I had always thought that with declining membership and power, trade unions need to start looking at new strategies. So when Unite the Union set up their Community membership, I thought "what a fantastic step forward" - Hope other unions including my own will follow the example.
Anyhow, the importance of this move really hit home when I was talking to my daughter and her friends - still at college. They seem to have pretty good idea about the socio-economic disaster unfolding around them but not enough information about what to do about it - my daughter has always been engaged in politics standing on picket lines and going on protest demos.
Anyhow, after extolling the virtues of Unite community membership and talking about the low costs of joining, it was great to see some of them have decided to join. I have to now make sure they follow through
Unite the union Community Membership
There was a motion at HE Unison conference to try and recruit young people into the union. Some interesting points were raised by speaker in support and against the motion. One speaker said that it's not good enough to have a motion, nor is it good enough to say 'we'll use social media' to recruit young members. They pointed out most young people don't earn a lot and probably can't even afford the union membership fees.
ReplyDeleteSomeone pointed out that she worked for the student union and that most people in the student unions didn't know much about trade unions! Which from my own experience having worked for the student union as a student, is totally true. I didn't know anything about TUs when I was a student!
I think Unite have got the correct idea! We need to inform young people what trade unionism is to start with! Then we need a membership fee that reflects on young people's capability to join and remain a member!
On a different note, I talked to a few people from the eastern region about membership costs and everyone was of the opinion that the fees were too high for Unison. I'm considering writing a motion for next year that proposes we move to fee structure like Unit, a 2 tear fee structure, simple and effective.
We also need a low cost membership for young people as they often are in temporary casual jobs at all in employment!
Great to hear this was debated. I absolutely agree that the fees are too high and whe I look at the amount UNISON spends on slick publicity and "expenses" I wonder whether, to recruit, it would be better to lower subs and fund the shotfall from cutting on publicity activities. Like you, I do like the approach of UNITE more. Of course, UNISON's subs are proportional to income, but still way too high in my opinion. I'll try my best to get our branch to support your motion if you submit one next year. The cost of joining is something I keep hearing about from potential members. Also we need a debate about "community" branches like the ones UNITE has set up. I understand it is being considered by UNISON but have not heard or seen any proposal/debate.
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