Ahead of upcoming local council and mayoral elections, which will take place on 1 May, UNISON branches are campaigning to ensure voters know that Reform UK is an anti-worker party who have consistently voted against the government’s new Employment Rights Bill.
Many of the elections, including the mayoral contest in Greater Lincolnshire, are key targets for Reform UK, following their breakthrough at the 2024 general election.
The party’s leader has been making great efforts over recent days to win over trade union members ahead of the elections. Nigel Farage says he wants Reform UK to become the party of working people and in one interview said that reindustrialising Britain meant realising that trade unions and relationships with them were important.
But UNISON members have been quick to highlight his hypocrisy and long running support for right wing policies. Over recent months Reform UK have consistently voted against the new worker and trade union rights included in the Employment Rights Bill which is currently making its way through Parliament.
UNISON members are most concerned about the prospects of Reform succeeding in the Lincolnshire mayoral election, where former Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns, who has historically voted to restrict trade union rights, is running for mayor. Lincolnshire already has one Reform MP, climate-denier businessman Richard Tice, who is the leader of the party.
Greater Lincolnshire straddles two UNISON regions: East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside. Both regions have been campaigning to remind voters that Reform is anti-worker: the party has consistently voted against workers’ rights and trade union power.
UNISON’s leaflet (pictured below) reads: “Nigel Farage and Reform UK want to stop you having more rights at work. Cast your vote in favour of working people on Thursday 1 May.”
UNISON campaign leaflet
UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: “There is a lot at stake at these elections. Our activists who are out there campaigning are right to highlight what Reform UK really stands for.
“UNISON has worked hard to secure new laws that will ban exploitative zero-hour contracts, end fire and rehire and provide protection from unfair dismissal. Nigel Farage and Reform UK pose as a party on the side of working people, but have continually voted against these measures.
“Our members, their families and friends, will make up their own minds about who to vote for. It’s important they know the facts.”
