The Trotskistyist monthly newspaper Workers Power reports from the PCS Trade Union conference, from where a trade union rank and file fightback is underway in defence of transgender colleagues.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has formally opposed the 2025 Supreme Court judgment concerning the definition of sex in the Equality Act, following a vote at its 2026 Annual Delegate Conference. The decision comes after a year in which the union’s leadership had stepped back from previously supportive positions on trans rights, and marks a clear indication that many members and activists want the organisation to push back against legal developments they see as threatening trans inclusion.

The Supreme Court ruling, according to delegates, forms part of a wider legal and political effort to redefine gender in a way that excludes trans people from public life. Campaigners within the labour movement have argued that the matter cannot be left to lawyers or official guidance alone, and must be taken up by trade unions themselves.

This year’s vote is best understood in light of the 2025 conference, which became a point of contention when union leaders instructed trans delegates to use accessible toilets and declined to print motions opposing the Supreme Court ruling or reaffirming existing pro-trans policy. Critics said the effect was to stifle democratic debate at a time when members needed a firm response to what they described as an escalating attack on trans rights.

At the 2026 conference, a similar pattern emerged. PCS Proud, the union’s LGBT+ section, criticised outgoing president Martin Cavanagh for repeatedly referring to the “LGB community”, insisting on the inclusion of the T. Most motions concerning trans rights were kept off the agenda. However, the sole motion that was printed was passed by an overwhelming majority, exposing what many saw as a gap between the leadership and the wider membership.

The motion that was carried commits the union to strengthening its defence of trans+ members, reinstating trans awareness training, seeking legal advice to protect members’ rights, and calling for full parliamentary scrutiny of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s updated Code of Practice. Delegates thus voted decisively for a position rooted in solidarity, democratic control, and opposition to trans exclusion, despite attempts to filter motions and despite caution from the outgoing leadership.

The timing of the vote gave it added significance. On 21 May 2026, the EHRC’s updated Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations was laid before Parliament. If approved, it will give statutory force to guidance shaped by the Supreme Court judgment, and is expected to encourage service providers to exclude trans people from spaces aligned with their affirmed gender. Rather than debating an abstract principle, PCS delegates were deciding in real time whether the union would accommodate a reactionary shift in the law’s application or organise against it.

The new EHRC guidance is considered dangerous not only for its immediate impact on toilets and changing facilities, but for the broader social logic it promotes. Toilets have become the symbolic issue through which a wider programme is being advanced, one that normalises the exclusion of trans people from public life and increases policing of sex, gender, and appearance. By suggesting that allowing access to single-sex services according to affirmed gender could strip those services of their legal status and expose providers to challenge, the guidance encourages organisations to make exclusion the safest administrative option, creating a chilling effect far beyond any single setting.

Union activists are now being urged to organise collectively before employers rewrite policies, isolate trans workers, or present exclusion as a neutral legal necessity. The lesson from the PCS conference, supporters say, is that trade unionists must defend trans rights in the workplace and across society, refusing to treat the issue as a side concern or culture-war distraction. Employers and governments use division to weaken collective organisation, and every retreat on trans equality makes the whole working class weaker, they argue.

Concrete steps recommended for union activists include passing motions reaffirming trans-inclusive policy, demanding that employers maintain inclusive facilities, and organising members around that demand. PCS representatives and members should use the training agreed at conference to equip themselves with the knowledge and arguments needed to defend trans rights. Trade unionists are also encouraged to participate in wider resistance to the Supreme Court judgment and EHRC guidance, by joining demonstrations, backing trans-led campaigns, and showing in practice that an injury to one is an injury to all.

Leadership elections held before and during the conference have resulted in a majority leadership and National Standing Orders Committee that support trans rights. Campaigners view this as a gain, but stress that winning positions is only the beginning. The new leadership, they say, must arm members with the tools, advice, and support needed to defeat discriminatory workplace policies, give practical backing to reps and members who refuse to police trans colleagues, and ensure the union is visible in the wider fightback as one committed to defending every member against reactionary attacks.