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Network Journal 2008 Issue 1 Jan/Feb |
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Involvement of all is key to union success
Reps sometimes ask why the union organises events for certain sections of our membership, events for instance such as the black members weekend workshop or weekend schools for women members, writes equalities officer Jo Bird.
We do this because we know that certain sections of our members are less involved in the union than others. We also want to take some positive steps to try and encourage those members to get more involved.
So, for instance, we know that less than half of branch officers or delegates to the Annual Delegate Meeting are women and yet two thirds of our members are women.
This tells us that women are under involved in some parts of the union. We also know that black and Asian members are under involved at rep and branch officer level.
The union wants to try and encourage all of its members to become active. This way we help grow and strengthen the union. So from time to time we take what are called positive action measures to try and reach out to those members who are less involved.
This simply means taking some positive steps to try and get our message across to these members. This might include:
- Holding a weekend school for women members on women's issues
- Producing a poster for notice boards encouraging black and Asian members to become active
- Organising a workshop for disabled members or on an issue that specifically affects LGBT members like homophobic bullying
In this way, these members have the confidence to know that they will be welcomed and that the union is relevant to them. And we know that positive steps like these really work.
Whenever we hold a weekend school for women for instance, we always get members coming along who have never been to any kind of union event before. These members then go on to get active in the rest of the union and that is what it's all about - taking a few positive steps to reach out to members then giving them the confidence to get involved in the mainstream of the union.
www.usdaw.org.uk/equality
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