TODAY the General Federation of Trade Unions Educational Trust launches its 2024-25 programme at the annual Durham Miners’ Gala. Building on the success of our programme in 2023-24, in this our 125th anniversary year, we’re clear that our mission is to be a place for education for the whole trade union movement.

As we look back at the last few years, with increasing levels of strike action, ballot after ballot “smashing” the anti-union thresholds, we have seen a renewal in our activist base and also a renewed sense of hope across our movement. This is all backed up by a historically strong show of support for trade unions and the action they are taking across society, characterised by the ongoing YouGov tracker polls.

Despite this incredible period for our movement, the most dynamic since the 2011 united front against the cuts to public-sector pensions, as workers and unions across the economy began to extract better offers from various government and private-sector employers, we have seen the acceptance of deals from unions and an ebb in the levels of formal strike action.