GMB Scotland raises the voice of members at Congress 2025

From hospitals and care homes to distilleries and water plants, the voice of workers from across Scotland was raised at GMB Congress 2025.

Delegates from north of the border led and shaped a range of debates in Brighton this week as members came together to look back on a year of achievement and forward to the campaigns ahead.

General Secretary Gary Smith set the tone on Sunday, the opening day, with a flagship speech hailing the commitment and passion of a trade union making work better across the UK.

He said: “Our achievements endure because they are rooted in our members and their workplaces and that connection is our greatest source of strength.”

Soon after, GMB Scotland delegates got involved, joining a series of debates and were, from the first day to the last, at the podium raising the concerns of members to help shape GMB policies and priorities.  

In one of the first debates on how to combat the rise of the hard right, leader of the Scots delegation Tom Carr-Pollock condemned the political opportunism of Reform UK and its leader Nigel Farage.

He told congress: “He may sometimes talk left but his MPs have opposed the strengthening of workers' rights at every single stage of the Employment Rights Bill."

A special report on health care was supported by delegates, including Melanie Gale, a nurse and rep in NHS Scotland, who warned millions of pounds are being squandered on unneeded drugs and equipment.

She urged ministers to investigate waste and inefficiency in hospitals to curb the huge amount of stock being destroyed after going out of date.

She said: “Stock is expiring at an alarming rate, unused and unneeded. The waste is costing the NHS millions that could be used to deliver better care for patients and protection for staff.”

She was speaking as part of a debate on the future of the health service as GMB, one of the biggest unions in NHS Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service, called for fundamental reform and new safeguards to protect patients and staff.

A raft of far-reaching proposals from GMB included calls for rigorous control of creeping privatisation in the NHS and a new focus on preventative treatment.

Linda Carr-Pollock, another GMB Scotland rep in the NHS, introduced the national report on behalf of the Central Executive Council, and told delegates that workers not managers or consultants know how best to care for patients.

She said: “Let us trust those who do the work save lives and truly care about the health, happiness and future of our people. The NHS is ours. It's union built and the envy of the world.”

On social care, Scots delegates called for urgent action to address a crisis in staff retention and recruitment. Delegate Elizabeth Martin told congress how repeated promises of change in Scotland had come to nothing while the collapse of Scottish Government plans for a new National Care Service meant years and millions of pounds had been wasted.

She highlighted £38million that has never been delivered despite being promised to deliver sick pay in the sector before her motion was supported by another GMB Scotland delegate, Margaret Boyd, who said pay and conditions that would not be tolerated in the NHS must also be outlawed in social care.

She called on Holyrood ministers to implement promised plans for sectoral bargaining, adding: “The social care workforce cannot afford to go backward when they are ready to move forward, it's time to bargain for better.”

The Scots delegation continued to highlight members’ concerns in a series of motions, including a call for automatic doors in hospitals and for the union to avoid cashless venues for meetings to support e-disadvantaged members.

That motion was moved by one GMB Scotland delegate, Annette Drylie, and seconded by another, Ciorstadh Reichle, who said: “Contactless payments, online banking, and mobile apps, are convenient for many, but convenience for some should never mean exclusion for others."

The concerns of members across industrial sectors were also raised with GMB Scotland urging action to secure the gas network and protect workers while Andrew Thompson, GMB rep in Scottish Water, called for fundamental reform.

He said regulation of the publicly-owned utility, where workers are involved in ongoing industrial action over pay, involves too many watchdogs but too little accountability and needs to change.

He said: “Water bosses and regulators are highly paid and unaccountable and have a cosy relationship where they protect themselves from criticism but have no qualms about blaming workers for failures.”

Other motions raised by Scots including calls for greater government support for the whisky industry; the need to be vigilant to protect trans workers from discrimination; and the lifting of the ban on alcohol in Scottish football grounds.

William McCluskey, a rep in brewing, said the drinks ban discriminated against working class fans and needlessly blocked a source of revenue for struggling clubs.

He said: “Lifting this ban isn't just about a pint at the game. It's about jobs. It's about local economies, and it's about treating working people with respect.”

The opinions and concerns of Scottish workers were repeatedly raised at congress but so too was their solidarity with GMB colleagues and union comrades across the UK and around the world.

In one of the final debates yesterday, the last day of congress at the Brighton Centre, delegate Ross Herbert, a rep in the Scottish Ambulance Service, spoke in support of a GMB special report on how to combat the international rise of the hard right.

He said: “Our solidarity, at home and abroad, is the only antidote to their seeds of hatred and division and, on our shop floors, our break rooms, our homes, our social clubs and our streets, we can turn the tide.”

GMB Scotland secretary Louise Gilmour hailed the contribution of the Scottish delegation, saying: “Congress is a vital part of our union where we come together to debate and decide our policies and priorities.

“I was very proud but not at all surprised that GMB Scotland delegates spoke so powerfully and eloquently for our members in workplaces up and down the country.”

General Secretary Gary Smith, a former GMB Scotland secretary, closed congress after hailing delegates for their work and commitment before promising the best is yet to come.

He said: “We are building a better union, a stronger union. As we leave here, we will commit to kicking on, to take this union to new levels.

“Thank you.”