How an anti-speciesist resolution was passed in the British trade union movement
In March 2025, the membership of the Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) UNISON Branch voted overwhelmingly in favour of an anti-speciesist motion. The motion notes that even in rich economies increasing numbers of the working class face food insecurity and poor nutrition, whilst globally, food scarcity, malnutrition and human rights abuses arise from a food system organised around the pursuit of profit. The motion relates to capitalist animal agriculture in particular, and makes the connection between the exploitation of workers, the working class in general, the environment, and non-human animals.[1]
UNISON is the largest trade union in the UK.[2] It has over 1.3 million members, predominantly in the public sector, including the National Health Service, education, energy and local councils. The union is divided into local branches, which are organised around location and employer or service type. There are 1,200 UNISON branches across the UK. The branches are also organised into 12 regions, in which the regional council acts as the main link between the branches in that region and the National Executive. Delegates from branches to the regional councils and national conferences are able to influence regional and national policy and priorities.
The GMMH UNISON branch has approximately 3,000 members. The anti-speciesist motion was shared with all members, before being adopted by vote at a series of aggregated Annual General Meetings. Whilst the adoption of this policy in one branch is a small step, it has potentially far-reaching implications. It has for the first time introduced and formalised in policy an acknowledgement of the relevance of the plight of animals to trade union aims and objectives.
The motion commits the union branch, amongst other things, to support any efforts to unite the trade union movement with the animal liberation movement and to adhere to 100% vegan catering for branch meetings and events. It also obliges the branch to promoting the motion and discussion throughout the union’s regional and national structures, with the aim of changing policy at a national level.
We, the authors of this article, are both union reps in the GMMH UNISON branch. Whilst it is not certain, we believe this to be the first trade union branch in the UK to adopt this position, and to explicitly affirm that the suffering of animals should not be considered irrelevant to our aims as trade unionists. Indeed, whilst the role of the trade union is to defend and improve the position of workers by organising collectively, trade union activities also go far beyond the »bread and butter« issues of pay, terms and conditions, to include engagement with and in broader social and political struggles both inside and outside of the workplace. There the GMMH UNISON supports campaigns to oppose war, inequality, racism and other forms of oppression and discrimination, and around environmental issues. There is no good reason to exclude efforts to end the suffering and exploitation of animals from these struggles.
Whilst the motion was carried with a majority voting in favour, it did spark significant controversy and was challenged quite intensely by some sections of the union branch, including fellow Marxists. Some of the main opposing arguments included claims that it was moralistic, that it was contrary to free choice and that it would mean more processed food. We heard assertions that the policy change would exclude people who »need meat and dairy in their diet«. Other objections also wrongly argued that this was an individualist lifestyle change approach focussed on consumerism, rather than one which seeks systemic change. Arguments that the production of palm oil and other crops are also harmful, and that capitalism is the problem, not animal agriculture, implied that we need not bother raising the plight of animals exploited in the capitalist system. We heard some arguments that we found to be particularly objectionable, including a claim that rights are something you fight for, and because animals cannot fight for their rights, they don’t have any. We were also surprised to hear it claimed that going vegan would lead to more animals being killed.
Fortunately, as the outcome of the vote demonstrated, the majority of members did not find these counter arguments sufficiently convincing. However, we recommend that readers familiarise themselves with these arguments and be prepared to respond to them if aiming to pass any similar resolutions in their own unions. The »once and for all« section on the Alliance for Marxism and Animal Liberation website is an excellent resource to help with this.[3] We also recommend spending some time building support for such a motion in advance of the vote, to maximise the chances of success.
Since passing the motion in the GMMH branch, another branch – Swansea Bay Health branch in Wales (a farming area) – has followed suit and adopted the motion unanimously. The motion is also being discussed in the Greater Manchester Mental Health branch of the UNITE union, the second largest union in the UK[4], and is likely to be passed there imminently. In addition, the GMMH Branch has submitted the motion to the UNISON North West Regional Council, where it will be voted on at the next meeting. The regional council has accepted a shortened version of the motion to be discussed at the meeting, however the council has also sent the full motion to every UNISON branch in the northwest of England (approximately 80 branches) for discussion. We also intend to submit the motion to the next UNISON National Delegates Conference in June 2026, where if it passes, it will become national policy. UNISON has named 2026 the year of Climate Activity – meaning it will be making a worker’s transition to a greener economy a key priority. This will strengthen the case for such a policy change, and we are determined to ensure that the plight of animals is part of that discussion.
In advance of the 2026 year of climate activity, UNISON recently held a »green week« in which branches were encouraged to organise activities and promote campaigning around climate issues in the workplace. For this, we collaborated with a number of other UNISON members activists from branches across various UK regions to ask that the union publish news of the motion on the national website, along with a copy of it as a model for other branches to adopt. We have also engaged the national policy team to ensure that information on the harms of animal agriculture is made available on the website.
We highlighted that the union currently provides resources and information on all the other major polluting industries except for animal agriculture, despite the industry being a disaster for the environment, and one of the most dangerous and exploitative for workers. This is a glaring omission. We have asked that information and resources are provided to members and activists on animal agriculture, to support them to organise around this issue in their branches and workplaces. We have also stated that UNISON should use its power to pressure the government to ban factory farming, and to ensure a just transition for workers in those industries – this will need to be debated and voted on at the national conference.
We intend to share the motion across the various Trades Councils (where delegates from all of the different unions in each city meet to coordinate solidarity and activity in the area). This may be more challenging as it will involve unions with large numbers of members employed in animal agriculture. We anticipate resistance from these unions on the grounds of protecting jobs, in the same way we have seen in other sectors such as the arms trade.
Despite this significant challenge, organising in trade unions does bring new opportunities and potential for collaboration – strengthening animal campaigns whilst also acting in the interests of workers and the working class. Passing the motion in our own branch has already laid the basis for further activism, including a recent vegan fundraiser for Palestine. This was in collaboration with Bolton Socialist Club and Bolton Diggers (a revolutionary community based vegan organisation that is deeply involved in a range of political initiatives).
Locally there is now scope for us to begin engaging with other union branches where they may have workers in animal testing, for example including at Manchester University where animal experiments have been increasing, as well as bringing workers voices to outside campaigns against vivisection, thus strengthening those campaigns. Other activities that could potentially be supported may include campaigns around the findings from undercover investigations into factory farms which show the horrific cruelty to animals, as well as the trauma and harm experienced by the workers.
Unions have huge resources and millions of members and organised workers have the power to shut a workplace down. A just transition for workers in harmful and unethical industries, towards socially useful, ethical and well-paid jobs is needed. It would be great to see workers employed in any industry that relies on the suffering and exploitation of animals, organising around some form of Lucas Plan, as the workers of Lucas Aerospace Corporation did in 1979. Faced with mass job losses, the workers drew up an alternative plan for the future of the company based on socially useful production.[5]
The Trades Union Congress (the national federation of unions across England and Wales) has declared 2025/26 year of Climate action, and this provides opportunities for engaging across all of the 47 member unions on these issues.[6]
We invite others to use the motion, which can be adapted as they see fit, and to endeavour to pass this in their union. We believe that every worker should be unionised, and we would strongly encourage vegans and all those involved in animal liberation to become active in their union branches.
We believe that it would have been more difficult to pass this motion had we not been actively involved in the union branch ourselves, including having organised a recent successful strike in one of the mental health services in Manchester. The industrial action was over lack of investment which meant service users and carers were not getting the support they needed, and services were unsafe. We won the strike, securing significant investment and increasing the workforce by nearly a third. Being actively involved in the branch and, at least one of us also having spent many years in both class struggle and animal liberation activism, was helpful in convincing others that these matters are related and that there is no contradiction in the struggle for both workers and animals. Our advice to all those who wish to see improved conditions for animals and workers is to become active in their unions, where there is potential to foster collaboration for the benefit of all living beings.
Claire Miller and Steven Andrew
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[1] You can find the full text of the motion here
[2] https://www.unison.org.uk/
[3] https://mutb.org/categories/faq/ (German), https://mutb.org/categories/faq-en/ (English)
[4] https://www.unitetheunion.org/
[5] On the Lucas plan see Smith, Adrian (2014): The Lucas Plan: What can it tell us about democratising technology today? Online: https://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2014/jan/22/remembering-the-lucas-plan-what-can-it-tell-us-about-democratising-technology-today
