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Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, with Kathryn Johnston. Photo: Copyright © Kevin Cooper Photoline


TUC GS pays tribute to late Lyra McKee


Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), paid tribute to the late Lyra McKee at a recent conference in Belfast, where she warned that a no-deal Brexit does not mean a clean break. “We know from the murder of our NUJ sister


Lyra McKee; peace should never be taken for granted. We’ve known from the outset that a hard Brexit means a hard border,” she said. The meeting – a conference on Labour and the


Foundation and Development of NI - was part of the Irish Congress of Trades Unions’ contribution to the Decade of Centenaries. Speaking to a crowded Factory Room in


Belfast’s Metropolitan Arts Centre, Ms O’Grady also brought a stark message about Brexit. “No deal doesn’t mean a clean break. It’s not as


if it’s going to be a short, sharp shock. The fall-out will poison our political life for years to come. We’ve seen what the neofascists are capable of – in Britain, the memory of the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox is still raw,” she said. Also speaking were leading historians Emmet


O’Connor, Henry Patterson, Theresa Moriarty, Christopher Loughlin and Eliza McKee, with reflections on the present state of the trade union movement from ICTU’s Owen Reidy and organised by the distinguished labour historian Padraig Yeates. Ms O’Grady brought solidarity from the TUC, especially to those workers fighting for their jobs, livelihoods and communities. “Last month the TUC was proud to welcome


workers from Harland & Wolff to our Congress. “An iconic firm with a proud workforce – they


refused to give up and let their yard die. That’s the difference trades unionism makes. Those trade unionists have not sat on their laurels and basked in the glory. “Instead, they have brought support to the


workforce at Wrightbus in Ballymena - a viable manufacturing business, with a union determined to save that site too,” she said.


- Adapted from Kathryn Johnston's blog, Peace Should Never Be Taken for Granted, October 19th, 2019. at kathrynjohnston.org


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