Campaigning Scots hailed as GMB Congress begins in Brighton

The tireless and triumphant campaigning of Scots members was hailed as GMB Congress 2025 opened in Brighton today.

General secretary Gary Smith said the ambition and drive to make work better north of the border has been mirrored across the UK in a year of progress and achievement for GMB.

Speaking on the first day of congress, Smith said the union has made huge strides in recent years and piled on members after a relentless offensive of successful campaigns to improve the pay and conditions of workers.

He told delegates: “Since the first days of GMB, we have shown we are our best when we represent what matters to our members, their priorities, aspirations, and concerns.

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

“So we are going to keep pressing, campaigning, and arguing for better, to ensure workers are at the heart of the decision-making affecting their lives.

“Our country has big choices to make, and we are going to be at the centre of that."

In a flagship speech, he hailed the progress of GMB in recent years while insisting there is more to be done.

He said: "This union could have chosen the slow lane of decline and demise, but, together, we took a brave path a way forward, building, listening, and putting working class people first.

“Our recovery hasn't been easy, but the rewards are immense. We are a union getting back to its best.”

In his annual report, Smith said the union’s performance was strong north and south of the border last year as he told delegates how effective GMB Scotland campaigning has secured big wins for workers across the private and public sectors.

That was reflected in membership in Scotland rising every month of 2024, with significant increases in social care, NHS Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service where GMB successfully called out ministers’ backsliding on promises of a shorter working week and led the campaign to secure proper rest breaks for emergency crews.

Smith said the recent announcement of 200 new cleansing jobs at Glasgow City Council came after relentless GMB Scotland campaigning and is only another example of how the union is delivering real change.

He also praised the work of the Women’s Campaign Unit in Scotland for securing a range of notable wins for workers, from better maternity support and more family friendly policies to equal pay and job evaluations across public service organisations.

In Scotland’s private sector too, Smith hailed a series of “phenomenal wins” with the union raising the voice of members from shipbuilding and energy to distribution and manufacturing.

On energy, however, he warned governments at Holryood and Westminser must do far more to protect the offshore oil and gas industry and its supply chains as experts warn 200 jobs a week could be lost for the next five years unless there is urgent action.

He said GMB will continue and escalate campaigning to secure the industry, adding: “These workers have felt ignored by politicians.

“Well, not on our watch, and our message to ministers is this, get your act together, get it together fast and start listening to real workers doing real jobs.”

Meanwhile, delegates from north of the border raised the voice of GMB Scotland members on the opening day of congress at the Brighton Centre on the seafront today.

The traditional parade of banners from the union’s seven regions soundtracked to Bob Marley’s Get Up, Stand Up launched congress shortly after 9am before president Barbara Plant opened a packed and wide-ranging agenda.

Delegates from GMB Scotland were prominent in the opening sessions, calling for the union to mobilise against the hard right as delegation leader Tom Carr-Pollock condemned the political opportunism of Reform UK and its leader Nigel Farage.

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

“Given the chance, Reform will sow the seeds of division between workers for the benefit of the bosses. We must show through our actions that by organizing industrially, GMB and the trade union movement, can deliver politically.”

The Scots delegation raised its voice in a number of debates including whether the union should continue to use X, formerly Twitter, under the controversial ownership of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, and whether more must be done to support e-disadvantaged members.

That motion was proposed 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 reality is that many of our members, especially those on low incomes and those in rural communities, continue to rely on cash and that should be no barrier to their participation in our union’s activities.”

GMB Scotland delegates are preparing to raise the voice of members on a range of issues in Sussex this week. Closing on Thursday, congress will hear calls for the economic importance of Scotland’s drinks industry to be properly valued, for example, and for ministers to act with far greater urgency and impact to ease the crisis in social care north of the border.

Watch GMB Congress 2025 live on YouTube