Hurricane Austerity hits community & voluntary sector

New research by UNISON highlights the devastating effect of cuts in council budgets on community and voluntary organisations – both vulnerable clients and workers in the sector are bearing the brunt of cuts which have removed 20% of spending from adult social care since 2010:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/06/budget-cuts-hit-community-services

The place of community organising in union strategies

Unions 21 has produced an excellent and very readable booklet on the debate around community organising, with interesting examples and a thought provoking chapter from Professor Jane Holgate on union approaches. There is also a good solid summary of where we are in the introduction by TUC officers Kevin Rowan and Carl Roper. it is a worthwhile read for all UNISON activists engaged in our campaigns nationally and in local campaigns where we need to work with service users in a community: http://www.unions21.org.uk/download/371

Alliances highly desirable but workplace power is essential

The Economist magazine provides an interesting analysis of the decision of the recent AFL-CIO Congress to deepen ties with community groups and other allies. Is offering membership-lite links for groups who agitate for workers rights outside collective bargaining an admission that the US unions (12 million strong, less than 11% density) will never return to the days of solid membership and industrial strength? Only by embracing the campaign groups of ethnic minorities and social justice organisations will the unions recover according to The Economist.
http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21586287-believe-it-or-not-union-movement-starting-embrace-innovation-new-labour?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/new_labour_alt_labour

What is the trade union movement’s core mission?

The announcement of the USA trade union centre AFL/CIO’s new strategy to form alliances with grassroots community organisations has been heralded as ‘a return to its 19th-century roots when the labour movement claimed to speak for, we call them ‘the 99%’ today.’ Similar transformative claims accompanied Unite’s launch in 2011 of a category of community membership for the unemployed and students beyond that unions established sphere of influence.

Does Community Organising fit with Party Politics?

An interesting exchange of views is published on the LabourList blog about the benefits and relevance of community organising in revitalising Labour Party organisation. Kevin Meagher cautions against its transformational potential and questions its compatibility with the bureaucratic routine of conventional party politics: ‘I am not arguing for the status quo, far from it. I am saying that party reform needs to be incremental and recognise the value and purpose of the existing structures’
http://labourlist.org/2013/04/sorry-arnie-labours-a-political-party-not-a-community-group/

Community members get ammunition to fight austerity

James Medway of the New Economics Foundation gave UNISON’s Community delegates the ammunition to argue that there is a better way than austerity at their Conference in Manchester last week.
   He demolished the Tory led Government case for austerity and gave delegates the ammunition for arguing that there is a different way of running our economy.