Frances became the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in January 2013, the first woman ever to hold this post. With 54 affiliated unions representing 6.2 million working people from all walks of life, the TUC campaigns for a fair deal at work and for social justice at home and abroad. Professor Andrew Gamble, Professorial Fellow at SPERI, engaged Frances in conversation on a wide range of topics, including the changing role of unions in British society, their capacity to contribute to the building of a new political economy and their stance on several key policy issues.