TUC Congress calls for Wages not Weapons
A University and College Union (UCU) motion to Congress 2025 has overturned three years of TUC support for government’s increases in military spending. London CND Chair Carol Turner reports.
Trade unionists and peace movement activists have welcomed the decision by Congress to support Motion 37, Wages Not Weapons, which reverses TUC policy since 2022 in support of government increases in military spending.
UCU launched a Wages Not Weapons campaign in the run-up to TUC to help win the day, including a strong social, explaining: ‘our country is in a state of ruin. Last year, we elected a Labour government to reverse this decline by putting workers first and defending our interests. Yet now, we are told there is no money left.’ The campaign included a short social media video which is well worth a watch.
Motion 37, Wages Not Weapons, reads:
Congress recognises:
i. that Britain’s public services, public goods, and core infrastructure – including education, healthcare, local government, mail, and transport – continue to suffer from chronic neglect and underinvestment
ii. this harms working people, holds back unions and compounds national decline.
Congress further recognises that:
a. rearmament is not a suitable standalone foundation for national renewal
b. moreover, there can be no meaningful national security in the absence of massive public investment to rebuild the social and economic fabric of working-class communities
c. political pressure from Trump continues to ratchet up expected levels of spending on defence, potentially climbing to 5 per cent of gross domestic product
d. in the current political context, ever-higher expenditure on arms will inevitably mean less money for our education, health, and councils, and the green transition.
Congress believes:
1. we should stand, in our best traditions, for peace and against militarisation
2. that actively campaigning for ever-higher spending on arms risks signalling approval of a wider drive to war, in the dangerous context of renewed great-power rivalry
3. that British participation in the F-35 programme implicates it in Israel’s grave violations of international law in Gaza.
Congress resolves to:
I. reverse policy, dating from 2022, of support for immediate increases in defence spending
II. prioritise campaigning for public investment in Britain’s public realm, decimated by austerity
III. commit to a safe, liveable planet
IV. reaffirm that our movement’s priority is welfare and wages, not weapons and war.
· Still relevant
For a review of some of the issues raised at Congress 2025, check out Labour CND’s latest podcast, available on Spotify and YouTube. On the eve of Congress, Andrew Murray, former chief of Unite union, discussed military spending, Palestine, defence diversification, and the state of Britain’s trade union movement.
· Also worth a look
Congress 2025 also passed a motion which referenced far-right riots in Britain and the rise of the far right internationally. Motion 12 put forward from TUC Women’s Conference expressed concern ‘that much of the political dialogue running up to the general election last year moved further to the right’, noting that the far right in Britain were emboldened ‘in the shape of the Reform Party’.
In response to the rise of the far right, the TUC recently launched some new resources designed to assist reps, members, and activists tackle the arguments raised, including a course for union reps and an online guide, Talking Solidarity.
