www.tuc.org.uk
Organise to Win!
Carl Roper: Director of the TUC Organising Academy
www.tuc.org.uk/organisingacademy
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The good news!
• Since 1997 union membership has grown by 20,000 a year
• Thousands of new recognition agreements• 1.1 million potential new members• Increasing union membership and
influence in the workplace and beyond thanks to range of factors
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But….
•Membership ‘growth’ is slow
•Union density marked by one overall trend…
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UK Union Density 1995-2005
25.0
26.0
27.0
28.0
29.0
30.0
31.0
32.0
33.0
34.0
35.0
95 96 97 98 99 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Density
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Growth & Decline
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
95 96 97 98 99 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
Employees
Density
Missed
opportunity
?
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The public-private split
17.20%
58.60%
Private Public
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Private Sector Double Whammy?
Employment
DECLINE where
we’re stro
ngest
Employment
INCREASE where
we’re weakest
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Central problem• There is plenty of good work on
organising & recruitment being done by affiliates and the TUC but…
240 years to get back to where we were in 1979
We lost 6 million members in 18 years, and at our current rate of growth, it will take
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They way we were…
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Remembering what we are?
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Move to Organising – Key Principles • Increased membership is not just
about institutional survival – it’s about impact on working people
• Growth needs to be sustainable• New approach to organising
−Strategically planning campaigns−Developing and sustaining member
activity−Organising around workplace
issues that matter to members
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New Unionism’s Challenges for Modern Unions
• Strengthen our base• To extend our influence • More Reps and Reactivated Local
Structures • Become more relevant to potential
members.• Increase resources• Change culture of unions
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An organising union
Growth
Engaged & Involved members
Active, well supported reps
Key Objectives
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Active, well supported reps
• Thinking about reps– Are there enough?– Who are they; are they
‘representative’?– Likely churn over next 2, 5, 10
years?– What time-off do they get?– What do they do?– What training do they get?– Do they feel valued? Are they?– Are they going to support the move
toward organising?
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Active, well supported reps are key(awareness of union among employees in
recognised workplaces)
85%
75%
56%
91%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
3+ reps
2 reps
1 rep
no reps
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BUT REPS NEED TO BE "OUT THERE"(% members who "agree/agree strongly" that union takes notice of members' problems and complaints)
57%
72%
87%
43%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
don't know of a rep know rep but nocontact
occasional contact frequent contact
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Engaged and involved members
• Involvement at branch/local level?
• Who is involved?• Opportunities for involvement• What do members think of the
union? • How do we know?• What do we ask members to do?
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Some union strategies in the UK
• TGWU – huge financial investment in organising, specialist organisers and national sector strategies
• USDAW – developed their own Organising Academy, recruited 30,000 members
• PCS – Increase in members, 5 fold increase in branch organisers, activist to member ration now 30:1 from 60:1
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History of the Organising Academy• Established in 1998• Over 200 Academy Organisers
have been trained• Responsible for Organising over
35,000 new union members• Recruiting 1000’s of new activists• Establishing unions for first time
in 100’s of new workplaces
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Changing union staff profiles
• Academy Organisers are more likely to be– Women– Aged 30 and under– New to the movement
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Focused on ORGANISING
• Spending MORE time on:– Direct recruitment– Encouraging & training existing
activists to recruit– Planning campaigns– Building workplace structures
• And LESS time on– Negotiating with employers– Representing individual
members
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Organising Outcomes(113-117 AOs in initial 12 months)
• Employers targeted– 1260 (10.77 per
AO)• Direct recruits
– 19,596 (169)• Indirect recruits
– 39,987 (348)• Activists recruited
– 1800 (16)• Greenfield sites
– 659 (5.63) established
– 84 (0.72) recognition
• Successful outcomes– positive outputs
in short-term
• Range of outcomes– recruitment,
organising, recognition
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Organising Academy Programme
Now expanded to include:
• Union Officers and Staff• Advanced Organising • Work for individual unions
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Summary• No one size fits all - different unions
need to approach organising in different ways
• Its not organising v servicing; how can we integrate?
• Employing specialists organisers should be part of a wider strategy for growth
• Not a substitute for encouraging members to become active
• Investing in organising pays off• Driver for wider change