(15 April 2021) EPSU held the 4th webinar of its recruitment and organizing network on 14 April discussing “Union organisational change. Embracing organising and recruitment”. The seminar brought together more than 70 participants across Europe representing 50 unions.
Malin Ragnegård, National Secretary and Hillevi Good, Head of the Recruiting Unit at the Swedish municipal workers’ union, Kommunal, talked about how in recent years the union had successfully turned around negative membership figures through dedicated recruitment work. The presentation focused on the role of leadership in organizational changes and processes and how they work to enhance the status of recruitment and outreach at every level in the organization. They also touched on successful strategies such as specific training for recruiters, focused internal communication, involving and engaging union representatives at local and workplace levels.
Carl Roper, National Education and Organising Manager from the Trade Union Congress (UK) spoke about cultural and strategic changes in British trade unions. He provided data on how some unions had managed to grow in the past three years, adding more than 200,000 new members, including the period since the outbreak of pandemic. He outlined the main problems faced by the trade unions in UK and focused on key issues that should be taken up for the future. Carl emphasized the importance of trade unions going into digital organizing in order to achieve organizing at scale, and importance of union education as part of organising strategies.
Several participants took part in the discussion and contributed with their experiences and strategies on organizational change. The trend towards increasing individualism and its impact on trade union work was a particular issue that emerged.
The presentations are attached, and the next webinar is planned for June.
Don’t forget to sign up to EPSU’s R&O network by sending an email to: [email protected]
- Log in to post comments
