“Why are union-busters sponsoring Labour events”, Labour members ask

Union Matters October 1 2025

Labour conference delegates condemned TikTok’s “disgusting” behaviour towards its workers in front of ministers, as protests took place outside of a party sponsored by the “union-busting” company.

During the morning of conference, delegate Ollie Probert-Hill received repeated applause for attacking TikTok’s sponsorship of a Labour Students social event.

“This company has been using union-busting techniques to stop CWU workers voting on union recognition”, he said.

“That’s why I think it’s disgusting TikTok were sponsoring the Labour Students social last night.

“My question to conference is: do you think it’s appropriate that a union-busting company is sponsoring a Labour event at conference?”

Throughout conference, attendees expressed concerns over the sponsorship, given that the tech giant recently announced mass redundancies of content moderators as their ballot for CWU workplace recognition began.

This move was then followed by an outright cancellation of the ballot process, a move widely reported in the media as a union-busting exercise.

The CWU were aware of the event, and queries raised to relevant Labour officials regarding the event were left ignored.

This led to around 50 TikTok workers, conference attendees and supportive trade unionists protesting outside the venue.

Dozens of attendees completely unaware of the TikTok sponsorship turned away from the event. While MPs such as Alex Sobel attended the event, Labour MP Richard Burgon joined the workers, telling them they represent the “real tradition” of Labour politics, alongside other speeches by CWU Head of Communications Chris Webb and Young Labour activist Chloe Brooks.