I’ve not stopped being amazed by the continued commitment and dedication of our members and activists.
Throughout the pandemic, you’ve gone above and beyond to keep the union running, encouraging new members to join and supporting new activists.
But the sad truth is that our numbers have slipped over the last year. As our membership declines, so too does our industrial strength, our ability to defend and advance the interests of public service workers.
We could do a lot of speculating about why we’ve had more leavers than joiners, but there’s one fact staring us in the face about how our organising activities have been different: we haven’t been able to get out to talk to our members or prospective members nearly as much over the last two years.
That visible UNISON presence doesn’t just convince people to join, it shows our members we’re still around and still worth the price of their subs.
So I’m incredibly excited that next we’re launching Spring Into Action, a dedicated Eastern region organising week.
We’ll be getting out to workplaces across the region to talk to public service workers about why they should join UNISON and get active in their workplace. We’ll be taking stalls and goodies around schools, hospitals, offices, depots and anywhere else that will have us so we can reach out to public service workers.
The bigger we are the better we are. More members means we’ve got a louder voice when we stand up for services and staff. We need to show the world what we can do.
You don’t have to sit back and wait for an ‘official’ event to take part in our recruitment week. Take the opportunity to talk to your colleagues about why you joined UNISON. Explain why they’ll be better off in UNISON too.
It’s time to spring into action.
