Community BDC 2024 – General Secretary’s Opening Speech

Community General Secretary Roy Rickhuss CBE welcomed delegates to our 2024 Biennial Delegates Conference this week. You can read his full speech below:

I want to start by thanking the President for his opening remarks.

It’s been two years since we last all came together in Belfast for our last conference.

We’d just come out of a pandemic that had challenged our union, our workplaces, and our very society.

But our message at that conference was the rallying cry that had carried us through the pandemic.

Standing. Together.

By standing together we held the government to account, ensured our workplaces were kept safe, and continued to make a difference in the lives of our members and beyond.

It’s what has allowed us to achieve the great gains we’ve made over the past two years.

Body worn cameras for our justice sector to keep our members safe.

Adding dental nurses to our ever growing union.

Fighting to save our steel.

Winning recognition at Euro Car Parts.

Standing with our members in court.

Securing our Campaign Fund

Strike action to deliver skilled pay for skilled work

And so much more.

Whenever I look back at the two years between our conferences I’m always humbled.

Humbled because we could never have achieve these things without you.

It’s through the hard work of our reps and members who day in and day out stand together to build a better working world for everyone, that I can stand here today and list our achievements.

But I’m further humbled this year because I know you’ve delivered these wins in difficult circumstances.

I wish that after the pandemic I could say that things have gotten better.

That you were rewarded for your hard work and sacrifice with a better society that worked for you, not against you.

But, sadly as many of you will have experienced yourselves, I cannot.

Because our society is not working for you.

We’re enduring a cost of living crisis that has seen the cost of bills soar. Pushing us from the covid pandemic into a pandemic of hunger in our country.

The disastrous mini-budget putting pressure on our mortgages and making home ownership even more unattainable for the young.

NHS waiting times up, class sizes up, inflation up. The only thing that hasn’t seemed to have gone up is wages.

We face some of the greatest challenges we’ve ever had to face.

Yet I have hope.

I have hope because of the words written behind me and the people sat in-front of me.

One Union.

That’s the message of our conference this year.

One Union that will stand together to deliver the change we need to see in our workplaces and in our society.

And I know we can deliver that change, because I’ve seen us do it time and time again.

This conference we’ll be celebrating 125 years of the National League of Blind and Disabled workers.

The NLBD was a foundational part of our union. Coming together with others to speak with one voice, as one union to fight for the interests of blind and disabled workers at a time when they needed voices to stand and speak with them.

I’m proud that that tradition has carried forward with us into today and we continue to stand with the NLBD. Fighting to ensure that work and our society is accessible to all.

And I’m sure that one day our union will celebrate 250 years of the NLBD and the vital work that they do.

This is what we can achieve when we stand as One Union.

And we need to stand as One Union.

We need to stand as One Union so we can face the challenges of today and build a better world of work for tomorrow.

In our steel industry we need to stand as One Union to overturn years of mismanagement by this Tory Government.

One Union united in calling for lower energy prices, protections from cheap imported high carbon steel, and investment that matches the ambition of the USA and Europe.

In our education sector we need to stand as One Union united in calling for better wages, smaller class sizes and the full adoption of our Early Years Charter.

In our justice sector we need to stand as One Union united in calling for the end of abuse of our prison staff and rampant overcrowding.

In our light industries sector we need to stand as One Union united in calling for better pay and working conditions.

To put it simply across all our sectors we need to stand together as One Union.

Because divided we will never be able to achieve what we can when we act as one.

That’s why we’ve undergone a restructure of our union to make us more effective at campaigning and delivering for you.

We’ve placed organising at our heart with the creation of our new organising team. Focused on working with reps and members to develop branches, grow our union, and champion the changes you want to see in work and beyond.

Sadly these reforms do mean we’ll be saying goodbye to some members of staff and I want to personally single out and thank Sean Scorer and Adrian Axtell.

They’ve made a huge difference in the lives of our members and I wish them the very best as they move on into the future.

And it’s the future that I want to touch upon next.

Because there is one thing I’ve not mentioned yet today.

And that’s something that will have been dominating your television screens and news feeds over the past few weeks.

The General Election.

Your saw in our opening video and heard from me today about some of the achievements we’ve made over the past two years.

But we’ve achieved them not with a Government working with us, but a Government working against us.

A Government that has actively worked to limit your democratic right to organise.

So my call to you this conference is not only to work together as One Union to deliver change in your workplace.

But to work together as One Union to deliver the change our country needs.

By going out and campaigning for your local Labour candidates.

And most importantly.

By going out and voting Labour on the 4^th July.

As One Union we can deliver the change our country needs, and the future it deserves.

Over this conference you are going to have the chance to set the future direction of our union.

You’ll hear from officials in more detail about the fantastic work we’ve done in the past two years, and will look to do in the coming two years.

You’ll hear from fantastic speakers from across the trade union movement, industry and policy about how we can make the world of work better.

And most importantly.

You’ll vote on motions that will decide how we help and support our members going forwards.

And you’ll do all of this as One Union.

One Union building a better working world for all. 

If you are a member of Community and need advice or support, please contact our Service Centre at help@community-tu.org or on 0800 389 6332.