THE Yorkshire and the Humber TUC gathers in Bradford this weekend for its annual conference with the biggest ever number of delegates from a wide selection of trade unions and trades councils to debate a wide variety of issues affecting working people across the region.

We have a number of guest speakers from the political world including MPs Tom Watson, Gerry Sutcliffe and Lisa Nandy.

TUC assistant general secretary Paul Nowak will be speaking and we are delighted to also have an address from 92-year-old Harry Leslie Smith, an activist for the poor and for the preservation of social democracy and a distinguished author.

Other guest speakers include Marcos Garcia, the first secretary of the Venezuelan embassy in London and a long-standing a trade union leader on the railways, and one of our own — newly elected president of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, Tosh McDonald.

Over 140 delegates and a number of special guests will attend the two-day event, where unions will debate our work on the TUC campaign plan and set the work plan for the regional TUC for the next 12 months.

With a general election looming, discussions about political issues such as privatisation of transport, the NHS and local government will feature strongly in the debates.

The two-day conference will also discuss wage levels, collective bargaining and employment rights and the continuing attacks on trade union organisation and their members. Trade unionists will also be electing their delegates to the various TUC positions for 2015-16.

TUC Yorkshire and the Humber regional secretary Bill Adams said: “The last few years have seen a decline in wage levels right across the region. The average worker is now about £2,200 a year in real terms worse off than before the financial crash.

“Many workers have been forced to take on zero-hours contracts or self-employment roles, many of them below the living wage which qualifies them for state benefits, while employers keep increasing dividends to shareholders,” Mr Adams said.

“It’s time that the recovery we hear about is shared a little more equally. Workers deserve a fair share of the prosperity they are creating.

Only by having strong unions to bargain collectively with employers can fairness return to the economy.”

Attacks on the legal system will also feature at the conference. The introduction of fees on workers who take their disputes with their employers to tribunal has resulted in an 80 per cent reduction in the number of cases.

The TUC in Yorkshire and the Humber will continue to campaign after its conference for good jobs in a new economy, good wages that people can live on, good services and decent welfare for those unable to work.

This can only be achieved by having a voice in workplaces, respect for workers and proper employment rights, with strong unions playing the vital role which all good economies have.

- Bill Adams