- Conference
- 2007 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 27 February 2007
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference believes the priority for UNISON is to organise and grow and eventually become a union of two million public service members because unless we grow in numbers and density we cannot grow in influence with employers, the government and other agencies. A growing union is the most effective way of improving the working lives of UNISON members and eliminating unfairness at work and notes that, as employers seek to reduce costs and restructure the public sector workforce, an increasing use of agency employees, many of them migrant workers on minimum wage, is one method that employers are using to try and reduce wage costs and undermine national agreements on terms and conditions. Recruitment of agency and migrant workers is therefore important to the Challenge X process. Conference therefore welcomes the latest membership figures showing an increase, albeit modest, in our membership in 2006 and further welcomes the 2006 recruitment figures which show UNISON recruited 170,500 new members. This growth reflects continuing branch and regional commitment to building an organising and recruitment culture throughout the union.
Conference congratulates the National Executive Council for organising Challenge X
Conference celebrates the fact that UNISON is the largest organisation of women in the United Kingdom. The majority of UNISON members are women and the majority of new recruits are women. This requires a special focus to be placed on the organisation of women members, and for UNISON to reflect this identity in all its activities.
Conference further welcomes the support from activists, members and staff for Challenge X and applauds them on their commitment to recruit ten new members each before the end of 2007. If successful they will recruit more than 40,000 new members and contribute to our goal of building a union of 1.5 million members by the end of 2007.
But despite these efforts there is still much for regions and branches to do to meet the organising challenge in the public services. Less than one in two public sector workers are members of UNISON and union members make up a majority of the workforce in less than two out of three of workplaces and almost one in ten workplaces in the public sector had no union members. Conference also notes that regions and branches are still not taking full advantage of the regional pool funds to finance organising and recruitment activities.
Conference therefore welcomes the commitment by regions and branches to agree a three year programme to deliver the union’s national organising strategy in branches; in particular the commitment that 75 per cent of branches will have an active branch development and organising plan by the end of 2009. The assumption underlying this approach is that recruitment will rise if the number of branches with active development plans increases. Conference further welcomes the commitment by regions to increase the use of new starters’ lists by branches, improve attendance at employer induction sessions for new employees and to deliver an agreed number of “One Step Ahead” training courses.
Conference also notes the NEC report, Review of Branch and Service Group Structures, which recommends that regions working in partnership with branches conduct an annual assessment of local organisation to make sure adequate support is available to branches for recruitment and organisation of new members. Conference also recognises the importance of self-organised groups in recruiting and organising new members not only at branch level but also at regional level and believes that the annual assessment of organisation should include an assessment of support and guidance available for branch and regional self-organised groups. Conference further notes the recommendation that the NEC undertake a review of current resources with a view to prioritising their allocation to organising.
Conference recognises that for branches to be able to campaign and recruit and organise members, they need good communication and support from the centre and regions. Conference welcomes the proposal to provide new, targeted email bulletins for particular groups that will start with an all-activist bulletin.
Conference acknowledges that our organising efforts also need to focus on more than simply increasing membership. Expanding the number of reps and building effective workplace organisation throughout the country has to be our ultimate goal. Conference therefore welcomes the proposal to launch a national campaign to recruit more reps.
Conference calls on all branches to:
1)develop and implement a branch development and organising plan that:
a)builds organising and recruitment into all branch activities;
b)ensures that appropriate and substantial resources are devoted to organising and recruitment;
c)ensure special attention is paid to recruiting and organising agency and workers on short term contracts using materials in appropriate languages where migrant workers are concerned, seeking advice and support from the national union on the best way to organise these workers
d)ensures regular attendance at employer induction sessions for new employees;
e)makes use of new starters’ lists as a simple and effective means of recruiting new employees; and
f)includes participation in the One Step Ahead training programme;
g)make greater use of regional pool funds to finance organising and recruitment activities including secondments of activists;
h)increases women’s representation to achieve true proportionality by targeting those occupations and workgroups that are predominantly female, identifying gaps in steward representation and securing the election of women stewards across workplaces, departments and shifts.
2)support the national campaign to find more workplace reps; in particular from among black members, young members and part-time members.
Conference welcomes the report on the Review of Branch and Service Group Structures and calls on regions to conduct an annual assessment of local organisation in partnership with branches to improve the recruitment and organisation of new and existing members. Conference further calls on the NEC to carry out a review of the allocation of resources including branch funding, regional pool funds and regional support with a view to prioritising them for recruitment and organisation of new and existing members.