'Trade Union action on Supreme Court ruling not off the table'

The Herald Scotland

06-05-2025

Last month, the UK's highest court ruled the terms 'woman' and 'sex' in the 2010 Equality Act 'refer to a biological woman and biological sex'.
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Ms Foyer previously said she did not think the law 'got it right' in terms of the recent Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of a woman under the 2010 Equality Act.
Asked what she meant by this, she told Unspun Live: 'I am not sure the decision that was made has got it right or thought about all of the implications on the ground and in our public institutions.
'At the end of the day, the law is the law and the machinery of the law has done its job and come to a position and it won't be the first time a trade unionist has sat down and said, well, they don't think that's the best law and maybe we need to rethink things.
Ms Foyer would also not condemn the comments made by Green MSP Maggie Chapman who said during a trans rights rally there was 'bigotry, prejudice and hatred coming from the Supreme Court' following the landmark judgment.
'I don't condemn the words of Maggie Chapman but I don't necessarily think I would utter those words. That's all I would have to say on that,' the STUC general secretary remarked.
Ms Foyer went on to say that trade unions campaign against laws "all the time" and she does not think it is a "big deal" to question the law or consider whether or not it should be improved.
The STUC general secretary added: "On this particular issue, if you actually look at it from the point of view that trade unions are and consider the implications of the decision, we need to make sure that all people's rights are balanced...That women's rights are protected, absolutely, but we also need to make sure that trans people's rights are protected.
'I would want us to be part of a society where we legitimately understand their right to exist and that means making space for them in our spaces and in our society and I am not clear on how the implications of this judgment is going to enable us to do that yet.'
Asked if she foresees trade unions having to take action against the Supreme Court ruling as a result, Ms Foyer said: 'We will see what Congress says about what sort of action the STUC should or shouldn't be taking but, on the ground, our trade union affiliates will be working out the repercussions of this just now and how they can protect all their members.'
Asked if she can confirm whether or not any action from the STUC around this ruling is off the table, Ms Foyer said: 'Nothing is off the table when it comes to action from the STUC on any issue.'
An update on the Supreme Court ruling from the EHRC published last month said that in workplaces and services that are open to the public, 'trans women (biological men) should not be permitted to use the women's facilities and trans men (biological women) should not be permitted to use the men's facilities'.
The EHRC said that allowing trans people to use toilet facilities for the gender they identify as would mean facilities are 'no longer single-sex facilities and must be open to all users of the opposite sex'.
Ms Foyer said it was important to ensure that trans people do not feel 'other' or 'different' as a result of recent EHRC guidance.
Ms Foyer said: 'We've seen some recent guidance come out from the EHRC. It's not clear to me. What are we expecting trans men and women to do? Are we expecting trans men to use women's facilities and trans men to use men's facilities?
'Or have we to build separate facilities for this group? And what does that say about inclusion of this group as a society and about not making them feel other or different?
'I think we've got a long way to go to work out the repercussions of this ruling.'
Her comments on the podcast come after Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville told The Herald she believes fears trans people feel around using single-sex spaces have been "aggravated" by the EHRC update.
Ms Somerville said: 'I think it's unfortunate that that fear has been aggravated by what happened on Friday night with the update but that's exactly why people need that clear guidance, statutory guidance from the EHRC so we can actually work to put that Supreme Court Judgment into practice and we stand ready to do that.'
The minister has said the Scottish Government has already started working towards implementing the Supreme Court ruling – saying a short-life, working group was being established to look at 'consistency across Government on this work'.
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