TUC Organise 2020 Thursday July 9 – Saturday July 11

Union Matters July 8 2020

Wednesday 8th July 2020

HAVE YOU REGISTERED?

Our own general secretary Dave Ward will join Labour Party deputy leader Angela Rayner and the head of the TUC Frances O’Grady tomorrow to kick off a lively three-day virtual ‘festival of ideas’ in union organising.

From Thursday through to Saturday, leaders, activists and members of every UK trade union, representing workers in all sectors of the UK’s economy will share experiences, advice, ideas and suggestions for strengthening our movement and winning justice at the workplace.

Winning for Working People is the theme for the opening session, which will hear Angela Rayner’s strategy for building up support for the Labour Party and setting out a robust political agenda going forward, while Frances O’Grady, as TUC general secretary, will speak for the whole movement on the need to take trade unionism into every corner of our economy.

This session will launch the Organise 2020 Pledge, which, Dave Ward explains: “Is something that all trade union leaders will be signing up to and will bring about much greater co-operation in the future on organising and recruitment.”

“There’s never been a more important time for trade unions to organise,” he says, and the trade union movement is going to “play a fundamental role in the recovery of the UK economy from the Covid-19 pandemic – this is a moment when we can learn about what we need to do to grow our movement.”

The format of the event will provide opportunities for questions and discussion and each of the three days will begin with a key theme, followed by afternoon ‘breakout’ sessions, when issues can be debated in greater detail.

 On Friday, our own head of communications Chris Webb will be speaking on the need for our movement to develop a Culture of Innovation, which, he says: “Is absolutely essential in order for us to increase our reach across the economy – particularly into those sectors where trade unionism is weak and where workers face insecure employment, low pay and no rights.

“The CWU has, in recent years, been at the forefront of developing new and innovative ways of campaigning  and communication – as well as revitalising and building on our traditional workplace engagement as well,” he continues, “and I’m looking forward to talking about this and also to hearing new ideas from our fellow trade unionists.”

Other subjects on the agenda are the fight against racism, and our ongoing efforts to win greater equality, trade union education, the role of trade unions in the struggle over climate change, health and safety at work – including the metal health and wellbeing agenda and building international solidarity.

A session on ‘Bringing Through the Next Generation of Reps’ (Saturday, starting at 1pm) – will feature our CWU Young Workers NEC member Luke Elgar, who says: “It’s going to be really interesting to share some ideas and have a lively debate with other young workers.”

Dave Ward is urging as many CWU members as possible to take part in the event, and he points out: “whatever aspect of trade unionism you’re interested in, there’ll be something of interest for you.

“The great thing about this format is that you can look down the list of sessions and dip in and out and choose the subjects that interest you the most – I’m particularly looking forward to the opening sessions, but also I want to hear from as many rank and file trade union activists as I can, from the CWU and also from our sisters and brothers in the other trade unions.

“So please follow these links, join in and let’s make sure there’s a strong CWU input.”

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·    See the full programme for TUC Organise 2020. Click where indicated to register for your chosen sessions (there’s no limit, join as many sessions as you want to!)

·    Hear more from Dave Ward about the importance of this event and why you should take part.