Explore all stories - TUC 150 Stories

Ricky Tomlinson

“My innocence has been proved time and again”

The weavers strike

Success for the first all-woman strike committee

7 things you should know

Campaigning for recognition

Miner, socialist, pacifist, leader

Health and Safety

Joint Production Committees

Protecting workers

The founding of the TUC

150 years on and going strong

Dorothy Ratcliffe and Susan Crosby

Equal pay in Yorkshire school canteens

Kevin Horne and Barbara Jackson

“I ran for my life through a field, horses chasing me.”

Match Women’s Strike

Global Solidarity

G.H. Stuart-Bunning

The International Labour Organisation

The Trico strike for equal pay

Pioneering trade unionist and suffragette

Fighting wage slavery

The real-life hero from Pride

Clementina Black

Trade union leader and all-round firebrand

A beacon of hope at GCHQ

Playing a blinder for women

10 things you need to know

Costing workers their jobs and their families

Everyday Heroes

Poet, socialist and trade union leader

Greater Manchester

The first female president of the TUC

Eyewitness to Cable Street

The pioneer behind 30 women’s trade unions

Thirty years to equality at work

Bristol bus boycott

Bristol’s forgotten civil rights scandal

Health and Safety

Samuel Plimsoll

The sailors' hero

Saving Steel Workers' Pensions

Margaret Bondfield

Shop floor rebel

“Let’s open up the world and bring light and knowledge in”

Dagenham Women’s Strike

How Ford’s striking women drove the Equal Pay Act

The man who redefined the TUC

Health and Safety

Making London the safest Olympics ever

"We are those lions, Mr Manager.”

"A burning sense of what was just"

Bringing socialism to Liverpool

84 years of activism

Low Pay Commission

Global Solidarity

Supporting Polish trade unionists

Oliver Kilbourn

The Pitmen Painters

Trade unions during WWII

Building relationships and boosting morale

Burston School Strike

The longest strike in history

Apprenticeships

Championing Young Workers

The Tolpuddle Martyrs

Let Robeson Sing

Health and Safety

Health and Safety Act 1974

Revolutionary Rosie

Mass Strike in Dublin 1913

Mary Bamber and Bessie Braddock

Like mother, like daughter

Disabled workers

National League of the Blind

"Justice not Charity"

Memories of the general strike

The Woolf’s Strike

Organising migrant workers

Chris Braithwaite

Sailor, docker and activist

The great Penrhyn quarry strike

Capturing the public imagination

Founder of the NHS

Keeping the family together

The Jarrow March

Demanding a new deal

"We knew we had to set up our own union"

Demanding a minimum wage

Disabled workers

Creating the right balance for work and family life

Ending discrimination on the buses

Global Solidarity

The 1889 London dockworkers’ strike

Five steps to success

Fighting back against sexual harassment

Taking on the print barons

Global Solidarity

Hans Gottfurcht

How the TUC helped to keep European unionism alive during WWII

Best foot forward – from redundancy to a shoe business

Everyday Heroes

Order of Industrial Heroism

Celebrating working heroes

The Wapping Dispute

Health and Safety

Alan Knight MBE

“I want to make sure young footballers don’t go through what I had to”

Angela Rayner MP

A remarkable journey to Westminster

Many routes to an education

Squeezing our public sector professionals

When we ‘do the business’ for our members, we can build a stronger union

Galvanising a community in times of strife

Fighting for permanent contracts

Alisdair Kairns

Not all glitz and glamour at the movies

Galvanising a community in times of strife

Millie Apedo-Amah

The vital role of a train guard

Craig Johnstone

The Churchill Cleaners: five tips to winning a dispute

Health and Safety

Janise Corsfield

“I’ve always been safety conscious”

We turned something negative into something really positive

“A union is about being united and working together”

Yorkshire and Humber

Jake O’Malley

Three steps to building a strong union

“Actors have always been part of the gig economy”

“It’s been a sacrifice but it was worth it”

“A 200-word essay changed my life”

Booking in time to destress

Firefighter and FBU official

Charlotte Gardner

Leading a network of 50 reps

Satnam Singh Ner

Bringing diversity into the workplace

Wasting no time to build a movement

Global Solidarity

From the college canteen to international leadership

Five ways my union supported my transition

Knocking on every door

A young postie with a passion for fairness

Helping girls plan for life after football

Why I came out as gay at a school assembly

Dudley Hackling

‘It all comes down to communication and confidence’

Royal College of Midwives

Jillian Ireland and Sara Fripp

Singing it loud

Yorkshire and Humber

Lisa Greenfield

“People always want to learn”

People don’t say no enough

Five things I learnt from being a union member

“An outstanding trade unionist”

“It’s a privilege to be involved with trade unions”

Squeezing our public service professionals

Show the love – hug your school!

Anne Cox, headteacher

Canon Steven Saxby

Five reasons why faith workers need unions

Queueing up to learn

Barry Downey, Firefighter

Squeezing our public sector professionals

Supporting women survivors of violence

Winning for care workers on zero-hours

Health and Safety

60 seconds on a North Sea rig

Health and Safety

60 seconds at Sellafield

Gail Cartwright, Midwife

Squeezing our public sector professionals

Public Services

Deborah Bell and Karen McArthur

The faces behind library losses

“The classes are a great networking event.”

A no-nonsense approach on the shop floor

Building a culture of learning – at every level and background

"Without my union, I wouldn't have survived"

Pauline Carwood

"30 years ago women didn't drive trains"

Apprenticeships

“An apprenticeship was a no-brainer”

Disabled workers

Changing the narrative

5 reasons for musicians to join a union

Health and Safety

“We’ll never know how many lives we’ve saved”

Changing the conversation about mental health at work

Musician's Union

Four reasons why musicians need unions

Evelyn Martin MBE

A lifetime of learning

Fighting for change at McDonalds

“Journalism was suddenly being equated with espionage”

Cricket ball makers strike

Small but mighty

The home of the British trade union movement

People’s March for Jobs

Campaigning for paid holiday for everyone

Fiercely intelligent, influential and inspirational

Albert Mansbridge

Championing education for working people

14 stories

Fighting for the future

4 stories

Disabled Workers

Challenging stereotypes

9 stories

Fighting for racial equality

6 stories

A new deal for working people

Trade unionists demanding change

9 stories

International Women’s Day

Women trade unionists winning equal pay

4 stories

End the public sector pay squeeze

Public sector workers explain the impact of pay cuts

7 stories

100 years of suffrage

Women trade unionists fighting for equality

11 stories

Building safer workplaces

Protecting workers' health and safety

8 stories

Learning with your union

Because everyone has the right to an education

7 stories

Celebrating the work of reps and members

14 stories

Working peoples' last resort