“The Church was packed with people from all aspects of Monmouth life, many of who would not have shared Sylvia’s political faith but they came to respect a woman who served the Monmouth community in many ways,” said Huw.
The congregation learned from Cllr Catherine Fookes about Sylvia’s trade union work when few women held that role, that she was the first Labour Mayor of Monmouth and became a champion for older people.
Family members spoke about her lifetime of voluntary work which led to her being recognised at a Downing Street reception hosted by David Cameron and they laughed at some of the lovely family tributes.
“The story of her going for a week’s respite care at a local nursing home but staying just long enough for dinner (and a second helping) and then leaving to go home. It was brilliant” added Huw. Sylvia’s work for the GMB trade union was a lifelong commitment representing mainly lower paid employees in the public services. Employees who needed the support of Sylvia and other trade union representatives to speak up when they felt unfairly treated, bullied at work or fearful of losing their jobs when they were threatened by public expenditure cuts and privatisation. She was a voice for those who did not have the skills and confidence to argue their case and who lacked the friends or professional contacts who could do it for them. “That is the value of trade unions and the work of representatives like Sylvia” he said.
Edward Pearce, the Guardian journalist and author of ‘Election Rides’ - about the 1992 General Election - described Sylvia as ‘a warm bustling lady who by all accounts held Monmouth Labour Party together in its dark days’ This was during the 1980s which the role of public services and public servants was so undermined by the Thatcher government.
As a young women she was part of the GMB campaigns when the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1970 and the Equal Opportunities Act in 1976. I was involved with her and the GMB in the campaign for a national minimum wage and we passed that legislation in 1997. I will never forget the long days and nights we had in Committee when Conservative MPs opposed every clause of the Bill. This was a Bill to give the cooks, the cleaners and the carers - Sylvia’s people - a right to just £3.60 an hour.
Sylvia Gilbert leaves a legacy to inspire anyone committed to social justice and champion equality in the workforce and in retirement. “Its a legacy that Catherine Fookes and her colleagues and now well placed to continue,” he said.