Organising Model - Resurgence in The UK and Ireland

Resurgence in The UK and Ireland

The British Trades Union Congress (TUC) inaugurated an Organising Academy in 1998, to fulfill a similar role to that of the AFL-CIO's Organising Institute in the USA (or ACTU's Organising Works programme in Australia). Whilst the graduates of the Academy have produced positive results, in general the model has not been implemented in the UK with the same comprehensive commitment as it has been by some unions in the USA. There are questions raised by writers on Industrial Relations about whether the transfer of the SEIU's organising model has been faithful, or whether a watered down, less radical version has been instantiated. Sarah Oxenbridge, for example, writes "community organising and organising model methods provided the means by which Californian Unionists put their 'social movement unionism' philosophies and strategies into practice, on a daily basis (see Heery 1998). However, it may be that most British Trade Unionists will instead see the organising model as - more simply - a range of recruitment tactics, and will pick and choose from amongst these tactics." The Transport and General Workers Union (T&G) has begun to make some of the more serious moves of any of the larger British unions to learn from the SEIU's strategies - though some smaller unions (such as Community) have been applying the organising model for some years. In 2005, the T&G launched a Justice for Cleaners campaign, which has been organising workers in Canary Wharf, the Houses of Parliament, and, towards the end of the year, on the London Underground. In the former of these two, improvements in wages have been won by workers. The tactics of Social Movement Unionism have been utilised, insofar as the campaign organisers have worked closely with, for example, The East London Citizens Organisation (TELCO), which has brought in members of faith groups and other trade union branches. However, there remain concerns about the T&G's commitment to rank and file workers' action, considering how the union acted during the Gate Gourmet strike. The Irish general union SIPTU established an Organising Unit in 2004 and its president, Jack O'Connor, set as his objective the transformation of SIPTU - hitherto firmly committed to a servicing agenda - into an organising union. SIPTU is also seeking to learn from the experience of the SEIU. It remains to be seen how (and whether) a commitment to the organising model of trade unionism can be reconciled with the union's traditional support for national 'Social Partnership'.