The third Troublemakers At Work conference will take place in central Manchester on Saturday 26 July 2025.
Join hundreds of other workers to share experiences and learn from each other: from organising from scratch or reviving a moribund union to resisting a rotten deal or winning a strike. If you are organising at work or struggling to overcome the barriers to doing so, this conference is for you. Our conferences are participatory. Our point of view is of the union rank and file, meaning grassroots workers rather than those employed by unions. The unions belong to the workers – we don’t need people telling us what to think or do.
The conference will be held at Central Hall, Oldham Street, Manchester, M1 1JQ and at nearby Sacha’s Hotel, 12 Tib St, Back Piccadilly, M4 1SH.
The after-party will be at Joshua Brooks, 106 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 6NG.
See below for a map.
| 9:30 | Registration | Methodist Central Hall, first floor lobby |
| 10:00 | Stalls open | Methodist Central Hall, Collier room |
| 10:30 | Struggle in the workplace Workplaces are, by their nature, places of struggle where different interests collide. Low wages, discrimination and job insecurity are connected to broader social and political struggles. Hear about recent workplace struggles and how we can organise to win. Speakers including a striking Birmingham bin worker, Jenny Black (UNISON branch secretary and NEC Member who played a key role in the development and delivery of UNISON’s Trans Equality Campaign) and Dr Becky Lavelle (a member of the BMA’s UK Resident Doctors Committee, which is currently in dispute with the government over pay and failing to follow through on our previous 2024 pay deal). Chair: Sally Heier (Troublemakers At Work coordinator from Leeds and activist in Higher Education, straddling the line between UNISON and UCU). Breakouts by industry |
Methodist Central Hall, main hall, hybrid |
| 11:30 | BREAK | |
| 11:50 | How to win when employers aren’t the decision makers Millions are in work that feels precarious because it is insecure, outsourced or irregular, rights are unknown or seem unenforceable or because of restrictions on migrants’ rights to work. But there have been some impressive victories including cleaners, health and care workers. In public services, quangos or politicians may influence decisions including on pay and funding, whether workers are employed directly, through agencies or subcontractors. Discuss how we can overcome the challenges of organising against tiered employment and multiple decision-makers, and how precarious workers have transformed their unions in the process of fighting back. Speakers: John Mulligan (Unite rep and Manchester Early Intervention in Psychosis ‘Safer Staffing’ striker) and Julia Mwaluke (agency care worker and member of Salford City UNISON). Chair: Stephen Beck (Troublemakers At Work coordinator and NEU activist). |
Methodist Central Hall, main hall, Hybrid |
| Fighting for a 4-day week Progress on reducing the working week has stalled since the 1980s. ‘Full time’ hours are still based on the assumption that a worker has a wife to look after the kids and the home. The campaign for a 4-day week without loss of pay has gained attention. How are workers fighting for it? Speakers: Liz Brennan (Secretary of UNISON Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire Local Government Branch) and Stephen Wood (tube driver and RMT activist on London Underground). Chair: Clara Paillard (Unite rep organising workers in the Not for Profit Sector and on the climate crisis). |
Methodist Central Hall, Lounge, hybrid | |
| Fighting for equality during the ‘war on woke’
The government’s attacks on disability benefits and the Supreme Court undermining Trans+ rights directly affect many workers. They come in the context of the ‘war on woke’, Reform taking control of ten councils and Nigel Farage calling for the abolition of the Equality Act. Austerity always hits unequally. Employers’ response to Trump in the USA shows that we can’t rely on management-led equality initiatives. Participants will use case studies to explore how to fight for equality from the bottom up. Facilitators: Liz Lawrence (UCU activist, currently Regional Secretary for Yorkshire and Humberside), Tom Smith (Branch Chair of UNISON AQA, a rapidly growing and increasingly active branch, who helped organise Trade Unionists for Trans Rights events and promote a variety of campaigns around Manchester) and Andy Cunningham (teacher and education activist organising through the National Education Union and Chorley & District Trade Union Council). |
Sacha’s Hotel, Roosevelt Room | |
| Organising skills In this interactive workshop, learn and practice some key organising skills including one-to-one conversations, dealing with objections and motivating people to take action. Facilitated by Harriet Prescott (A passionate Geordie NEU activist and art teacher, dedicated to political education and youth action. Led dynamic walk-and-talk sessions, boosting community engagement and union organising). |
Sacha’s Hotel, Jefferson room | |
| 13:15 | LUNCH
13:45: Breakouts by union |
Methodist Central Hall, main hall |
| 14:15 | How the US labour movement is resisting the far right Hear about the US experience and explore the parallels and lessons for resistance in Britain. Speakers including Eileen C (Federal worker at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and member of the Federal Unionist Network (FUN), fighting against the closure of her agency and the defunding of public services. Helping to organise rapid response rallies in reaction to Trump administration firings and “ICE Out” actions in NYC, as well as aiding other federal workers to develop more robust and militant unions). |
Methodist Central Hall, main hall, hybrid |
| How to win a strike You have won a ballot, but how do you win? This workshop will explore choosing action, picketing and other activities on strike days, building solidarity, fundraising, democratic control of strikes and negotiations, avoiding sell-outs and settling a strike. Facilitated by Ian Allinson (a workplace activist who organised strikes in the private and public sector. Author of ‘Workers Can Win: A Guide to Organising At Work’ and one of the coordinators of Troublemakers At Work). |
Methodist Central Hall, Lounge, hybrid | |
| Building power before union recognition Most workers don’t have a union their employer recognises. What can and can’t you do before winning recognition? How do you avoid victimisation? How do you choose issues to organise around? How do you win union recognition? This session will include practical exercises. Facilitated by Luke Dukinfield (benefit and housing caseworker and Unite workplace rep who won a struggle for union recognition at a housing charity in West Yorkshire and recently stopped a redundancy), Sam Morecroft (President of Sheffield TUC and University of Sheffield International College UCU, involved in organising outsourced Higher Education workers) and Sally Heier (Troublemakers At Work coordinator). |
Sacha’s Hotel, Jefferson Room | |
| 15:35 | BREAK | |
| 15:55 | Pulling it all together Discuss the key lessons from each workshop and look to the future. Chair: Sally Heier (Troublemakers At Work coordinator from Leeds and activist in Higher Education, straddling the line between UNISON and UCU). |
Methodist Central Hall, main hall, hybrid |
| 16:45 | CLOSE | |
| 17:00 | After party
Free entry. |
Joshua Brooks, 106 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 6NG. |
You can also:
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- Sign up for updates
- Download a leaflet or order printed copies
- Let us know if you can leaflet any events to help build the conference. We can link you up with other people doing so, and get leaflets to you if required.
- Volunteer to get involved in organising the conference
- Become a member of Troublemakers At Work
- We welcome sponsors for our conference – see here for our Sponsorship Pack. You can use our model motion to help you get your organisation to sponsor the conference, or to affiliate (more information on affiliation here)
- Organisations will be able to have stalls at the conference – request a stall here (spaces are limited, so we will consider all applications and get back to you nearer the date)
More information:
- Financial support, childcare and accessibility – we are working to make the conference accessible, diverse and inclusive. The deadline has now passed to book places in for free professional childcare but we have a limited budget to financially support some attendees, including with own childcare arrangements, if agreed in advance.
- Venues – we have two venues for the Conference (Central Hall and Britannia Sacha’s Hotel) close to each other (0.1 miles apart) in Manchester city centre. The after-party will be at Joshua Brooks, 106 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 6NG, 0.7 mile from Central Hall. See our page with information on accessibility for more information.
Previous conferences
You can get a feel for the event from our 2023 and 2024 conferences, or from this video from our 2023 conference: