In the photo above, from left to right: Society of Union Employees (SUE) General Secretary Claire Jones; General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) General Secretary Gawain Little; Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union (BFAWU) General Secretary Sarah Woolley; and Social Workers Union (SWU) General Secretary John McGowan.
Affiliates at the Biannual GFTU 3-day CLASS / CULTURE / COMMUNITY conference have elected John McGowan as the new GFTU co-Vice President.
SWU General Secretary John McGowan will be sharing the role of GFTU Vice President with Claire Jones from the Society of Union Employees (SUE). Sarah Woolley from the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union (BFAWU) will remain as the President of the GFTU.
John McGowan said:
“I am absolutely delighted that SWU has received such recognition as a relatively new union, and it will be a real honour to serve as co-Vice President on the GFTU Executive Committee. It only seems like yesterday when we gained membership of the GFTU and since then the union has benefited extensively from their knowledge, support and free education programme for our members.”
This is indeed good news for social work and for SWU to have such a key role within the GFTU. At the same conference SWU delivered three motions which were unanimously passed and strongly supported by the GFTU.
SWU motions in support of social work and social justice
The first SWU motion “Poverty Crisis for Children” is informed by the research SWU conducted for ITV News showing that the cost-of-living crisis has led to a third of UK social workers witnessing child removals in the past three years where poverty or financial poverty has been a key factor. This research also revealed a housing crisis for UK families, with over a fifth (21%) of social workers working with children, young people and families have seen their service remove a child or children from their family in the last three years where unsafe or inappropriate housing conditions was a key contributing factor. This is supported by the latest Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) “Safeguarding Pressures” research that concludes a lack of adequate housing, welfare reforms, and families lacking access to public funds are all adding to pressures on children’s services. This motion calls for Government investment in a complete range of fully functioning and well-resourced public services.
The second SWU motion “Increased funding to social work” specifically notes that social workers provide vital services across the UK and that the scope of increased funding for social workers is UK-wide. This motion has given the GFTU Executive Committee the mandate to do all that it can to support the work of SWU to secure increased funding to social work, and also to call on employers and governments to take positive action to treat social workers fairly and improve working conditions.
The third SWU motion “Solidarity with Palestine” also received strong support from the GFTU and calls for: the British government to end their complicity in the genocide of the Palestinian people, an immediate end to arms sales to Israel, support of the targeted boycott of Israel called by the BDS movement in order to put political pressure on Israel to end the occupation, support for all action by workers in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and reaffirmation of our commitment and affiliation to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. SWU is an affiliate of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and supports the important work they do in the UK, including through their partnership with child rights organization Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCIP).
You can read more about the SWU motions here, and the full list of motions is available on the GFTU website.
More about the GFTU
The General Federation of Trade Unions was established in 1899 and is a democratic organisation responsive to the needs of 29 affiliated trade unions. The federation includes a joint membership of over half a million members, ranging from specialist union affiliates to some larger trade unions.
In 2024 the GFTU celebrated their 125th anniversary, focusing on their founding principles of education, solidarity, and unity in action. You can learn more about the GFTU’s early history in our special Question & Answer session with Dr Edda Nicolson who is a historian of early twentieth century British trade unionism and a Lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton.
As SWU is a GFTU affiliate, SWU members can access most of the GFTU’s Education Programme training courses free of charge, including the upcoming Young Members’ Development Weekend and the online Trade Union and Working Class History sessions. If you are interested in getting more involved in you union and learning about trade union history then register your place soon!