Cuba Vive fundraising marked by UNISON
Campaign News | Thursday, 17 July 2025
of UNISON delegates, including General Secretary Christina McAnea holding up Cuba Vive, End the Blockade on Health posters
Cuba is facing a “perilous moment” in its history, and support from the British trade union movement is more important than ever. Kevan Nelson, UNISON’s Assistant General Secretary, had that message for UNISON members as he chaired our packed fringe meeting at their annual conference in Liverpool in June.
Attended by over 100 delegates, the fringe heard eye-witness reports from Cuba by young members who had taken part in CSC’s May Day Brigade and the latest on the Cuba Vive medical aid appeal.
South West Regional Secretary Kerry Baigent spoke of her region’s support for the appeal. She said she had been inspired to help get her region involved after one of the South West’s young members attended the 2024 May Day Brigade. Kerry encouraged delegates to take information about the appeal and to invite CSC to address regional and branch meetings.
Delegates from this year’s May Day Brigade discussed the impact their time in Cuba had on them. Annie Cogan-Thomas, a delegate from UNISON North West, said the trip allowed her to “learn a lot about the struggles of the Cuban people brought about by the US blockade,” as well as the country’s “amazing success in health, education, internationalism and housing security.” Her two weeks on the island were, she said, “a reminder that we have a world to win.”
As a delegate from Lothian Health branch, Mia King praised the Cuban health system as one based on “prevention and community care” rather than reactive treatment. She spoke of the “impressive facilities” she visited despite “the lack of resources due to the blockade” and of Cuba’s commitment to medical internationalism.
Georgina Andrews, who was sponsored to take part by Halton Local Government branch, reflected on the delegation’s meetings with Cuban trade unionists at a train maintenance depot in Havana.
“What stood out was how deeply intertwined trade unions are with both workplaces and the broader revolutionary project,” she said. “In Cuba, unions aren’t adversaries or afterthoughts to the government, but central to the functions of society.”
Joe Mills, who took part in last year’s brigade as a UNISON delegate and visited this year again as a self-funder, reflected on the ongoing difficulties caused by the blockade.
He had witnessed an “increase in the frequency of blackouts” compared to his last visit, as well as “struggles in accessing necessary medical, educational, and other types of equipment” also becoming more apparent.
Addressing her first UNISON fringe meeting, Cuban Ambassador Ismara Vargas Walter decried the six-decade-old US policy of “economic warfare” against Cuba.
She described the blockade as “a daily attack on the rights and dignity of 11 million Cubans. It is the child with cancer waiting for a medicine that cannot be imported. It is the farmer without fertiliser or the school without electricity.”
Ismara thanked UNISON for their support and for “walking this path with Cuba”, saying: “from Havana to Liverpool, we say with one voice – Hands off Cuba!”
Later that evening, the Ambassador also addressed UNISON North West’s international rally alongside María Esneida Laverde, General Secretary of the Colombian health workers’ union (ANTHOC), and Amira Nimerawi of Health Workers for Palestine.
The conference took place just as the Cuba Vive Medical Aid appeal passed the £180,000 fundraising mark. Having been launched following a UNISON North West delegation to Matanzas in 2023, the appeal now has the support of the union at national level as well as from nine regions, as well as many UNISON branches up and down the country.
On Thursday morning, hundreds of delegates, members of the national executive, regional secretaries and General Secretary Christina McAnea took part in a photo-call on the conference floor to celebrate the incredible success of the appeal and to further promote it amongst UNISON’s members.
CSC signed up 23 new members to the campaign during a busy week on the stall, with lots of members taking information on branch affiliation and the appeal. Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health branch also made a £200 donation to the appeal.
CSC would like to thank UNISON for their support and to Thompsons Solicitors for sponsoring the fringe meeting.
Young members speaking about their experience on the 2025 brigade
