Group work from the Diploma session on research

If I was to ask you to do a Spectrum of Allies analysis would you know where to start?

For the Organising Academy, the last few weeks have been all about ends and beginnings.  As our new programme for 2011-12 begins, students from last year have begun to submit portfolios of learning and graduate to continue their union journey.

Our Diploma in Organising is the most substantial course that we run at the Organising Academy.  It’s  6-12 months of a combination of classroom and workplace learning which gives organisers not only the basic skills needed to organise but far, far more in terms of the fundamentals of campaign research, strategy and communication.

We also look at how to motivate activists and what that means in supporting the great work that reps and stewards do.  We look at past, present and possible campaigns to see how we can do more to strengthen the position of working people.

I’ve been an organiser for over ten years, and taught on this course quite a lot and I’m still learning every time I go into the classroom.

And, because there is so much to learn and so much to find out about, we have a follow on course (Advanced Certificate in Organising) which goes even further.  No matter how long you’ve been involved in the movement as a staff member, there are new things to learn.

Look forward to seeing you on one of our courses soon…

Around 250 union organisers, offfcers, activists and academics to consider aspects of organising and general union work.

It’s nearly 5 years since the Organising Academy hosted a visit from the DGB Jungen section to see what organising was all about and from the attendance at this event its obvious that interest in union revival and revitalisation via organising has really taken root.

I was there by the way to speak at a workshop considering the work of our Organising Academy and the approaches to organising by unions in the UK. Mel Simms from Warwick University who with Jane Holgate conducted some research into the Academy last year also spoke.

Our presentation were well received and the group asked some really good questions about the development and practice of organising in the UK over the last 10 years. They were keen to hear about the content of the training itself and the different kinds of organising carried out by UK unions.

At events like this you realise how far we’ve come in the UK in developing our approach and just what a good story we have to tell.

There’s much more to be done of course and we are in difficult times but we shouldn’t forget and should draw confidence from the fact that all of the learning we’ve done over the last 10 years – as well as assiting comrades in other countries – will stand us in good stead to face the challenges ahead.

During January and February, courses will be starting in Birmingham (first session January 14 and 15), Ruskin College, Oxford (Jan 15 and 16), Stowe College, Glasgow (January 26 and 27), Leeds (Jan 28, 29 and 30), Plymouth (Feb 9 and 10), Newcastle (Feb 19 and 20), Hull and Manchester (Feb 26 and 27).

For details of how to sign up for an Activist Academy course, contact the relevant TU Ed unit – details available on the Activist Academy website at www.tuc.org.uk/activistacademy.

So goes the (pretty good I think) strap line of Equity’s new campaign to coincide with the forthcoming panto season. Equity is the UK union that organises artists in professional entertainment. This includes singers, actors, dancers, directors, stage managers, radio and TV presenters etc.

Today I’ve been doing an organising skills briefing for Equity deputies (workplace reps) and discovered one or two things that must be unique to Equity. The first being that at any one time up to 85% of Equity members aren’t working (at least in an a job in the entertainment industry). Also, it’s not uncommon for Equity deputies to collect subs rather than relying on check-off or direct debit.

Equity appears to have pulled of the trick of being a well respected specialist union providing a range of profession related services for its members whilst at the same time placing a priority on building workplace organisation.

The practicalities of the industry and the fact that many members don’t have long term contracts might remove the emphasis on workplace structures but for Equity it appears that the opposite is true in that the workplace (a theater or studio etc) is where members have the best opportunity of coming into contact with the union, hence the emphasis on ensuring that there are active and well supported Equity deputies wherever there are members no matter how small the company (I.e cast and crew is) or short the run of the production.

You can find out more about Equity at www.equity.org.uk

The COREs will be based at;

• Newcastle College
• East Riding College, Hull
• Park Lane College, Leeds
• South Birmingham College, Birmingham
• South Nottingham College, Nottingham
• Lewisham College, London
• Ruskin College, Oxford
• The Manchester College, Manchester
• Wirral Met College, Liverpool
• City College, Plymouth
• Bridgend College, Bridgend
• Stow College, Glasgow

The Activist Academy is aimed at union reps and activists who want additional skills and resources to build stronger unions in their workplace or branch by recruiting new members and new activists. 

To get on an Activist Academy programme, applicants must have a workplace or branch based  campaign or project that allows them the chance to recruit new members and activists and raise the profile of the union in the workplace.  They must also be supported by their union who must nominate a mentor who will support them through the training.

Activist Academy programmes will usually last 6-days and be delivered via three, two-day blocks usually over a period of about 3 months.

For more information about the Activist Academy, visit the TUC website or email activistacademy@tuc.org.uk

Let them eat cake! (photo: Rod Leon)

More seriously one of the things which has characterised the work of the Organising Academy is that we’ve always been serious about having its work properly – and independently – evaluated. I can’t think of many other union inititiatives here in the UK or indeed more widely which have been subjected to as much ‘public’ probing and questioning as the Academy, but ultimately that’s a good thing.

Ed Heery and his colleagues at Cardiff Business School were the initial academic advisers to the TUC’s New Unionism project and undertook the ‘first 5 years’ evaluation of the Academy, and latterly Mel Simms and Jane Holgate have taken up this work. Mel and Jane’s ’10 year review’ can now be found on the TUC web-site. The evaluation isn’t all roses and sweetness and light – for example the review pulls out issues around career progression for organisers and the problems associated with separating out organising and broader representational roles. But overall I think it fairly concludes that while there is ‘still much work to be done’:

In launching the Organising Academy in 1998, the TUC’s intention was to create an impetus for change. Its aim was to promote organising as central to union activity and the mechanism by which unions could grow and regain their influence with employers and government. It also wanted to encourage unions to allocate resources to union activity and to employ specialist organisers to take this agenda forward. It was a bold initiative as some were sceptical that a centralised programme – organised by the TUC – would have sufficient backing to make it work. Yet, testing the outcomes after 10 years against the original aims and objectives, the project has clearly had a degree of success – not least the spread of organising programmes within other unions.

Let us know what you think of their assessment in the comments section.

Another perspective of the event can be found on John’s Labour Blog - thanks for the good review John!

Let us know if you see any more reviews or comments about the event and post the links in the comments section.

In the meantime, here’s the TUC/Congress TV film we produced for Congress looking  back on the Academy’s first ten years.

Are you wondering what exactly will happen during the Development Centre? 

Do you have any questions that you’d welcome the opportunity to have answered before you arrive?

If you’ve answered YES to any of the above then the TUC’s Organising & Recruitment Team together with Second Life may be able to help you out. 

If you log on to Second Life and teleport yourself to UNION ISLAND at 7.30 pm on either Tuesday May 27^th or Tuesday June 10^th you can find out more about the Development Centres in a meeting in the Union Island bar hosted by a member of the TUC Organising and Recruitment Team.

If you’re not already registered with Second Life, you can register at the link below which can also be used by existing Second Life users to teleport straight to Union Island.

www.slunionisland.org