The recruitment challenge created by contracting out and the increasing number of of workplaces in large organisations is at the centre of Northern region’s full-on recruitment drive.
“There may be up to 100 employers attached to a local authority branch because of contracting out,” said Northern regional secretary Gill Hale. “They have a lot of workplaces, so we’re concentrating on those where there are lots of people.”
UNISON teams have spent the week setting up activities in priority areas, including Newcastle’s hospitals, local government and other employers in Sunderland, the South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust, local government in Middlesborough and the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
“We’re visiting workplaces, talking to members, engaging potential members,” said Ms Hale.
“We’re doing this jointly with the branches – the regional council is fully signed up to the initiative. In fact, we couldn’t do this without the support of branches on the ground.”
Ms Hale added that staff in all public services throughout the north east are facing cutbacks and attacks on terms and conditions, “especially in local government, where we are looking at large-scale cuts, redundancies and privatisation.”