Mentoring Future Union Leaders

UNISON’s ‘Trained and Active’ approach to developing and supporting workplace representatives includes detailed guidance for the mentoring of activists - recommending the GROW model of Goal, Reality, Options and Way forward:  http://www.unison.org.uk/
acrobat/19013.pdf
  The US Berger-Marks foundation, which supports women organising in unions, recently published ‘The Next Generation: A Handbook for Mentoring Future Union Leaders' which gives useful advice and concrete tools for developing mentoring programmes for union members and staff. It can be downloaded here: http://www.bergermarks.org/resources/BergerMarksMentoringHandbook2012.pdf

'Density bias' and a glass half empty mentality

Chris Maisano analyses the latest US trade union membership figures and provides a refreshing antidote to those who are pessimistic about the strength of organised labour because of declining membership numbers. 'Density bias' is used to describe the commonplace tendency to judge union strength by the proportion of workers who are union members. Maisiano makes a good point that 'density in itself does not translate into power if members are not actively engaged in building the capacities of their unions or the working class more broadly. What’s the point of organizing new members if unions aren’t going to effectively use the ones they’ve already got?' He goes on to argue that today's unions are still massive social organisations and mobilising only 5% of members would create an activist base numbering hundreds of thousands:
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/08/for_unions_size_isnt_everything_partner/

Trade unionism a career or a cause?

The Observer ran a good feature this past weekend on the women changing the trade union movement, though disappointingly they failed to acknowledge the work of Heather Wakefield of UNISON who has presided over two major industrial disputes in local government which saw more women than ever take action in modern Britain. However the piece on women in the movement is a case of bitter sweet.

Women & Union Organising - Yes we can!

Nice to see that yesterday's Observer managed to have a feature on women in the trade union movement; not so nice to see trade unionism presented as a career option rather than a cause:
http://www.guardian.
co.uk/politics/2012/
aug/05/women-changing-union-movement-tuc?CMP=twt_gu

Women officials have the visibility.
Women as shop stewards, branch secretaries and at regional level have the real power.
Because women are taking charge in the workplace.

North West Regional Council agrees 'agenda for action'

Meeting in Manchester's Mechanics Institute yesterday, UNISON North West Regional Council reflected on the fact that massive job cuts inflicted on local authorities meant our recruitment figures for April 2011 were 1,165 compared to 1,812 in 2010. Branches have lost many long serving and experienced activists through the cuts and it was stressed how vital it is we replace them if we are to continue to build the strength of the union in the workplace.