‘We need to face them on the streets’: how trade unions are responding to the far-right threat
“Normally at anti-racist protests, any kind of protests in Bristol, we go as a family”, says Matt Hollinshead, a regional organiser for the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union.
“It would be my little boy in a carrier, and we’d just rock up without any question about it,” he goes on. “And this time I was like, actually, maybe stay home.”
Hollinshead is talking about the day he attended the anti-fascist mobilisation in Bristol on 3 August – this time without his family – in response to far-right groups descending on the city.
“My partner’s an immigrant, we’ve got a mixed-race kid. We’re Muslim. It was a heightened time in terms of stress,” he says, describing the effect of witnessing such intense aggression that day.
Like many activists and trade unionists, he was taken aback by the scale of the far-right presence, which he believes left many unprepared. He argues that the day was marked by a lack of coordination and “quite disastrous complacency” on the part of unions and other activists.
Yet when the threat of a second far-right rally was revealed a few days later, there was a much more robust response – and Hollinshead was among the several thousand people who turned out to defend an immigration lawyer’s office in Old Market.
“People took it really seriously”, he says of the counter-demonstration. “You had the Bristol Anti-racist Action WhatsApp group that got started by a mate, who’s a Unite activist, that very quickly had a big trade union presence. And you had a rank and file network of ordinary reps, not organising through official channels necessarily, but organising to support each other across trade unions.”
‘We can organise members across the region’
PCS was not the only union to respond in this way. After the 3 August confrontation, Unite officials held an emergency meeting, explains Brett Sparkes, regional community and Unite in Schools coordinator. The result was the founding of an anti-racist taskforce designed to coordinate demonstrations opposing the far-right across the South West.
Politicians talk about how migrant workers have been the cause of the trouble, or the cause of the decline of the public services
Adekunle Akinola, Unison
“We can notify members across the region, and in others, if we spot anything likely to happen. We can notify them and organise them so they’re on the streets”, says Sparkes.
“In my experience – and I go back to the anti-apartheid movement in London – the only way to beat these people is to face up to them on the streets. They tend to dwindle away then. So that’s really important,” he says, mentioning recent successful demonstrations against the far right in towns such as Bournemouth, Taunton and Yeovil.
Sparkes’ work with the taskforce builds on his previous experience both as an organiser and educator, where he speaks to young people in schools and universities about the world of work and the role of the trade union movement. He has also long been involved in Unity over Division, a campaign started by Unite to counter far-right and racist narratives that have taken root in many communities riven by austerity and declining public services.
“We encourage shop stewards, elected representatives, to engage in conversations with fellow workers about the language of the far right, to call out racist, homophobic, misogynistic, ableist language – which we see more and more of,” he says.
But some activists believe trade unions need to be even more proactive, particularly when it comes to internal anti-racist work, and defending the interests of migrant workers.
‘Trade unions must support migrant workers’
“I found it shameful we still have such rhetoric going on, so much hate towards Black people, immigrants and refugees”, says Adekunle Akinola.
Akinola is a healthcare worker based in Taunton and is vice-chair of the Unison Black members self-organised group in the South West. “We create a safe space for Black members to discuss their challenges, the issues they have, and then also share ideas on how to resolve all of these issues,” he says.
Though shocked and frustrated at the racist violence that has swept the country over the past few weeks, he is not surprised by it.
“I’ve said to people: the greatest enabler of hate towards people of colour in this country is the government itself”, he says, describing how “politicians talk about how migrant workers have been the cause of the trouble or the cause of the decline of the public services”.
Akinola mentions the vulnerability faced by many migrant workers in the healthcare sector, who not only frequently experience racism in their places of work, but also face visa restrictions. Many enter the UK on a tier 2 visa, otherwise known as a Skilled Worker Visa, which requires a certificate of sponsorship from an employer.
“When you have migrant workers coming, ideally they should be seen as coming to serve the community and not coming to serve an individual employer,” he says. “Because by attaching the life and freedom of a migrant worker to one employer that has issued them the COS [certificate of sponsorship], that means you are tying them to a slave master.”
Akinola also believes unions need to do more to encourage migrant workers to join.
“Unless the trade unions in this country go and seek out these people and actually show them we are here for you, and show them what powers they have by being members of the union and what they can achieve, they will not find migrant workers trusting them enough to want to join,” he says.
Problematic history
Hollinshead acknowledges that in the past, many unions themselves had racist policies. “The NF [National Front] used to have a trade union section, and there used to be real issues with the far right actually trying to mobilise people in unions,” he says.
He gives the example of the 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott. “One of the main antagonists to the boycott was one of the forerunners of Unite,” he goes on. “And now obviously Unite recognises the problems with that and is very proud of having ended up on the right side of that dispute, but it’s a problem.”
Yet all the activists I spoke to believe that unions still have a vital role to play in challenging the far right and countering racist narratives.
As Hollinshead puts it: “We’re the largest membership organisations for working people in the country. We’ve got huge membership, we’ve got huge reach, and we’re already organised in terms of solidarity and the people who are involved already get the idea of sticking together and putting your neck out for your fellow workers.”
This story was funded via a crowdfunding campaign that local trade union branches and workers are contributing to. During 2024, reporter Adam Quarshie will be delivering series of articles focusing on workplace organising and creative solutions to the cost of living crisis.
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