By Becky Wright, Executive Director | 4 min
Safeguarding inside our own unions is not usually a subject that you can find in a fringe room at a union conference, but this year, at the UK TUC’s Congress, there was. Our session, How do we ensure our unions are truly safe places for members and staff?, was standing room only and the conversation that followed was one candid and not the usual conference discussion.
We were joined by Rob Kelsall of NAHT and Simon Weller of ASLEF.
Why this question, and why now
Many in the room knew about the recent lawyer led reports into behaviours and practices within union. Between them, they showed how institutional defensiveness, factionalism and a misplaced sense of loyalty have shielded harmful behaviour in parts of our movement and protected people from accountability. The reports also make a less comfortable point. By the time a grievance is lodged or a formal process begins, the harm has already been done. Dignity at work policies and complaints procedures are essential, but they are a response rather than a prevention.
That is why we framed the session around the harder question of what a union does before an investigation is needed. The timing matters too. From this month, the Employment Rights Act 2025 requires employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, and unions are employers like any other.
What we heard
The discussion kept returning to three things. The first was the role governance can play in spotting problems early, before they harden into crises. The second was culture: whether people in a union can disagree with each other safely, or whether points are scored and grudges held. The third was the part of this work that cannot be handed to a policy document and left there.
Unions sit in an unusual position. We are employers and member-led organisations at the same time, and the person whose behaviour needs challenging may be an elected officer rather than an employee. The usual HR processes were not built with that relationship in mind. Several people in the room spoke about conferences and residential events, where the boundaries between staff, activists and elected leaders can blur quickly.
The word that stayed with us was one that both Rob and Simon used, which was leadership. Members and staff have pushed hard for this issue to be taken seriously, and they were right to. Real change also depends on the people in senior roles, elected and employed, deciding that it is their job to set the standard.
The guide behind the session
The session drew on our new discussion paper, Safe unions: culture and governance before the crisis, written by Niamh Sweeney. It is written for union leaders, staff, executives and members. It sets out what proactive safeguarding looks like in the particular setting of a union, and it includes a practical framework for senior leaders who want to move from responding to harm towards preventing it.
The work was made possible by the unions that contribute to Unions 21. They have been the first to receive it, along with our support in working through it in their own organisations.
If your union wants to be part of this
If you were in the room, or you have read this and recognised your own union in it, we would like to hear from you. Contributing unions fund our insight work and shape what we look at next. They also get the time and support to put that work into practice, which is often where it matters most.
What would it take for your union to be confident it is a safe place to work and to be a member, before anyone has to ask?
