The annual International Workers Memorial Day was held at the Memorial Tree in West Princes Street Gardens on Saturday 26 April 2025. Organised by Edinburgh Trade Union Council, the event heard speeches from Councillor Jane Meagher, representing the City of Edinburgh Council, councillors, Foysol Choudhrey MSP, and several trade union representatives. Our branch was again represented by Ian Mullen, Health and Safety Officer. Ian’s speech can be read in full below.
I would like to start by paying tribute to three people. Anges Petkevicius, and Walter Weir, retired Branch Secretary and Craft Convener, sadly passed away recently within a few weeks of each other. More recently the branch was informed of the sad passing of Cllr Val Walker. Val was a UNISON member prior to becoming a councillor and was a supporter of the council’s trade unions. Agnes, Walter, and Val will be missed by all at UNISON and a tribute to Val has been placed on our website.
For several years now, I have stood here and been critical of our employer, that is not going to change today. Back in 2018, UNISON and the EIS ran a survey for teaching and support staff. The results were scathing and indicated increased levels of violence and aggression towards school staff. This was presented to the council and had wide coverage in the media. In October 2024, UNISON ran its annual FOI request to all Scottish Local Authorities asking for the numbers of recorded incidents, accidents, and near misses. We then released these results in our Violence at Work report, which was circulated to politicians and the media. While there was an increase in reporting in Edinburgh, the 3,500+ reported incidents do not reflect the correct number, including those incidents involving racial and sexual verbal threats of violence, particularly towards office based and front-line staff. That is why we are demanding improved reporting, improved support for staff impacted by violence and abuse and improved training for all managers.
In February, our successful AGMs passed two motions on violence and aggression. That is why we will be launching our new campaign on “Zero Tolerance Towards Violence and Aggression in the Workplace” which you will hear more about in the coming weeks. It’s good to see so many of our councillors here today as we want to challenge all our political groups to throw their support behind our campaign. We also have a clear message for those managers and head teachers that have stated to our members that violence, aggression, and abuse is just “part of the job.” It’s not part of the job; it never has been, and it never will be. We will be encouraging our members to report serious and re-occurring incidents to Police Scotland if the employer continues to fail in their Duty of Care towards our members.
I want to end by saying that last year I quoted John McLean, the Glaswegian revolutionary. I’m not going to quote him today. However, I am going to mention again the impact that war, oppression, and capitalism has on innocent men, women, and children. For the people of Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Palestine, to name a few, many have lost their homes, workplaces, and too many lives have been lost. Capitalist governments including our own have done little or nothing to stop arms sales to these countries, preferring profit to humanitarian aid. International solidarity is more important today than it has been for decades, and the trade unions have an important role in supporting those suffering from war, deprivation, famine, and environmental disasters.
At the same time trade unions, campaign and community groups must work together to fight the increasing support for the far-right in the UK and across Europe. The far-right who continue to circulate misinformation and discriminate against people of different characteristics. Thank you.