‘Calling Reform Racist Doesn’t Work’ Say Unions as They Shift Strategy to Counter Nigel Farage’s Party

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Trade unions are grappling with how to deal with the rise in support of Reform UK among their own members and workers as a whole. 

The rise of the far-right – including Nigel Farage’s party – came up in almost every fringe event and discussion on motions at the Trades Union Congress in Brighton this week. 

In an interview with Byline Times at the annual gathering, the General Secretary of the Usdaw union of shopworkers, Joanne Thomas, said: “We have to take the threat of Reform and the rise of the far right incredibly seriously, because we’ve seen some of the ramifications with regards to hate speech, stirring up communities by driving that agenda of division.”

At a Hope Not Hate panel event on Monday on tackling the challenge, Bakers Union (BFAWU) leader Sarah Woolley said: “There are several things we can do to get into communities and challenge what Reform is putting out there…What we’re doing—certainly in West Yorkshire—is doing picnics, as well as counter-[demonstrations] – bringing everyone together, making it almost a party rather than just an anti-racist demo.

“We’re showing that we’re the normal people. They’re the angry people screaming and shouting and threatening—they’re the weirdos.” And she said the union was promoting “music against racism” among other initiatives.

“[We’re] getting back into communities, making being anti-racist fun, not just dealing with misogynistic, horrible, generally white, older men shouting at us.”

But she joined others in agreeing that “calling Reform racist doesn’t work—people already think we use it too much. [But] we are calling them far-right as a movement.” 

Liz Snape, an assistant general secretary at Unison – the UK’s biggest union – added that the ‘easiest option’ is to “stand in a row, shout “far-right fascists,” then we all go home, and we haven’t convinced one single person to think about it or change.”

“In my union, we want to change people’s views. We want to move people, bring people back to where we think they should be. Language is so important, and if you want to engage with somebody, you don’t start with an insult. You start with a gentler message, listen, take people along, talk, then engage.”

She referred to a recent internal Unison survey showing that thirty percent of members are either “Reform supporters or Reform-curious.”

“If we brand them racist and far-right, we’d never talk to them again. I’d like to think as a union that we can engage with every single one of that thirty percent. We’ll never change all of them, but even if we bring that down to twenty percent, we’ll be doing something,” they added.

The senior Unison official added: “If we even suggested to this group they were racist, they’d be distraught.

“We need to find out why people are voting this way, why people are thinking of voting this way, and talk to them initially in a very respectful way. That’s how you win people over, and that’s how we tackle Reform. It’s so important we’re careful about our language.”

Usdaw’s Joanne Thomas told this outlet that unions would be increasingly pointing to Reform’s “anti-jobs agenda.” 

“They’re against the Employment Rights Bill, which will give one of the most significant uplifts to workers that we’ve seen in our lifetime. So to say that they are friends of working people and working class people is incorrect,” Thomas said.

Asked about whether Keir Starmer and his Government had fed some of the anti-migrant narratives picking up pace, she said: “We all have to be stronger. We have to recognise this threat for what it is, and if they start getting more electoral results, we will see catastrophic scenarios play out in councils and communities,” she added.

“Nobody should ever try to out-Reform Reform. So we’ve all got to be mindful of that and careful of that, that we don’t want to hold the conversation in the media even more right wing than it’s already going at the minute. 

“[That’s] something for us all to think about. Whether you’re the leader of the Labour Party, Prime Minister, or any other person – particularly in positions of influence – remember that you shouldn’t be moving that dial towards [the] far-right.”

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Byline Times understands the GMB union has also done a survey of members in its northern regions, again showing high support for Reform. One union figure said GMB was still “reeling” from the results. 

Georgie Laming, campaigns director at Hope Not Hate, said progressives need to stop being “scared of the flag.”

“We won’t use it…[But] we use it when we watch football. Why don’t we use it at other times?…We create a vacuum,” for the far-right to take it, she said.

And she said anti-racists needed to engage with concerns about sexual abuse in different communities: “With some protests around sexual assault at asylum seeker hotels, we [have been] too scared to talk about that. So we allow women to go find someone else who’s speaking to their reality, instead of saying violence against women and girls can happen from anyone, and it’s always unacceptable.” 

Laming added: “We cede that ground to the far-right and don’t address it….We can be proud of our values, but we can’t talk down to people, and we can’t deny reality. Every time we don’t fill a vacuum because we’re too scared or it’s too awkward, we give the far-right space to create their own narrative. That’s really dangerous.” 

TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak tore into Nigel Farage and other Reform UK MPs in his keynote speech on Monday, branding them “right-wing con men lining their own pockets”.

A wave of motions at TUC Congress also mentioned Reform directly, and the far-right more widely. 

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One, passed unanimously by TUC, and from education union EIS and Usdaw, stated: “Frustrations are being exploited by the far right to fuel their politics of hate and division. This also enabled Reform to take control of 10 councils and one mayoralty at the 2025 elections…

And it argued that “all workers have a role in resisting the far right, with education workers having a critical role.”

The motion continued: “Schools, colleges, and universities must be places where rights, democracy and equality are taught, practised, and safeguarded. Educators must be supported to counter hate, promote critical thinking, and create safe learning environments for all students. The teaching profession must also campaign to protect staff from intimidation and inclusive curricula from corrosive far-right influence.”

TUC delegates voted to demand the union body’s General Council “coordinate[s] the trade union movement to counter far-right ideologies,” update TUC guidance on the rise of the far right, produce materials to support union workplace representatives to “resist far-right ideologies”, and to ensure union equality reps have statutory paid time off to negotiate with employers as part of new facility time legislation in Labour’s Employment Rights Bill. 

Unions also voted to lobby UK and devolved governments to fund the “embedding of anti-racist education in [education] curricula”, and to “collaborate with civic society organisations to resist the far right organising.” 

Stand Up to Racism held a photocall on Tuesday with General Secretaries of unions including PCS, the National Education Union, the University & College Union, and TSSA transport union, ahead of Tommy Robinson’s planned far-right march in London this Saturday (13th September). They chanted: “No hate, no fear – refugees are welcome here.”

An emergency motion committing the TUC to “urge members to support the counter mobilisation on Saturday 13 September” is expected to pass this Wednesday, as Congress draws to a close.

The TUC is the UK’s union federation, with 47 member unions affiliated representing around 5.5 million workers.

Got a story? Get in touch in confidence on josiah@bylinetimes.com 

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