TUC Congress 2025: In a moving gesture, all delegates stood in silent acclamation with TUC posters declaring their support for a Free Palestine.

The 158th annual TUC Congress will be held on September 13-16, 2026, Brighton [1]. Congress comes at a time when workers in Britain and around the world continue to assert that their voice must be heard, recognised and respected. In July this year, the Big Meeting at the Durham Miners Gala had demonstrated once again that the workers and trade union movement in their tens of thousands are still here, and the future is in their hands [2].

This, with the ongoing strike struggles and other actions of workers, vividly demonstrates that the workers are continuing to fight for their rights and interests against the onslaught of the rich to destroy their living standards, their conditions at work, their conditions at home, their environment, their welfare and public services and their right to live in a world at peace with other nations and peoples.

Whole direction of the economy and society must be changed

As some motions at this year's TUC mention, at this time, when the oligarchs are trying to impose their will and their venal and warmongering interests everywhere, it is so crucial that the TUC take a stand that the whole direction of the economy and of society must be changed, and changed fundamentally. This is the only way out of the crisis. In other words, the organised workers movement as represented by the TUC and all the trade unions and collectives of workers must consider how to move forward and be effective in keeping the oligarchs in check as a first principle. One way of expressing this is that there is a necessity to stop paying the rich, ending the seemingly endless cycle of siphoning off the social wealth that working people give rise to and that finds its way into all the coffers of the rich, particularly the super-rich. The corollary is that this social wealth must be invested in social programmes, in health, education, meeting working people's claims on society. Especially when the doubters and purveyors of "fiscal rules" maintain that funding for social programmes "must be paid for", this must be the retort of the working class. This is the one programme that they can and must unite around, a front of the organised working class against the oligarchs and for the interests of society as a whole.

Within this demand that the whole direction of the economy and society be changed so that the interests of working people themselves are put in the first place, there are the specific demands: that an anti-war government empowering the people be fought for, and that the proud internationalist tradition of the working class be underlined and strengthened. This is reflected in some of the motions. Motion 75 builds on the motion last year against the militarisation of the economy, giving the call that "lasting security is advanced through social justice, diplomacy, peace building, human rights and respect for international law". It is reflected in the Motion 77 supporting boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel's genocide against the Palestinians, as well as Motion 76 to "End the siege of Cuba". Yet to fulfill its obligations to peace, the organised working class must place itself at the centre of the people's anti-war front, a front that resists the further escalation and arming for war in Europe with the US, NATO and other European powers in Ukraine and in West Asia, a front that opposes Britain's support to the US and Israel with their bombing and attacks on Iran, Lebanon and Yemen. The front of the organised working class must block the militarisation of the economy that is not only making war inevitable but is wrecking the economy, its social programmes and the welfare of the people.

A new Prime Minister, while behind everything the oligarchs call the shots

The putting in place of a new Prime Minister has raised some optimism in the class. But with the dysfunctional Westminster institutions and processes of governance as they are, which can be called a cartel party system which disempowers the people, can the qualitative change be achieved, can it be more than incremental processes on some fronts while behind everything the oligarchs call the shots? This raises the issue that the working class, the organised workers' movement, must itself be empowered to exercise the authority to make such changes and ensure that it is the people who are sovereign. The dignity of labour demands it. All power to the working people who are fighting to defend their interests and making sacrifices for the good of all, domestically and internationally!

The voice of the working people must be heard and must prevail. This is the call of history for all the delegates at the TUC 2026. Challenge the positions of power and privilege of those who stand in the way of progress at this time, put a spoke in their wheel, say No to their pay-the-rich agendas and pro-war agenda, take a stand for the rights of all!

Notes
1. TUC Congress 2026
https://www.tuc.org.uk/congress2026
2. 140th Durham Miners Gala and Big Meeting: The Working Class Is Still Here, and the Future Is in Our Hands!, Workers' Weekly July 11, 2026
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-26/ww26-22/ww26-22-01.htm

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