skip to main content

Between 28 and 30 April, the MU attended STUC's annual Congress at Caird Hall, Dundee. The event serves as a significant gathering for Scotland’s trade unions, providing a platform to discuss and shape policies affecting workers' rights, fair work, and social justice. This year’s theme was ‘Building on the New Deal for Workers’.

MU Motions

Our motions, which all carried unanimously, included:

  • Value Music Education, which asked Congress to call on the STUC to: lobby Government to properly fund music education and ensure that funding delivered through the Scottish Government and councils rises in line with inflation; lobby Government to ensure that Youth Music Initiative (YMI) is a targeted beneficiary of the £100m promised by ScotGov and that its funding is returned to the real terms level it enjoyed in 2003; lobby Government to recognise the particular challenges in rural communities where travel costs between schools are higher; stand with the MU where jobs and careers are threatened by cuts to music services.
  • Advancing Fair Work for Musicians and Creative Workers (which formed composite K and was seconded by the MU), asked Congress to call on the STUC to: advocate for the Scottish Government to make compliance with Fair Work principles a mandatory condition for receiving public funding in the creative sectors; work with the MU and creative unions to campaign for improved pay, job security, and working conditions for creative workers; lobby for more robust enforcement of non-compliance with Fair Work principles in the creative industries, including developing an accreditation system tailored to the creative industries; ensure the voices of creative workers are included in national discussions on Fair Work policy, highlighting the unique challenges of non-traditional employment. 
  • The Arts Need Stability and Transparency, which asked Congress to call on the STUC General Council to: campaign to hold the Scottish Government, and future Scottish Governments, accountable and keep the promise to invest in the arts in Scotland; work with the Creative Unions to ensure that Fair Work principles are established as robustly as possible within the culture sector, including establishing mechanisms to hold employers and engagers of freelancers to account; support Culture Unions to make sure the internal review of Creative Scotland actually makes funding for the arts more transparent and democratic; campaign for the Scottish Government to improve the spending for National Companies.

Our members in action

Ronnie MacNiven standing front of stage giving his speech to Congress.Ronnie MacNiven.

MU member Ronnie MacNiven moved our motion on 'Value Music Education', which was enthusiastically supported by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and Equity. 

In Ronnie’s speech, he highlighted that music education is not a luxury or optional extra, adding that it helps build vital life skills like discipline, collaboration, and perseverance, not just musical talent.

Ben Lunn at front of stage speaking to the audience at STUC 2025.Ben Lunn.

MU delegate, Ben Lunn, moved the Union's motion on 'The Arts Need Transparency and Stability'.  In his speech Ben said, “If we believe that Scotland’s a nation of culture, it needs stability and transparency, it needs democracy. We need bread and we need our roses too.”

Calum Baird speaking at STUC Congress 2025.Calum Baird. 

Our delegate Calum Baird seconded the motion on 'Advancing Fair Work', and also spoke in support of ‘Keep Grangemouth Working - The Fight Must Go On’. The emergency motion, moved by Unite, discussed the closure of Grangemouth oil refinery and the wider implications for the local economy and community.

In a speech to Congress Calum said, “It’s not just the industry but the community which will suffer. As a musician, we have lost our cultural spaces including libraries and music venues. Please support and consider what happens when we also lose our industrial base.”

Find out more

On the second day of Congress, Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar addressed delegates and called for ceasefires around the globe, an end to violence, and the right to live in peace, dignity and security.

The MU also supported the Scottish Artists' Union motion on UK artificial intelligence and copyright legislation, where Ben Lunn advised Congress that “we need to make sure that humanity is at the centre of modernisation. It is not just about protecting creative work - it’s about protecting Labour.”

For more information and the full list of carried motions, visit STUC Congress 2025. You can also read the First Minister's speech from Congress here

If you'd like to represent the MU as a delegate at next year's STUC Congress, please get in touch via sni@themu.org

Be a changemaker and get your voice heard

Make a change in your local area or within your music sector, or to be part of the governing body of the union. Get involved with the Musicians' Union's work.

Members can get involved and shape the future of music through the MU's democratic structures.

There are many ways to get involved 

and much more.

Shape MU policy

Be a changemaker and get your voice heard

Continue reading

Exterior long shot of Caird Hall, Dundee., where Congress takes place.

MU Represents Scottish Musicians at STUC Congress 2025

Last week we attended the annual Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) with MU Delegates Ronnie MacNiven, Ben Lunn and Calum Baird, who discussed the value of music education, fair work for musicians, the need for stability of the arts, and more. All of our motions were passed unanimously.

Published: 06 May 2025

Read more about MU Represents Scottish Musicians at STUC Congress 2025