UNISON delegates in Glasgow today agreed urgent plans to improve its organising in the shadow of the election result and the Tories intensification of their austerity agenda and targeting of trade unions.
With its new majority, the government is expected to continue its privatisation and outsourcing of public services.
Its manifesto commitments to reduce trade union facility time and the threat to end the DOCAS system of collecting member subscriptions will affect the union’s ability to fight back against further cuts and privatisation.
Two debates on organising outlined UNISON’s response to the crisis, through building membership and density in branches, alongside a “whole-union” approach to attracting and retaining stewards.
Sue Highton of the NEC told delegates that “with this tidal wave of austerity we need more activists, not less.
“Activists are the beating heart of UNISON. For most of our members they are the first point of contact with the union. By being stewards and branch officers, they make UNISON a reality, a trade union workers want to belong to.
“But more than ever our activists are under attack. They might lose their jobs, they might have less time available from their work to represent members, and now there is pressure on facility time.”
And with this problems, fewer activists are coming forward with a desire to become stewards. Last year there were 400 fewer new stewards than the year before, she said.
Deidre Costigan, of the LGBT committee spoke of the difficult of organising in the increasingly fragmented workplace, with branches and their activists struggling to cope with the expanding number of employers and workplaces.
“And this becomes even more difficult for members who are black, women, disabled, or LGBT. Far away from a branch office or friendly steward, members may fear speaking out about their problems, particularly about workplace discrimination.”
Delegates representing retired and young members said their members would be fully behind the organising fight back.
UNISON is promoting a new, whole-union strategy to increase reps, improve and adapt their training, find new systems to allow activists to volunteer, and to support and nurture existing ones.
Work has already been started to issue advice to branches on best practice, to make training more accessible, to put a greater emphasis on mentoring and support for activists, and to develop strategies for protecting – and enhancing – trade union facilities for activists.
“This work is our greatest priority, the key to our future” Ms Highton said. “There’s no magic wand – it’s an organising challenge.”
Conference also agreed that the government’s attacks on facility time and DOCAS were a ‘double whammy’ designed to weaken unions’ opposition to job cuts, privatisation and outsourcing.
Conference called on the NEC to:
- Lead a determined campaign to defend the DOCAS arrangements;
- Put in place “as a matter of the utmost urgency” a whole-union strategy and allocation of resources to ensure that all members paying by DOCAS are retained in membership should there by any transfer to direct debit;
- Review what can be done to ensure that activists have sufficient support and resources to adequately represent their members.
