Speaking at the Durham Miners Gala

I am incredibly humbled and proud to address Durham miner's gala today.

For so many reasons.

I am proud to do so as a working class woman from the North.

I am proud to do so as the general secretary of a fighting trade union.

And today, like every day of my life, I am proud to be on this platform as the daughter of a miner.

I was born in April 1984, just as that 18-month long strike was getting underway.

But before I say anything more, I want to pay tribute to every single miner that took part in that dispute.

I also want to pay tribute to all those who supported the miners, not least of all the women and wives.

And every single comrade in the UK and global community, including friends in other movements like Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners.

Who had our backs the whole way through.

But most importantly, I want to dedicate this speech to my dad and my mum.

As you can imagine the strike allowed my dad plenty of time to do child care.

And he ensured he educated me about struggle and solidarity from the very moment I was born.

This carried on every Wednesday night through childhood, when coming in after a few pints on his night off, he would tell me the following four important things that every father should tell his daughter:

1)    that I was clever

2)    that I was beautiful

3)    that nobody was better than me (but that I certainly wasn't better than anyone else),

4)    and most importantly to never ever bend your knee to a Tory.

He has been my political hero and compass throughout everything.

And also I want to pay tribute to my mum, the woman who made all of this possible with her gift of unwavering love and support.

All of us here today know that nobody gets where they are alone.

And growing up as a daughter of a miner, I think I know that as well as anyone.

That is why for me - solidarity isn't just a word.

During the strike, solidarity in my household looked like the family friend who worked at the dairy and would donate free milk to us.

Solidarity was the local man who worked at the food tinning factory.

Who during his shift would ensure a number of cans were unlabelled, allowing him to take them home as damaged, and give them to us.

We were of course incredibly grateful, but it did mean we were never quite sure what we would be having for tea.

Solidarity also looked like the family member who bought my big brother his first pair of school shoes.

Because my parents didn't have the money.

Today, I stand here still proud to be the daughter of a miner.

But also the general secretary of the largest post 16 education union in the world.

And it is all because of people like you, in this field.

The people who tell little boys and girls born into households like mine that they matter.

That sticking together matters.

That standing up for yourself and what you believe in matters.

That solidarity matters.

Fast forward from 1984 to today and whilst it is clear that some things have changed:

Margaret Thatcher is no longer with us.

Other things haven't:

Like the inherent greed, entitlement and pure vindictiveness at the heart of Tory ideology.

That still sees parents unable to feed or clothe their kids.

But whilst that poison continues to pulse through the veins of Tories, so too does the resoluteness, compassion and pure bloody mindedness of the working class.

To fight back.

And to deliver change.

And today comrades, it feels now as if we are in the middle of a moment.

A moment where, if we are brave then we can deliver that change once again.

There is a lot of talk of a summer of discontent.

Well I'm here to remind the media - and the Tories - that we're not just angry during the summer months.

We are furious.

24 hours a day.

365 days a year.

And, yes, even in leap years, at what the Tories and bosses are doing to our society - and our class.

 

And this couldn't be truer than at my union, where righteous anger is actually a requirement for membership.

 

Since I was elected general secretary in mid-2019, our union has been fighting harder than ever for education.

We have taken industrial action relentlessly to defend terms and conditions.

We have fought hostile employers in each corner of the UK.

In colleges, universities, prisons and community settings.

We've fought and continue to fight the scourge of fire and rehire, poverty pay, attacks on pensions and the rampant use of disgraceful insecure employment practices.

Comrades, right now we're also fighting at the sharp end of the neoliberal assault on education.

As arts and humanities courses get slashed up and down England, in another Tory bid to shrink the horizons and crush the aspirations of the working class.

Because the ruling class actually do understand the value of education.

They understand itspower.

And let me tell you: they're scared to death of an educated working class.

But just like the founders of this place: John Forman, William Patterson, Alexander Macdonald and William Crawford.

Who in the 1800s would no longer allow illiteracy of miners to be exploited.

So too must each and every one of us fight for education with all we have.

Comrades, our strikes in education have been tough.

The disputes have been hard.

But I am here to tell you today, to tell the employers and to tell the government:

UCU will never relent.

We will never give in when this Tory government tries to trash education

We will lead the fightback

And we will be inspired by the actions of those around us.

 

For too long now, we have failed to realise our collective strength.

Big business, the government and the media have tried to intimidate workers into believing that we cannot take them on.

That they are too powerful.

It is time to realise our worth.

Our potential.

And our power.

Whilst this event is the pride of our movement, that recognises our successes.

And pays loving tribute to those who have gone before us

It is also a moment to acknowledge the challenges we face now... and in the future.

Because the demonisation of working people and trade unions didn't begin or end in 1984 when I was that little girl in a mining family labelled the 'enemy within'.

This Tory government (in whatever state of crisis it finds itself) is not going to sit back whilst workers stand up for themselves.

They have already legislated in an attempt to silence protest.

They have extended the powers of the police.

And we know they are coming for the RMT with their plan to allow scab labour.

But comrades, we should not expect it to stop there.

Because a government on the ropes, with no answers for working people, will always resort to authoritarianism.

Mobilising the state to hurt us.

To punish us.

And to dampen our spirits.

Just as they tried with the miners.

Friends, comrades, brothers and sisters - we have to be awake and to rise like never before.

Every one of us: black, white, gay, straight, immigrant, trans, disabled or non-binary.

Everyone matters and we need everyone to win.

As we leave Durham at the end of this weekend, let us all walk taller, shout louder and be more proud than ever of our class.

Its rich history

And the bright future we want for one another.

Because the working class are the lifeblood of this country.

And not a thing of value happens without us.

We are living in a moment.

Let's make it our moment.

Solidarity forever.