#uNDC16 Conference pledged on Wednesday to use all the tools at the union’s disposal to oppose the government’s ideological attacks through the Trade Union Act. It again recognised that strong workplace organisation is a key component to all campaign activity.
Sarah Collins from East Ayrshire local government told conference about her organising experience as part of the Better Than Zero campaign – a cross-union campaign set up to mobilise young people to raise awareness and campaign against zero hours contracts.
She said, “We have used ideas such as flash mobs, songs and stunts and a very successful 38 degrees petition to raise awareness of the issue. We’ve had great success in engaging people across the board.”
Sarah went on to say, “The reason I’m sharing this with you is to say we can engage members and non members, and the public are interested. We can beat this act if we organise.”
She told delegates that we need more activists and we need younger activists. We need to link with other campaigns like more than zero and with our sister unions and take lessons from young member led campaigns like the Sports Direct campaign, targeting non-unionised workplaces with a high density of young people.
“The Trade Union act empowers employers even more than any previous ant-trade Union legislation, and the only way to beat it is to empower our members, activist and non-members to confront employers’ power.