Organising In The UK

We still have places available on the following TUC Organising Academy Courses:

- Support for Organising - April 25, 26 27
- Diploma in Organising (16 days) starting June 5 to 8
- Certificate in Advanced Organising (16 days) also starting June 5 to 8

Full details available at the TUC website https://www.tuc.org.uk/union-issues/organising-academy-and-leading-change

Organising Academy and Leading Change The Organising Academy and Leading Change have been used to introduce new concepts to the toolbox available to union officers as they address the challenges of building stronger unions in a constantly changing political, economic and industrial environment. As well as via formal training programmes,...

Most of the commentary on trade union decline concentrates on the fall in overall union membership and density. This is obviously cause for great concern, however there is another set of figures that should worry anyone who cares about the future of trade unionism in the UK.

These tell a story of an ageing membership and an ageing activist base, a double whammy that if not addressed will on its own reduce membership and seriously damage the ability of unions to effectively represent members individually and collectively.

Ageing members and reps: the demographics that threaten the future of unions Most of the commentary on trade union decline concentrates on the fall in overall union membership and density (the proportion of workers who carry a union card). This is obviously cause for great concern. Since 1979, total union membership has halved and density has fallen from over 50% to below 25...

Details of the 2017 TUC Organising Academy and Leading Change programmes are now on the TUC website

https://www.tuc.org.uk/union-issues

Union Issues Strong unions matter, which is why the TUC assists unions, through the Organising Academy, to build membership, improve workplaces and speak with authority on behalf of working people and their families. Strong unions are created by investing in organising; thinking about our resources, how we repre...

Applications and now open for the next TUC Organising Academy Award in Supporting Organising Course which will take place in Manchester on April 3 to 5 2017. Details at the link below:

https://www.tuc.org.uk/events/tuc-organising-academy-award-supporting-organising-course

TUC Organising Academy Award in Supporting Organising Course Date and time of event: Mon 3 Apr 2017 - 10:00 to Wed 5 Apr 2017 - 15:00Venue and town/city: The Manchester College, Manchester Costs: Course is free but unions will have to pay for participant travel and accomodationAbout this event: This TUC Organising Academy course is for union staff in admin an...

We are pleased to announce that the TUC Organising Academy will now be run in partnership with the Manchester College.

We will shortly be announcing a full Organising Academy course programme. We look forward to working with our new colleagues at the Manchester College in developing and delivering exciting new training to help build stronger unions.

Any questions or queries about any aspect of the Organising Academy should be directed to Carl Roper at [email protected]

Thanks

Unions exist to represent everyone at work. But the people who are currently engaging with the union movement are aging and not being replaced fast enough by new younger members. Just 9.3% of low and middle earning 21-30 year olds are currently in a union.

Why is this, when these workers are more likely to be under-employed, over-qualified or stuck on zero-hours contracts? Why don’t younger workers in the retail, service and care sectors embrace collective solidarity in the way young miners or factory workers might have done a generation or two ago?

TUC research into young potential members, their values and their attitudes to work, highlights the challenge unions have in making their message relevant to generation Y.

For Generation Y, trade unions will need to be a springboard not a safety net Unions exist to represent everyone at work. But the people who are currently engaging with the union movement are aging and not being replaced by a younger cohort. Just 9.3% of low and middle earning 21-30 year olds are currently in a union. Why, despite often being under-employed, over-qualified or...

This video is a talk from the TUC fringe event “How can unions adapt to survive in a digital-first world?” at Congress 2016. Emma Mulqueeny (Founder/CEO of Rewired State and Young Rewired State) talks about the challenges for UK trade unions in reaching out to “97ers” – the generation of young people now entering the workforce.

What are the next 6 million union members going to look like? - TUC Digital This video is a talk from the TUC fringe event “How can unions adapt to survive in a digital-first world?” at Congress 2016. Emma Mulqueeny OBE is the Founder/CEO of Rewired State and Young Rewired State, CEO of Elbi and a former member of the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy, talks about t...

There’s a lot of talk out there about ‘digital disruption’. There are a set of changes happening in the digital age that put stress on organisations who have previously been incumbents in their sector.

Do trade unions remain immune from the changes digital is wreaking on other organisations and other industries?

What are the challenges for unions’ traditional ways of working in a digital world? There’s a lot of talk out there about ‘digital disruption’. This is a process cited for the demise of newspapers, troubles in the music industry, the end of Kodak and the death of the high street. Clearly some of the talk is over-blown, but there is definitely truth in the idea that there are a… Rea...

MPs get a vote tomorrow on whether to accept the changes made by the Lords to the divisive and damaging Trade Union Bill. Peers voted to scrap new government powers to cut union reps' time off to represent members in the public sector, to seriously reduce the reach of restrictions on unions' political voice, and to develop a programme for introducing online voting in strike ballots.

The Bill is still bad to the core, but these measures, added to concessions the government have been forced into already, would considerably lessen the damage it does. The amendments were backed by many Tory peers in the Lords. Can we convince their MPs to move on concerns we know many have in private? The government majority of 12 is looking a lot less solid. Please write to your MP now!

Tell our MPs not to overrule Lords amendments to the Trade Union Bill The government have already made several concessions, but the House of Lords were scathing in deliberating the bill, defeating the government on a series of moderate but effective amendments that cut off a number of the more partisan and damaging new measures.

We are extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Chris Wilkes, Principal of Ruskin College.

Chris was a staunch supporter of the TUC Organising Academy which operates in partnership with Ruskin, and of trade union education in general.

He will be missed by all whose lives he touched through his work Ruskin. Our thoughts are with his family.

https://www.tuc.org.uk/events/rethinking-organising-unions-and-new-precariat

rethinking Organising: Unions and the New Precariat Date and time of event: Tue 12 Apr 2016 - 17:30 to 19:00Venue and town/city: TUC, Congress House, London WC1B 3LS Costs: Free About this event: In 1998 the TUC launched the Organising Academy as a way of building union capacity to recruit and organise workers into trade unions. In 2004, the TUC laun…