Organising to Win Across the WET Service Group

Conference

2025 Water, Environment & Transport Conference

Date

14 February 2025

Decision

Carried as Amended

Conference firmly believes that organising is fundamental to UNISON’s bargaining efforts. A strong organising strategy can equip branches across the Water, Environment and Transport (WET) Service Group with the tools and a skillset that are not just relevant to pay talks, ballots, industrial action and other aspects that allow us to secure key wins for our members, but it can also rejuvenate struggling branches and strengthen those in a better place too, thereby enhancing the bargaining effectiveness of the wider Service Group.

In addition, Conference notes that:

• Due to the implementation of the Organising to Win strategy, we have seen record net growth of over 40,000 members in 2024, with 4,000 new activists, and millions of pounds won in pay rises for members.
• The 2024 Organising to Win motion makes a commitment under item ‘o’ to “proactively develop organising plans for under-represented members in Branches and Service Groups” and under item ‘I’ “collaboration with the national communications team to promote organising and campaigning work of the union and continue to build on membership and activist growth”.
• Water, Environment and Transport (WET) sectors are united by our essential place in the economy and society, but we share similar challenges too: we must increase density, recruit more branch officers (incl. Health and Safety reps), address issues regarding proportionality and diversity in our elected roles and strengthen our hand so that we can address dysfunction, privatisation, and under-resourcing in our services.
• Despite the hard work of our elected and unelected officials, the Labour Party is not To bring water into public ownership, for the environment agencies to be resourced properly and for greener, cleaner, publicly-owned transport, our service group must be larger, on the front foot and organised.
• The Water, Environment and Transport (WET) Service Group Executive (SGE) has recognised that we must embed the successful organising approaches that have increased membership density and engaged members in branches across our union including in our service group. To address this and investigate solutions, the WET SGE has launched the Organising and Recruitment Sub- Group, composed of members from our respective sectors, to align existing practices, produce material for campaigning and make recommendations to the SGE on how we can organise and recruit.

Conference believes that efforts to build an effective organising strategy will have many benefits, principally around strengthening the effectiveness of the bargaining work undertaken by our branches and reps in their engagements with employers across our Service Group. Conference notes that work has been done to further this, however, more can and should be done.

Therefore, Conference calls on the WET Service Group Executive:

1. To make the Organising and Recruitment sub-group, hereafter named the ‘Organising and Recruitment Steering Group’ (O&RSG), a permanent WET committee, elected to and composed of elected officials from the WET SGE with three seats from Water, Environment and Transport, the Chair and Vice-Chair of WET, the WET NEC representative, and with the support of WET officers.
2. For the O&RSG to be empowered to:
   1. Make recommendations on objectives for recruitment and organising to the WET SGE and develop an ‘organising plan’ for the service group.
   2. Commission materials to UNISON communications team for members in WET relating to campaigns or recruitment drives.

• Provide support and advice on organising and recruitment to WET members, branches, as well as sector committees and Self Organised Groups, as

1. Encourage the Water Industry and Environment Agencies sector committees and the Passenger Transport Forum to establish Organising and Recruitment committees, which will:
   1. Liaise with the WET SGE and the O&RSG to set organising and recruitment objectives and feed into the service group’s ‘organising plan’.
   2. Commission recruitment and organising

• Request/provide support, seek/provide advice and share learning with the O&RSG.

1. For members of the O&RSG to undertake UNISON organising training and for funds be made available to undertake external organising training if desired.
2. For the O&RSG, with the support of UNISON officers, to have a bi-monthly communication which can be circulated to branches and members, updating them on activities, advertising training, services and support.