At a time when union membership across the world is in decline, it’s UNISON that’s bucking the trend and standing up for more and more public service workers. As a result, we’re now the biggest union in the UK.
UNISON South West regional secretary Joanne Kaye writes at the start of a big recruitment campaign.
A big part of that was our “Grovember” campaign, which pulled everyone together – both activists and staff in branches across the region – to focus on recruiting more members and growing our union in November. It was a massive success, producing a spike in membership numbers and a lasting change across our union which has seen membership continue to grow through 2019.
But we cannot rest on our laurels – because the more people who join our union, the better UNISON is able to defend all of us. Take Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Trust as an example. We’re currently asking members there to take strike action over a proposed restructure which could see some staff lose up to 12.5% of their salary. Without a high membership in the employer we wouldn’t have the bargaining strength to mount this campaign.
That’s why in May we’re running another month of activities to grow our union – we’re calling it “Go For Growth”, and just like Grovember, it’ll take everyone working together to succeed.
Branches across the region have been busy making plans to speak to potential members about the benefits of being a UNISON member.
There’s a huge amount of work to do and we’ll start today in Derriford Hospital with walk rounds planned day and night to see as many people as possible. Every time we build our union, we make it easier to support, defend and represent our members in the decades to come.
