The attacks on trans people’s rights in the UK, pushed by transphobes from Scotland and funded and backed by billionaire bigots like JK Rowling, is rolling back basic human dignity as well as common sense. 

Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in For Women Scotland which defined the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 as ‘biological sex’ – or the sex one is assigned at birth – the EHRC has swung into action to bring in new guidelines on how equalities legislation should be interpreted. The new EHRC guidance applies to service providers, public bodies, and associations and has wide-reaching ramifications, including  issues as seemingly basic as toilet use, and which are unenforceable and inhuman. 

Trade unions – representing over 6 million workers – are almost entirely opposed to these new guidelines even where our craven political leaders (with some notable exceptions) have capitulated to the transphobic wave. 

UNISON has had its own specific ruling against it – Flaherty vs UNISON. The all powerful certification officer – an independent statutory post which regulates trades unions, invented by Labour in 1975 and expanded by Thatcher’s government to police our movement –  has ruled that trans women cannot be considered women for the purposes of UNISON’s internal elections or meetings. UNISON accepted the ruling but said it was ‘concerned’ with the impact on transgender people given its direct and immediate impact on trans women standing in reserved women’s seats. They said that accepting the ruling means that UNISON will prevent trans women from attending our next women’s conference in 2027. This decision contradicts UNISON’s previous resolution to boycott the Labour Party Women’s Conference 2026, when the Labour Party announced it would be banning trans women from attending. 

Outcry

This has caused a huge outcry in the union. We are rightly proud of our position on trans liberation as we are on anti racism, disability rights and fighting sexism at work and in wider society. A circular went out from UNISON in mid-September which stated

UNISON’s policy, agreed and reaffirmed through our democratic structures, is clear:

• trans rights are human rights; 
• trans women are women; 
• trans men are men; and 
• non-binary identities are valid and should be recognised in law. 

UNISON remains committed to these principles and will continue to campaign in support of them, alongside our wider policies and objectives.

At the same time, as a democratic trade union, we have a responsibility to comply with the law as it currently stands. The law, government policy and workplace practices will not always reflect UNISON’s policies. There have been many legal and political decisions over the years with which we have disagreed, but where the law applies to our activities, we must comply with it while continuing to campaign for change. 

The problem with saying that we are a democratic union and therefore have to comply with the law is that it leaves our movement at the mercy of judges and politicians. In a period of global politics when the universalist aspirations of the post-war period are being dismantled by ethno-nationalists, bigots and billionaires, UNISON’s approach – shared by other unions – is that all we can do is lobby politicians for a change in the law. Until then – with a heavy heart, no doubt – we must implement reactionary, vulgar and dehumanising rules and laws.

Some union activists have said they are worried about potential legal challenges that could impose massive fines on the union for failure to follow these reactionary laws. This is a threat to the several millions of pounds that UNISON keeps in its coffers. It is why the union is so worried about ‘legal jeopardy’ – they have to protect the money. But of course that means sacrificing principles and members. Rank and file members need to challenge this position.What is all that money for, if not for protecting trans workers and trans allies. The risk of breaking the law is being given far more weight by union leadership than the risk the new EHRC guidance poses to trans lives, livelihoods and welfare. 

The question is simply posed: what kind of movement can UNISON, with its 1.3 million members and extensive social and industrial implantation, build that can fight and win on these issues? And indeed consider this a test case for a possible Reform government in three years time. If we cannot push back and win now under Andy Burnham’s Labour, then the conditions for victory under Nigel Farage and his ghouls are no doubt much slimmer. 

And the problem is that no one is coming to save us. The Labour government has capitulated. The Tories and Reform and Restore Britain would be even worse. The Greens are unlikely to win the next election. So this is not a case of waiting for a better government to come in. We fight now or we lose. 

Crossroads

Our movement now stands at a crossroads. Do we limit ourselves to the ‘law’ when the law is made and enforced by people who want different things to us?

Have we forgotten that the fight for trade unionism in this country was a fight in conditions of illegality? That our bravest and most important moments were declared illegal: the 1889 gas workers strike, the 1926 general strike, the Tolpuddle Martyrs who were deported to Australia, and many more examples. 

What about the anti-poll tax movement in the 1980s, in which millions of people united to say no  to an immoral and unfair tax? What about the mass support for the Poplar Councillors imprisoned for their fight for more money for the local poor, who raised the slogan “better to break the law than break the poor!”

The fact is that these new guidelines are intended to prepare us for future attacks and dismantling of our rights. But they must be implemented by human beings. The law is an abstraction, it is only real through enforcement and that means people choosing to act or not. 

The trade union movement as a whole needs to support  workers who refuse to police access to toilets by checking people’s biological sex (how can they anyway?). We must be clear that the unions will back to the hilt their trans workers who refuse to use a changing room that does not align with their gender identity. 

Unions are built on solidarity. The workers who refuse to report alleged rule breaking to the (im)proper authorities now are the same who might be called upon to refuse to turn in their migrant neighbours under a Reform government. 

We are only as strong as we are united. Our enemies are seeking to divide us, and our union leadership has failed to recognise that complying with EHRC guidance means playing directly into their hands. 

This is why the BAD coalition is so important. We need a mass campaign of non-compliance and civil disobedience. The BAD coalition unites people to fight against the EHRC guidelines – whether you are trans or cis or non-binary what matters is a coordinated fight, starting in the mass workers organisations but reaching out across wider society.

An injury to one is an injury to all!