RSS feed Frances O'Grady's Archive

Frances O'Grady

Frances O'Grady

Frances O’Grady is General Secretary of the TUC, and is the first woman ever to hold this post. She was on the Resolution Foundation’s Commission on Living Standards, and has been a member of the Low Pay and the High Pay Commissions. Frances is a strong believer in protecting the public service ethos, opposes privatisation and leads TUC campaigning on the NHS. You can read Frances’ full biography at the TUC website.

  • Frances O'Grady Frances O'Grady

    A new campaign plan for Britain’s unions

    TUC Campaign Plan

    Since the birth of the coalition in the Downing Street Rose Garden back in May 2010, it has been the TUC and Britain’s unions that have been at the forefront arguing against austerity. We have organised the two biggest demonstrations against austerity since the election, coordinated action to defend our pensions, held off attacks on our workplace rights and fought against the privatisation of the NHS. At every turn we have mobilised and energised people to take action against the sustained dismantling of the fabric of our society and the tearing up of the safety net that exists to help the most vulnerable.

    But as our stagnant economy bumps along with little sign of recovery and the public express their pain and anger, still the Chancellor stays the course. 

    Continue Reading ...

    Posted on May 1st, 2013 by Frances O'Grady filed under: Union campaigns

  • Frances O'Grady Frances O'Grady

    A shameful attack on rural workers, their families and their communities

    tractor at work near rural village

    Shame has never been the landed gentry’s strong point. They were out in force in the House of Lords this week to vote in favour of abolishing the Agricultural Wages Board that sets minimum conditions for over 150,000 rural labourers. The economy may be tanking and the cost of living rocketing but the answer to every question the government sets itself seems to be slashing workers’ rights and pay.

    The Agricultural Wages Board is Britain’s last remaining wages council, providing pay protection for agricultural workers, including those living in tied housing. Abolition risks sucking millions out of local rural economies at a time when the village post office and local businesses  need workers’ spending power to survive.

    Continue Reading ...

    Posted on March 8th, 2013 by Frances O'Grady filed under: Rights at work

  • Frances O'Grady Frances O'Grady

    Add your name for the Shrewsbury 24

    Marchers with banner

    Supporters carry the campaign’s banner on last October’s TUC march in London. Photo Alan Denny

    The TUC gives its full backing to the Shrewsbury 24 campaign in its quest to right a 40-year-old wrong which – alongside the ban imposed on unions at GCHQ in the 1980s – rates as one of the worst attacks on organised workers’ rights in British history. We won’t rest until justice is done.

    In the early 1970s these men experienced a grave miscarriage of justice. They were ordinary, decent men working long hours in difficult and dangerous jobs, who stood up for their rights and fought for fair pay, better safety and against the growing casualisation of the construction industry. 

    Continue Reading ...

    Posted on January 23rd, 2013 by Frances O'Grady filed under: Union campaigns

  • Frances O'Grady Frances O'Grady

    New year and new challenges: My priorities for 2013

    I’m taking over as the new TUC General Secretary this week, as many people return to work after the New Year. And 2013 is already looking to be a critical time for our movement and the UK as a whole.

    The economy is stuck in the middle of what at best looks like a lost decade. Jobs continue to go across the public sector – including in services like health that we were told would be protected. And while we should be pleased that unemployment hasn’t been as bad as many feared, it’s still far too high, especially for young people.

    Unemployment looks set to rise again in the year ahead, and the hidden problem of under-employment is growing too – Many people in part-time jobs want to work full-time, and many more are working in jobs that don’t use their skills and education to the full.

    Continue Reading ...

    Posted on January 2nd, 2013 by Frances O'Grady filed under: Union news

  • Frances O'Grady Frances O'Grady

    Save our NHS rally: 7 March

    The House of Lords are to start discussing proposed changes to the Government’s Health and Social Care Bill on 8 February. The seriousness of this Bill cannot be understated. It threatens the very principles on which the National Health Service was founded by turning it into a business where our taxes will pay for private companies to provide our healthcare. Profit will come before patient care. These reforms are being pushed through at a time when the government is asking the NHS to make unprecedented cuts. Despite Government assertions to the contrary, deep concerns about the Bill are held by practitioners and patients from across the health service.  They are also shared by many of the coalitions own supporters, including a number of MPs and Peers, who have criticised what Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary is trying to push through.

    Now we are asking anyone who cares about our NHS to join us in a Save our NHS rally in Westminster Central Hall, opposite the Houses of Parliament at 18:00 on 7 March. The rally has been organised by the All Together for the NHS Campaign and brings together a range of unions, professional bodies, patients and members of the public who are opposed to the Bill.

    Continue Reading ...

    Posted on January 30th, 2012 by Frances O'Grady filed under: Union campaigns