#StrongUnionStrongFuture Conference – Justice Speech

In a speech during Community Union’s 2026 Biennial Delegates Conference Gavin Miller moved the chapter for justice and immigration.

You can watch his speech in full below.

National Secretary for the Justice and Custodial Sector, Gavin Miller, said:

“Conference, the past two years has been a challenging time in the justice and immigration sector. We have seen the drastic prison overcrowding crisis, the implementation of the measures proposed by the independent sentencing review, the announcement of court reforms, releases in error becoming a hot topic, vetting delays, a continued political focus on immigration from people with ulterior political motives, and all of this alongside the already challenging day to day issues that our excellent workplace reps and members have to deal with.  

 “Running alongside these issues, the continued stresses put on our members related to the cost of living crisis has meant that achieving pay offers that make a meaningful difference to  members has been tough, but with the support of our reps we have always managed to get there in the end.  

 “We have the all too present issue of staff assaults to deal with across the sector. Our members face significant threats when they attend work. In the most severe cases they even face risks to their lives.  

 “Through all of these challenges our sector has grown significantly because our reps and activists have stood up and been counted. We have maintained the core principle of what we do, which is winning for members through partnership working.  

 “Working with Sodexo I am pleased to announce that NEC member Roger Corby is now invited to attend their European Works Council meetings and that further expands the genuine collaboration that exists between our organisation and theirs.  I have no doubt that Roger will showcase this more widely across the Sodexo group when he goes to Paris and attends the meetings.  

 “With Mitie we have signed recognition agreements for HMP Millsike, Campsfield House immigration centre and we have continued our union recognition on the JPECCS contract in Scotland where they will be taking over from GEOAmey in January next year.

“With Serco we have worked alongside Public First to produce a follow up to our 2024 Beyond Bars report that provides a snapshot into where the justice sector is now and provides recommendations for all stakeholders from Government level down to establish how we continue to drive standards forward for our members.  The full report will be released later this year.  

“We have developed a much improved relationship with the Scottish Prison Service to ensure that we are in regular contact to make sure our members in Scotland have a smooth transition into being Mitie employees – and we thank GEOAmey for their work to support this.  

“It would be remiss of me not to mention our work with HMPPS. Working closely with Dr Jamie Bennett and Nikki Secker I am delighted to announce to this conference that  our members will be eligible to receive a new award to recognize their long service in the private prison sector, something that they’ve not previously been eligible to receive. 

“I want to thank Jamie for his support to launch this award, we were delighted when he spoke at our sectoral conference last year. The launch of this award recognizes the terrific service of our members and is long overdue.  It is testament to the work of all of our activists in the sector – past and present. 

“So…. What’s next?  In the next two years we will continue to expand into the justice and immigration sector working with Mitie, Sodexo and Serco and beyond to broaden our reach and influence. We are growing and we will continue to make our voice heard in this space.  

“We will take the campaigning goals established from the Beyond Bars report and make sure that we engage with the Government, civil service, with companies and whoever we need to to ensure that we our members voices are heard.  

“We will work with our employers to raise rates of pay so that we can attract and retain talent into the workforce: we need to create the leaders of tomorrow and that journey begins today.  

“We will continue to campaign for safety standards in the sector to ensure that our members are protected, and we will lobby for any PPE that they need to be safe in their duties. Our newly formed Health and Safety committee will lead on this work and it is vital that this is member driven campaigning.  

“And we’ll continue to develop the Keep Us Safe campaign through our Health and Safety committee to ensure every justice sector member goes home safe and free from abuse.

“Conference, we aren’t without our challenges and our disagreements with employers – that almost goes without saying in the line of work we’re in – but we will never lose sight of what we are here to do and that’s win for members and keep them safe. Conference, I move the chapter.”