As any trade unionist or visitor to the Wales TUC annual conference would have to admit, if it wasn’t for the motions and interventions made by the trades councils it would undoubtedly be a fairly tame, sterile and predictable affair. 

Trades councils are, by their very nature, close to local communities and work with trade union and community activists on a daily basis and therefore are prepared and willing to raise and debate issues. 

Trades councils in Wales are committed to the WTUC annual conference and last year, 50 per cent of the motions admitted to the agenda were submitted by trades councils.

This year’s coming together of trade unions in Llandudno sees the Wales TUC putting forward rule changes which, if passed, will not only cast aside the annual conference and move to a biennial one but also intend to attack the representation and democracy of the trades councils on the WTUC general council (GC) by reducing the eight seats they currently have to two.

The Wales TUC aims to make its general council more inclusive by allowing the smaller trade unions to have seats on the GC. 

To enable this to happen, the larger unions will forfeit some 50 per cent of their existing seats while trades councils will be forced to lose 75 per cent of theirs.

Additionally, the trades councils have in recent years lost their bloc vote. Instead of casting a vote based on the number of trade union members affiliated to a particular trades council, nowadays there is a process where the voting strength of individual trades councils is based only on the total number of branches affiliated. 

In the case of Cardiff Trades Council, instead of casting a card vote of 20,000-plus as we used to, now we have 26 votes all told. That is the number of trade union branches which affiliated in the last year. 

As a result of this change, I would be surprised if the total number of votes cast by all the trades councils at a WTUC conference would be any more than around 130.

As all trade unions attending conference are still entitled to use their complete membership numbers in Wales in their bloc vote, it is highly unlikely that if trades councils were to pool all their votes together, they would match the numbers cast by even the smallest union in Wales.

Sadly these changes can only be seen as further attacks on the trades councils in Wales. 

In recent years they have lost the delegates’ travel costs to the conference, which were paid for by the Wales TUC, and the daily subsistence paid for the time trades council delegates spend at conference. 

With the reduction in the number of trade union branches and union mergers, these cuts put a financial strain on trades council finances, but they fight on, determined that their voices be heard.

Trades councils in Wales continue to play a vital role. Local trades councils can make an invaluable contribution by uniting trade unionists, organising solidarity and by instigating campaigning initiatives within the local communities to fight the cuts we all now face.

Trades councils have historically forged mutually beneficial links with local communities and other progressive organisations, although their effectiveness in Wales is conditional upon trade union branches playing an active part in strengthening and rebuilding them and in fighting austerity in Wales.

This is at a time when all the major British parties are supporting an austerity agenda. 

Even with Labour in control of the Welsh government, continued reductions in the block funding from Westminster has a detrimental effect on the departments which are devolved. 

In areas such as welfare policy, which remain in the hands the British government, the disproportionate level of benefit cuts we suffer in Wales are causing major distress to trade unionists and their families and friends. 

The Welsh government itself has highlighted the fact almost £930 million is lost to the Wales economy due to welfare reform. It argues the figure is equivalent to every working-age adult in Wales having £500 less to spend each year.

Looking to the future, it is possible to imagine a time when trades councils will be cast out from the Wales TUC Conference altogether. Initially they may be “offered” their own conference, with the probability of that body being allowed to send up to two motions to the biennial WTUC conference. 

If that were to happen not only would the WTUC conference suffer, there is a likelihood that the attacks on trades councils would continue and eventually they would lose both their general council seats and any conference/talking shop they may be given.

Trades councils are deeply concerned about losing a valuable vehicle in Wales. 

If these rule changes are passed at this year’s conference, the umbrella body of the unions in Wales will move away from having the ability to formulate policy annually, to only having that opportunity every other year. 

The question trade unionists in Wales have to face is simple. Is now the time for the trade unions to decide they no longer wish to debate — on an annual basis — the important issues that affect the people of Wales. 

If they decide to do this, how does that reflect on the public perception that the trade unions no longer have the willingness to come together collectively to decide policy and fight on behalf of the members they represent?

This is a crucial year for the trades council movement within the Wales TUC and as any trade unionist and visitor to the conference will readily admit, the trades councils will undoubtedly put their case strongly and fight on behalf of the movement. They will not go away.

Ramon Corria is secretary of the Cardiff Trades Union Council.