Activists' zone
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Involving members
Campaigns rely on winning widespread support in the community and UNISON members can be key in spreading the word and involving others.
The key steps to involving members include: Keeping them informed. Make sure members know why the campaign is important, the arguments behind it, and what activities are taking place. Encouraging members to get involved. Ask them to help with those activities that have already been decided upon. Ask members what else they want to do to help, or what ideas they have for other activities. Make sure members are properly equipped. Supply them with the appropriate campaign materials and arguments before they engage with the public. Keep your branch officers informed of what you and your members are doing. To be effective, campaigns need to be well co-ordinated. Public statements made in the name of UNISON should be authorised. |
Campaigning
UNISON has a proud tradition as a campaigning union, both inside and outside the workplace.
The minimum wage and Positively Public campaigns are two recent examples of major national campaigns in which the union has played a leading role.
UNISON is also frequently involved in smaller scale campaigns to improve local services, avert cuts or closures and build community organisation.
Effective campaigns generally go beyond the workplace and involve the wider community.
Users and providers of services can achieve much more when they work together to bring about change, just as workers united in a workplace have a stronger voice than one individual alone.
Campaigning is an important way of gaining improvements in employment matters.
Legal rights to equal pay, for a minimum wage and protection against unfair dismissal were all won through a combination of union organisation, political lobbying and public campaigning.
Campaigns can also win improvements for our communities. This is particularly important for UNISON members, many of whom provide services to the community.
Cuts in services do not just mean cuts in jobs and conditions for UNISON members, they also mean cuts in living standards for the people they work with and for their families.
Campaigning helps advance our members' interests. It also helps build our organisation - by recruiting new members, developing our activists, raising our profile and building alliances with other organisations.
Most campaigns that stewards get involved in will have been initiated by UNISON at national, regional or branch level.
You may find out about these from your branch - at a branch meeting or through the branch newsletter - through Focus, UNISON's fortnightly newspaper for stewards and branch officers, as well as directly from UNISON and from news items or reports on television and in newspapers.
UNISON encourages its stewards and workplace representatives to get involved in our campaigns.
Usually the information issued to branches and in Focus will give you enough guidance on what you can do to help, but if you need further advice ask your branch secretary or contact your regional office.
All campaigns are different, so there is no blue print for what's involved.
Don't worry - UNISON only asks you to volunteer for the things you feel confident about and normally you'll be asked to do these things in a group, not on your own.
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For more on campaigning issues, see our Campaigns section.
Advice for activists | next: Your rights as a UNISON rep
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| UNISON campaigns |
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Positively Public
Branch campaign against privatisation of council home care services
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