Rebuilding trade union power

Trade unions exist to redress the power imbalance between an employer and workers – to help improve pay and secure better conditions in the workplace.

Individual employees operating on their own hardly ever achieve anything positive. Demands for better wages, a more secure contract, extra holiday or a decent pension are all too easily ignored as employers depend less on the skills of a solitary worker.

When the chips are down, bosses see workers as dispensable – it’s not difficult for an employer to move someone on and the law seldom provides an effective remedy. 

But trade unions are a collective they allow workers to bargaining as one single group making it much more difficult for the boss to ignore demands for a fairer deal.

Sacking one worker out of a team is easy but taking on the whole workforce is much more challenging. And more often than not when the union is seen as the voice of the whole staff group the employer recognises this, comes to the bargaining table and reaches agreements. 

That’s why strong union organisation in the workplace is essential if workers are to win power and take back a bit more control.

 

Where we are

The days where people automatically joined unions when they started work are long gone. We must now answer the questions: “What’s in it for me?”

We have to listen to workers, understanding their concerns, show them that alone nothing will change and that progress can only be achieved through working as a collective.

A union with no members simply isn’t a union so recruitment is essential.

Each workplace needs a steward to act as a union ambassador and representative of the workers. The strongest, best-organised workplaces all have well-trained and energised stewards.

The union branch must be confident, outward looking, addressing the needs of its members, inclusive, open and democratic. When we get these things right we make a real difference to the lives of our members and their families.

Our region has made growing the union its main priority, not just in size, though that’s important, but also in strength.

 

Where we want to be

Last week our regional executive committee agreed a motion to UNISON national delegate conference calling for a new strategy and detailed plans at all levels helping to deliver a step change in the number of stewards across the union.

We are asking for more flexible training packages recognising the difficulty members experience getting time off work. 

UNISON branches across the region will have the opportunity to vote for our motion in a few months time.

But we don’t need to wait for conference we can double down on recruitment now, we can plan campaigns to encourage more stewards today, and we can fully embrace the new sense of confidence that is growing across the region.

The renaissance of trade unionism is within our grasp, it’s now our time to reach out and grab it with both hands.