GMB Scotland heard loud and clear as Congress 2026 opens

Day One of Congress 2026 and GMB Scotland delegates did not take long to raise their voice in Blackpool.

Gathering in the seaside resort’s spectacular Winter Gardens on Sunday morning, members from around across the UK came together to debate and decide the union’s policies.

After joining the stirring banner parade, to the soundtrack of Bob Marley’s protest anthem Get Up, Stand Up, GMB Scotland delegates were front and centre in the day’s debates.

Louise Gilmour, GMB Scotland secretary, got a special ovation, however, after general secretary Gary Smith opened his flagship address by hailing her union career as she prepares to retire later this year.

His tribute, which prompted a standing ovation in the packed hall, hailed Gilmour’s 29 years with the union and said her work across almost three decades represented the very best of GMB.

Smith told her: “Your story is our union’s story. It is about hard work, it is about perseverance, and it is about achievement.

“You're a leader, you're a fighter, and above all, you're a friend.”

Later, in one of the most significant debates of the first day, GMB Scotland delegation leader, Tom Carr-Pollock backed a Special Report from the Central Executive Council supporting the union’s continued affiliation with the Labour Party.

He told Congress the union’s roots in the Labour movement are deep and wide but the relationship rests on mutual respect.

Carr-Pollock said: “In Scotland, on energy, we have been critical friends of Labour in recent years, often with the emphasis on critical.

“We have been vocal in questioning the UK Government’s rush to net zero and its talk of a just transition, which, in reality, has become a jobless transition.

“But that debate is not finished. Labour politicians are listening and backing a more measured transition to renewables, one that will reduce emissions while protecting thousands of skilled, well-paid, unionised jobs in oil and gas.

“That is what affiliation can achieve.”

Carr-Pollock said the alternative – “the hasty, needless shutdown of the North Sea production” - threatens industrial calamity while weakening UK energy security.

He added: “The debate over energy policy is just one argument we can, and will, win, because Labour will listen to its friends, even the difficult and critical ones.”

Earlier, in one of day’s first debates, Paula Logue, a first time GMB Scotland delegate, spoke in support of rule book changes tightening and modernising procedures and language.

She welcomed the amendments and said change was crucial to ensure GMB evolved and grew.

Logue said: “Across the UK, trade unions are operating in a difficult environment, but Scotland continues to show the strength of our movement.

“In the most recent official figures, Scotland recorded the biggest increase in trade union membership density of any UK nation, rising to 29.4 per cent.

“That does not happen by accident. It happens because unions organise. It happens because unions adapt. It happens because unions remain relevant to workers in changing workplaces and changing industries.

“These rule changes are part of that same responsibility. They show that GMB is continuing to evolve, continuing to modernise, and continuing to build a union capable of growing in the years ahead.”

“Congress, if we are serious about being an organising, campaigning and activist-led union, then our rules must support that ambition.

In the morning session, two more GMB Scotland delegates, Martin Meyer and Grace Hepburn, moved a motion encouraging greater trade union solidarity.

Meyer said GMB has grown dramatically in Scotland’s colleges by organising and campaigning while management have been reluctant to engage while attempting to muffle its voice.

He called on other unions in further education to resist the attempts to divide workers and stand in solidarity against management.

Meyer said: “Even though GMB is recognised across all the colleges in Scotland, we have seen our sector fight back against the growth in our membership.

“This a sector signed up to Fair Work principles in theory but falling far short in practice.

“It is a sector where employers have looked to lock out GMB wherever possible in favour of unions more favourable to their position.

“That is the danger here. Once an employer learns that it can single out one recognised union and the wider movement will not respond, it has learned a very useful lesson.

“It has learned that trade unions can be divided. It has learned that recognition can be hollowed out and it has learned that solidarity can be treated as optional.

“When an employer attacks the rights of one recognised union, sister unions must stand by them because divided unions help bad employers.

“United unions protect workers.”