Swindon Trades Union Council is the body which brings together representatives of
union branches in the Swindon area. Affiliated branches send delegates to our
monthly meeting to discuss issues of importance to trades union members, be
they local, national or international. It is a forum for local unions to seek
support and to explain any disputes they are involved in. The Fire Brigades
Union, for instance, gave us regular reports on their dispute, and we donated
money towards their strike fund and encouraged unions to do likewise.
Swindon TUC has a wider vision of Trades Unionism than
is sometimes the case. We have always pursued the interests of working people
in relation to the communities they live in as well as their workplace. We were
instrumental in the setting up of the NHS Defence Campaign which
opposed the building of a privately funded hospital under the government’s
Private Finance Initiative. We also opposed the building of the new hospital at
an out of town green-field site.
We set up a Defend Council Housing campaign to
oppose the threat of privatisation of Council Housing. Our efforts reinforced
the opposition of tenants to hiving off their houses. The consultation process
showed that they were overwhelmingly in favour of the Council keeping its
housing stock.
Together with Swindon Friends of the Earth
we helped to set up the Save Coate campaign to oppose the building of
a massive University campus, as well as 2,000 houses, in the Coate area (see
City for the 21st Century). We have consistently opposed the
‘development’ of the town in a way which is based on the interests of big
business.
If your union branch is not affiliated why not propose
it affiliates (it only costs 5p per member per year), or ask for a STUC speaker
to come along and speak about its work?
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