Community’s Director of Operations, Helen Osgood, spoke about the union’s growth at our Biennial Delegates Conference earlier this month and told members that “2027 will be the year of building”.
You can watch her speech in full below.
Director of Operations Helen Osgood said:
“Conference, it is an absolute privilege to stand before you today as Director of Operations. Every success we have achieved this year has been built by our members, our workplace reps, branch secretaries and staff working together.
“You are the reason Community continues to grow, and you are the reason we can speak with confidence about what comes next.
“2026 has truly been a year of recognition. Following the Employment Rights Act 2025, we have seen a major shift in employment protections for working people, changes that we have waited a generation for. We were ready to act.
“We grasped that opportunity with both hands. Our national secretaries, senior organisers, reps and members have worked together with one purpose: to organise, to grow, and to win recognition in workplaces across the country.
“And the results speak for themselves. So far this year, we have secured over 12 recognition agreements, with a further 16 in progress. That is not just progress on paper, that is real workplaces where workers now have a voice.
“But recognition is only the beginning. 2027 will be the year of building. Building strong workplace structures beneath those agreements. Building confident, trained reps in every site. Building union presence that is not temporary or fragile, but permanent and powerful. Because recognition without organisation is only the start of the journey.
“We know the challenges our members face. The cost of living continues to push people to breaking point, but where workers are under pressure, we must be stronger still.
“Through the new rights available to us, we will ensure that our members are not just surviving work, but are properly rewarded for it, paid fairly, treated fairly, and protected from exploitation.
“Let me be clear: practices like fire and rehire belong in the past. Community was proud to be the first union to defeat fire and rehire in practice, and we fully support the new protections that ensure workers cannot be forced onto worse terms and conditions.
“We will also ensure that the protections on unfair dismissal are meaningful in every workplace, so that workers are not discarded or exploited through loopholes or timing tricks at the end of contracts.
“Alongside this, our focus on equality and young workers remains central to everything we do. We have seen strong growth in young membership, from 540 members in 2023 to 1,478 in 2025, with even stronger growth expected this year.
“That is not an accident. It is the result of issue-based organising, of listening to what young workers care about, and building campaigns that matter in their lives.
“We are also finally seeing progress on equality representation, including long-awaited time off for equality reps. That matters. Because inclusion in the workplace must be real, not symbolic.
“Disabled workers must be properly supported, and women must have equal influence in decision-making structures, not just the roles nobody else wants, but roles where they can lead and shape change. And I am proud, as a working class woman in the role of Director of Operations, to be part of a union that believes leadership should reflect our membership where women are not only represented, but trusted, supported, and empowered to lead at every level.
“Community is proud of its 40,000 members. This year, working with our partners in BADN, we are on track to grow towards 45,000. That growth reflects not just recruitment, but organisation, real workplaces, real agreements, and real power.
“We are also expanding into new sectors, including adult social care, where we are actively mapping, organising and recruiting to ensure that some of the most vulnerable and lowest-paid workers in our society are not left behind.
“Across the UK, trade union membership has grown significantly in recent years, with hundreds of thousands more workers choosing collective strength.
“That should give us confidence but also purpose. Because there are still millions of workers who do not yet have that protection, that voice, or that collective power.
“And that is our challenge. To find them. To organise them. To bring them into our movement. Our Community.
“We know there are still thousands of unrecognised workplaces where workers are waiting for leadership, waiting for support, and waiting for change. And Community sends a clear message today: we are ready to work with you.
“Community is a special union, not because we say it, but because of what we do. We build workplace power. We support our reps. We organise where it matters. And above all, we stand with our members.
“So thank you, to every rep, every organiser, every branch secretary, and every member for stepping up, standing up, and showing up. Because of you, change is not just possible. It is happening, and together, we are only just getting started.”
© Community Trade Union 2026
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