Letters: What can trade unions do to protect trans+ people?

Employers must not be allowed to discriminate against trans+ workers (Photo: Guy Smallman)

Socialist Worker reported on the employment tribunal brought by nurses in the Darlington and County Durham NHS Trust.

The Trust was found guilty by not providing alternative changing facilities following the nurses’ complaints about sharing with a trans woman, Rose Henderson.

The tribunal said that the trust had “subjected the claimants to harassment” by not providing alternative facilities.

Yet the tribunal also confirmed that Rose was without fault and dismissed the complaints against her. The case, much like the recent one of Sandie Peggie in Fife, Scotland, was funded by right wing organisations.

What these cases highlight is that unions must step up and support trans and non-binary workers and ensure that pro-trans policies become robust responses to transphobic bullying.

We should, of course, demand that employers provide appropriate facilities.

But crucially the employer must not be allowed to discriminate against trans+ workers by trying to move them elsewhere. This was the solution of the Darlington tribunal panel.

If transphobes object, they should always be the ones told to move.

Following both these cases, transphobes are claiming victories for what they call “biological women”.

And the fact that there were 300 using the changing room and just one of them was transgender is not the point. There’s a principle involved about opposing trans discrimination and bullying.

Unfortunately, the Darlington NHS Trust withdrew its Transitioning in the Workplace policy after the Supreme Court ruling in 2025. It is likely to propose something much worse for trans+ workers.

Laura Miles, Leeds

Victory for Nottingham tenants

Tenants of three Nottingham properties in Sherwood, served with no-fault evictions, can now stay in their homes after a hard-fought campaign against their landlords.

Some 45 people were threatened with Section 21 no fault evictions in March 2025, after the sale of three large properties to an unscrupulous ­­multi-millionaire “property entrepreneur”.

The move led to a persistent campaign by tenants’ union Acorn, residents, a handful of local councillors and the Nottingham

Save Our Services campaign. “No one believed we would be able to stand up for ourselves and win” said the tenants’ rep David Stanley.

The landlord had intended to evict people and then relet to those attracting higher levels of benefits—which would go straight into the new landlord’s pockets.

With wide public support and publicity, the campaign forced the council to take up the complaints and the landlord back off.

The 11 tenants who stayed now have security in their homes.

Richard Buckwell, Nottingham

Keep Reform UK out of Gorton and Denton

Reform UK kicked off their bid for the Gorton and Denton by-election with a rally led by self proclaimed man of the people Lee Anderson.

The problem? The rally was held within the Ashton-under-Lyne constituency.

While Reform UK making fools of themselves is nothing new—and always funny—the outcome of this by-election will be determined by sustained and principled anti-racist activism.

Reform UK is currently predicted to win the by-election easily, getting 32 percent of the vote.

The Green Party is nearly ten points behind at 23.3 percent and Labour is at 22.6 percent.

The Gorton and Denton by-election in many ways mirrors Caerphilly. Here left-leaning Plaid Cymru beat Reform UK, in large part thanks to mass campaigning by Stand Up To Racism (SUTR).

If you want to see Reform UK humiliated in Gorton and Denton, join Greater Manchester SUTR and call out Reform for the racist party it is.

Matt D, Manchester, Stand Up To Racism

Climate ­chaos in Sicily

The cyclone that struck Sicily’s coast in January was not only a meteorological anomaly. It was a political event.

It did more than destroy roads, homes, water systems and livelihoods.

It exposed the structural vulnerability of territories that have been treated as expendable.

Climate change arrived where fragility had already been manufactured.

Real safety will only come from democratic control over land and resources guided by social needs rather than profits.

Geraldine M, east London