Features
Pickets attract thousands of new union members. Photo: Mark Wood
The dispute over better pay for local government workers has had one unexpected bonus new members flocking to join unions. Laurence Pollock reports on the increased unionisation of the workplace
Strength in numbers
UNISON has pointed to the strong turn out in last month's local government strike as evidence that staff have had enough of poor pay.
But figures for recent recruitment also show the strength of feeling. In the past, employers claimed staff did not like joining trade unions because it meant going on strike.
They were mostly wrong then and they are even more wrong today. Local government staff are flocking to join UNISON as a result of its determined action over local government pay in England and Wales.
Lancashire UNISON has recorded nearly 1,000 new members in the past few weeks. But the union worked hard to build solidarity and did a mailing to every steward and every workplace reaching schools was particularly critical in the run up.
Tim Ellis, regional officer in the north west, said staff found it was ‘the logical thing’ to join UNISON prior to the strike.
"No one was in any doubt that there was a strike taking place. We sought to involve all employees whether union members or not. The stoppage gave people some structure to express their grievance over pay.
"The Lancashire Evening Post splashed "26,000 on strike" on its front page. That was more than the total union membership working for the county."
In 
commentary piece for The Observer newspaper, political pundit Will Hutton recognised "the growing sense of disaffection in the workforce" and how that is translating into bigger and more powerful unions. John Morris, branch secretary for Lincoln City Council UNISON reported a 10% rise in membership.
"Every single member took industrial action. I was over the moon. Now the membership has gone up as well."
In Liverpool many services closed on the day. Recruitment was strong with 300 new members recruited and five new stewards. The strike closed all community libraries and the central library; leisure centres; housing offices and the Customer Focus Centre. There was serious disruption of the Liverpool Direct call centre service.
"We had a lot of applications from the One Stop Shops and the Liverpool Direct," said branch secretary Sheila Kearney.
"There are a lot of new staff who have just completed training. People had previously not joined because they had not been asked. School support staff applied because they felt isolated and it gave them more confidence when taking strike action.
"We also recruited five new stewards. We called a stewards’ meeting in May where we publicised all the pay claim literature and encouraged the stewards to hold workplace meetings.
"The build up to the strike raised the profile of the union and it was really exciting.
"We have written to thank every UNISON member for taking part in the strike and calling on them to repeat the action on 14 August. We have been prioritising feedback, especially for new members and stewards to ensure that we retain them and build on this.
"We have lost 2,000 jobs and thus members in recent years but we are determined to fight back."
The Davids were galvanised by the strike as well as the Goliaths. John Butterwick elected secretary of the nearly defunct Hart District Council branch on 8 July organised a picket line from scratch with the "help of a few colleagues".
He admits that the prospect of taking part in the dispute initially was "daunting".
"The branch was so dormant, we had not been grappling with the issues.
"I was going along with the idea that we would not have a picket perhaps just a ‘presence’ but it just seemed to develop from there.
"When I realised there were enough colleagues to mount a picket, I thought ‘Yes, let’s do it.’"
"Despite the previous low profile of the branch the majority stayed away and I have taken a steady trickle of applications."
Individual UNISON branches which have been in dispute in the past report how previously apathetic, non-members would often rally round and sign up. The trend is now coming through loud and clear in the current dispute over pay. Hundreds of thousands came out on strike to protest about poor pay in the public services. Thousands have joined up to give the same message.
Contact the article’s author Laurence Pollock
UNISON Stafford branch secretary Keith Fletcher recruits a new member during last month's day of action over local government pay
|
A NATIONAL SUCCESS Allan Kerr, UNISON's head of organising and recruitment, says the union signed up more than 16,000 new members above the normal rate of recruitment, in the run up to the national stoppage on July 17. Current recruitment for the year is well above the target level and on current trends is set to break 180,000. There is also a backlog of applications, still to be processed, which has not shown up in figures yet. "UNISON has done extremely well," Kerr added. "And as far as we are aware there were very few resignations." "I believe staff, including those not previously in a union, are reacting to 20 years of seeing their pay cut by successive government. Their pay has fallen behind private sector counterparts. "The stoppage struck a popular chord with potential members who were prepared to lose a day’s pay to show employers how they felt." |
© Copyright 2008
