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Branch Secretary's Report - Annual General Meeting - 15 Feb 06
The past year has seen our Branch:
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move from a low ebb of effectiveness back to a position of strength with our largest employer, the County Council
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re-engage with members and reps in most of the smaller employers after a hiatus of five years
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grasp the challenge of providing a service to isolated members in the voluntary and community sector
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negotiate good outcomes for many members in regard to workplace re-organisations, individual issues, and injuries
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increase our membership
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enhance our influence at Regional level to the benefit of our Branch's ability to organise and represent
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tackle the quality of our stewards' training courses
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gain National level recognition and attention
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support and undertake international TU work, both in Europe and elsewhere
These successes, plus more, are not down to one person. In our Branch of thousands, across several main employers and many associated employers, I have mostly been a catalyst and instigator. There was, and is, far too much organising, representing and recruiting for any one person to take on alone.
A growing number of dedicated, active stewards, officers, and members have worked hard with me, determined that employees' interests are protected and promoted. In addition I have brought the Branch back closer to UNISON's regional officers and staff. Their support is also making a crucial difference.
As Branch Secretary I had a steep learning curve, but also several excellent role models. Significantly too, I have been able to count on the support of two knowledgeable, hardworking and membership-focused office staff.
Last March, when I took up this post, I found much that was run down and dispirited. A Branch Office ought to be the heart of a Branch. But a rapid succession of Branch Secretaries the long-term illness of one had left a hole in the heart. Circulation of our life-blood - information - wasn't happening properly. Communication amongst ourselves and with our employers and region was patchy. The effect had demoralised too many activists.
My task was three-fold:
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To organise the Branch as if things as 'normal' (when they were not)
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To tackle the problems whilst organising as 'normal' (when 'normal' organising left no time spare to do so)
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To push for change when long-standing activists only wanted a return to a past that they knew had been effective.
Why is change needed? The saying is, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But all around us the Government is breaking up public services. Privatisation, best value, revised funding arrangements, new schemes for service delivery. The public sector is hardly a 'sector' any more. There's the growing influence of the charitable, voluntary and private sector now delivering the public services in which sphere UNISON has always organised to protect employee rights.
UNISON's internal structures are increasingly out of alignment with the way public services delivery happens. At national and regional level UNISON has recognised the need for change. Branches need to take that message on. The cumulative impact of the Government's agenda means that what was once 'normal' organising can't be gone back to.
This past year, as I have worked with officers and stewards, I have assessed the usefulness of our Branch structures. They too need re-forming. This hasn't been an easy message for many of the officers and stewards to take on, not necessarily because they oppose change but because of their dedication to representing and negotiating. Time spent on internal re-organisation is seen as time taken away from our primary focus, our members. Nevertheless, in the long run, we shall be less and less able to serve our members well if we fail to re-form.
It also became clear that the office staff needed restructuring. A reshaped Branch needs a reshaped way for the Branch Office to tackle incoming work. Because this involved affecting our own employees' livelihoods the office restructuring is being undertaken as a model of consultation which we would wish all our employers would commit to.
As I tried to increase the visibility of the Branch via regular email contact with activists and members I soon discovered that the Branch Office had an IT system that was old, slow and unreliable. We are replacing it. Communication is the essence of our ability to organise. We also need to join the Internet world. Our email capacity needs to grow. Many members would prefer to be contacted this way. It is faster, environmentally friendly and saves postage and paper costs. The new IT system will allow us to tailor our email communication in ways better suited to Branch organisation.
Our Branch website remains one of our great strengths. In recognition of this and to add to our capacity to organise effectively we are adding to our IT system an 'extranet' - somewhat like an intranet, password secured, but accessible by officers, stewards and other representatives wherever they are.
In all, after an action-packed year I can say to our members with great pleasure that their representatives, office staff and Region work for them with an inspiring commitment. It certainly inspired me whenever I felt the workload was becoming impossible.
Moira Macdonald
Branch Secretary
17 Jan 06