“What we won’t do is give in,” general secretary Dave Prentis vowed as he updated the union’s national executive council meeting in London today.
With the government talking about a seven-year austerity programme, rather than the three years they spoke of in 2010, some 600,000 public-service jobs are under threat, with 400,000 already gone.
“We have to adapt, become focused and become stronger,” Mr Prentis told the NEC. “We’ve got to gell as a union and realise we are an army taking on the coalition.
“We know the suffering our members and activists are going through, and we need to get the resources in to support them.”
The NEC heard that the next 12 months are “absolutely critical”, and the union’s recruitment and organising work will be central in meeting the challenges.
The meeting heard that the third phase of UNISON’s advertising campaign underpinning branch organising work is paying dividends:
- more people are joining this year than last;
- September was the best recruitment month this year;
- more new joiners are young members;
- the first two weeks of the advertising campaign saw 4,468 and 4,567 new members join;
- 1/3 of new recruits join online;
- 1/4 come from the private and voluntary sectors.
The NEC agreed that the key challenges ahead are getting more branches to actively engage with the recruitment campaign – including getting specific material through the union’s online print service – and supporting new members when they join.
And it agreed that the most successful way of recruiting is still members and activists in branches talking to their colleagues about joining the union.
To achieve that, the union needs to organise new activists on the ground – in the public sector, private sector and community and voluntary sector – because without activists to support new members, there is the risk of losing them again.
Speaking after a “successful” conference season, Mr Prentis highlighted the “absolutely tremendous” demonstration in support of the NHS at the Tory conference in Manchester on 29 September, which was “80% UNISON”.
The only downside on the day was the BBC not taking its cameras from inside the Conservative conference hall to report the biggest demonstration in Manchester’s history, said Mr Prentis, and the union has made a formal complaint to the broadcaster.
The NEC thanked branches, regions and members for the tremendous turn-out. But, the meeting agreed, after any successful event the key question is what next?
Mr Prentis reported that UNISON is pressing for a follow-up demonstration on the broader agenda of austerity in the spring.
This would both build on the momentum of Manchester and make sure it doesn’t fall foul of the government’s “gagging bill’ which would seriously cut back on unions’ ability to campaign on any issues in the year before an election.
The other major issue facing members into next year will be pay, and the NEC heard a report on current pay negotiations, including planned industrial action in higher education and the local government pay claim for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The meeting was briefed on plans to launch a new union-wide campaign to mobilise members on pay – because they’re “Worth It”.
The campaign will focus on the priceof austerity, the cost of living, subsidising low pay through benefits and the fact that “all of Britain needs a pay rise” – and the fact that UNISON is delivering for workers while calling for an end to the race to the bottom.
This ties in with “living wage week” at the beginning of November, where UNISON is again leading the way.
The NEC also:
- agreed to send a message to probation workers battling privatisation assuring them of the full support of the union both in lobbying against the bill and in any future industrial action;
- sent a message of support and solidarity for members in South Gloucestershire involved in strike action tomorrow as the latest stage in a campaign against pay cuts;
- agreed a message of support to higher education member taking strike action on 31 October;
- received an update on action around equal pay;
- received a report on the union’s accounts and an outline of financial planning for 2014-16.
