday 22 February 2025. This was, apparently, the best attended AGM ever.
There were two session on building the trade union movement in which we contributed about our work, a report about how Plymouth Care Workers had built for and taken successful strike action as well as elections.
Sharon Battishill talking about how she and fellow care workers took strike action. She was given a standing ovation.
We also had an address from Dave Roberts, Regional Secretary of the Fire Brigades’ Union (FBU) and Rachel Beany, Regional Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS). Both were excellent speakers.
We asked Dave about the recent damning report about Racism and Sexism in the Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue Service and he explained how the Union had made sure there were no issues within its own ranks and that its Reps were aware of how to respond to such matters. He also explained how the FBU was clear it would not defend or justify members who clearly had been racist and/or sexist in the way the report showed some had been.
The general response was that it had been an excellent day and thanks were due to the organisers (not least for providing a good lunch with individual dietary needs well catered for).