Taking Cubaʼs case to Britainʼs trade union movement
Campaign News | Tuesday, 14 July 2026
Ismara Vargas Walter addressing PCS conference in May
This summer, the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC) has taken the case for solidarity with Cuba to trade union conferences across Britain, ensuring thousands of delegates heard directly about the escalating US economic war against the island and how they can respond. Through conference motions, fringe meetings, exhibition stalls and speeches from Cuban representatives, CSC has strengthened support for the Cuba Vive appeal, won new campaigning commitments and built solidarity at a critical moment.
CWU
IN MAY, during the CSC fringe meeting at the CWU Conference in Bournemouth, union President Andy Mercer urged branches to support the Cuba Vive appeal and affiliate to the campaign.
Joining Andy were CSCʼs Natasha Hickman, James Mason from the CWU Young Workersʼ Committee, CWU executive member James Samuels, and Carlos Rodríguez from the Cuban Embassy.
Carlos thanked the international labour movement for standing with Cuba during one of its most difficult periods in recent decades, warning that the US administration believes it can defeat the Revolution through economic strangulation, but they would not succeed because “they do not know Cuba, and they do not understand the power of global working-class solidarity.”
James spoke about his experience on the 2025 May Day Brigade, describing workplace visits and how “despite all the challenges of the US blockade, Cuba has built such an impressive healthcare system in which every neighbourhood has a family doctor.”
Natasha Hickman argued that inspiration from Cuba must now become practical
solidarity. “Cuba has given the world doctors, not bombs. It has stood with oppressed peoples
around the world even while under siege itself. We owe Cuba a debt of solidarity – and now is the moment to stand with the Cuban people and repay it.”
ASLEF
Train drivers union ASLEF passed a motion condemning “the actions of the USA administration towards the Government and citizens of Cuba,” and committing the union to lobbying the British government to provide “political and financial support” to the Cuban people. The motion also agreed to donate £5,000 to CSC.
FBU
FBU DELEGATES in Warwick gave Cuban Ambassador Ismara Vargas Walter a standing ovation after she made a passionate appeal for solidarity to the whole conference.
Ismara thanked the FBU for its longstanding support, including assistance following the devastating Matanzas oil depot fire and backing for the Cuba Vive appeal.
She explained how the US oil blockade is affecting Cubaʼs emergency services, with firefighters responding to increasing numbers of electrical fires caused by prolonged power outages. “Our firefighters are tackling these blazes with limited fuel, outdated equipment and failing water supplies due to an external blockade,” she explained.
FBU General Secretary Steve Wright reaffirmed the unionʼs commitment to solidarity, recalling its role in moving the first Cuba solidarity motion at TUC Congress in 2003. National Officer Tam
McFarlane said the union would send a solidarity delegation to Cuba at the earliest opportunity.
Delegates unanimously passed an emergency resolution from the Merseyside branch committing the union to oppose US threats, raise the issue with the British government and continue to build solidarity.
PCS
Addressing the PCS conference in Brighton, Ambassador Ismara Vargas Walter drew parallels between Cuban and British public sector workers who both “know intimately what it means to serve the collective, understanding deeply that comprehensive public services are the bedrock of any strong society.”
She outlined the severe impact of the blockade on Cubaʼs health service and wider public sector, explaining that emergency measures introduced to conserve electricity have forced many administrative workers onto four-day working weeks while they continue providing services under extraordinarily difficult conditions, then “returning home after exhausting shifts to houses where food refrigeration is precarious.”
Despite these challenges, Ismara stressed that Cubans “are not merely enduring the crisis with passive resilience.” With public sector workers leading Cuba’s green energy transition, she said: “we are actively engineering our way out of it.”
The Ambassador thanked PCS for its long-standing affiliation to CSC, its support for the Cuba Vive appeal and participation in CSCʼs Young Trade Unionistsʼ Brigade.
BFAWU
AT THE BFAWU conference Cuba fringe meeting in Staffordshire, First Secretary Pablo Ginarte from the Cuban Embassy described the situation facing Cuba as “not simply a crisis, but a war.”
He explained that food shortages were not the result of domestic failures but of deliberate US efforts to strangle Cubaʼs economy by disrupting supply chains and restricting imports.
CSCʼs Natasha Hickman placed the current crisis within the broader history of six decades of US attempts to isolate and overthrow the Cuban Revolution. Warning that recent US measures amount to the collective punishment of the Cuban people, she urged delegates
not to be “passive observers” but to act to build solidarity through CSC, support the Cuba Vive appeal and challenge Britainʼs complicity in US policy.
GMB
GMB Congress in Blackpool unanimously adopted an emergency motion condemning the US oil blockade and escalating threats against Cuba, calling on the British government to oppose any military intervention and provide humanitarian support.
GMB National President Barbara Plant, highlighted Cubaʼs internationalist role, including its contribution to Colombiaʼs peace process at a joint fringe meeting organised by CSC and Justice for Colombia Carlos Rodríguez, described the devastating consequences of the new US
sanctions: “Transport in Cuba has been halted, medical and healthcare services severely harmed and our children, our elderly and our sick are made to suffer. Hopelessness is deliberately sown and the lives of millions of human beings are being severely damaged.”
CSC’s Tariq Anderson reflected on joining half a million Cuban workers marching on May Day, describing it as a powerful demonstration to the US that Cuba’s people remain determined to defend their homeland.
The conference heard a video message from Ayenis Ávila Feria, General Secretary of Cubaʼs National Union of Energy and Mining Workers, who described the impact of blackouts lasting up to 20 hours a day.
“We are continuing to ensure that essential services are maintained through our creative resilience, with the firm belief that solidarity between peoples and mutual support
between trade unions is a force capable of overcoming any obstacle,” she said.
Moving an emergency motion on Cuba, GMB activist Jo Pitchford condemned the “dangerous escalation of US aggression against Cuba” as “economic warfare.” Seconder Graham Forshaw described Trump’s sanctions as “a direct assault on the daily lives of ordinary Cubans.” The motion, which called on the GMB to campaign against the blockade, oppose military threats and support the Cuba Vive appeal and CSCʼs Call for Peace and Sovereignty was passed unanimously.
PROSPECT
Workers from Prospect’s Channel 4 branch put forward a conference motion encouraging support for CSC’s Call for Peace and Sovereignty and Cuba Vive appeal. It was the first motion in support of Cuba passed at Prospect and called on the union to “write to the British government
urging them to reaffirm their commitment to international law regarding Cuba and respect for Cuba’s sovereignty.”
Carlos Rodríguez with friends from the CWU
Carlos Rodríguez with friends from the GMB
BFAWU General Secretary Sarah Woolley and Pablo Ginarte
