- Conference
- 2025 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 1 January 2025
- Decision
- Carried
2024 was a historic year for UNISON with over 215,000 new joiners resulting in net growth of 39,500. This growth of 3.3 percent significantly exceeds the minimum one percent target.
The activist base also grew in 2024 with 4,500 new workplace activists appointed and a six percent increase in Employment Relations Act (ERA) accredited stewards.
In the Organising to Win priority campaigns, member participation within aligned organising and bargaining strategies delivered significant material wins for members, amplified by digital communications to project a confident, growing and powerful union.
The new Organising Framework was launched, recognising the branch as the base organising foundation of the union with new action plan templates alongside Organising to Win guides to support activists to drive effective organising at the branch and workplace level. The Branch Support and Organising Fund has ensured additional resource with consistent reporting and evaluation for continuous improvement of the UNISON organising approach.
Significant membership growth of ten percent was achieved in social care, predominantly from migrant workers, and UNISON strengthened our partnerships with the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) and built our internal capacity to support and organise this vital but highly exploited group of UK public service workers.
Conference notes:
1) The positive impact Organising to Win has already had upon UNISON;
2) That Organising to Win approach has enabled members to begin winning improvements for themselves which was clearly demonstrated at National Delegate Conference 2024 when representatives from 27 successful disputes paraded in front of the Conference;
3) Members winning local disputes helps increase recruitment of new members and new lay activists;
4) That learning from our successes is important to help future success, recruitment and renewal of UNISON’s activist base across the whole union;
Conference believes we can sustain and build on the success of recent years. The NHS Earnings Max strategy and Pay Fair for Patient Care Campaign continues to deliver multi million pound wins for members and enhance UNISON’s strategic organising capacity. And the Labour government has brought significant new organising opportunities with commitments to a Social Care Fair Pay Agreement and National Care Service, and School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) in England with the provision for Fair Pay Agreements in Wales and Scotland.
Conference believes that the Organising to Win strategy leaves UNISON well placed to maximise these new opportunities through aligned organising and bargaining strategies to deliver significant material wins for members and achieve a decade of growth in membership, activism, influence and resource.
Conference believes that:
a) Both strategic organising and base organising are vital for the success of the Organising to Win strategy to transform the future for our union;
b) Strategic organising involves organising techniques that can be learnt and applied by lay activists.
Conference calls upon the National Executive Council to continue the resourced implementation of the Organising to Win strategy, with a particular 2025 focus on:
i) Support for priority “One UNISON” organising campaigns of NHS Earnings Max/Pay Fair for Patient Care, target English Multi Academy Trusts and wider SSSNB implementation, and building a strong and powerful UNISON across UK adult social care;
ii) Evaluate the introduction of the new “Active Member” category which enables social care members to be active beyond their individual participation without the full activist role commitment, and support extension of the role to other areas of the union;
iii) Encourage branches to engage in the new Organising Framework action plan process and to provide resource and support to any Organising to Win priority organising campaign covering members of the branch;
iv) Review existing UNISON guides, resources, and activist training to ensure consistency with the Organising to Win strategy;
v) Continue to develop the UNISON migrant worker member network and support an organising campaign to deliver UNISON’s policy position of fairer health and social care visa rules;
vi) Action the recommendations of the 2024 Organising to Win new activist report including:
A) Work with self organised groups, young members and retired members to review and remove barriers to activist development particularly from groups under-represented in UNISON activist roles;
B) Set union wide objectives to urgently improve the proportion of new stewards who attend ERA training.
vii) To action previous motions passed at National Delegate Conferences seeking to learn from successful disputes and devise a lay activist training course on winning ballots, campaigns and disputes and which called on the National Executive Council to implement the Organising to Win strategy, with a particular focus on:
I) Devising a training course for lay activists on how to win ballots, campaigns and disputes, using the organising techniques of strategic organising;
II) Making sure such training is available to all lay activists before National Delegate Conference 2026;
III) Developing the means of incorporating such training within the courses for new stewards so that such organising becomes standard practice for all new activists.