A wise politician once described how he divided people into weather-vanes and signposts – and how the latter had many more redeeming qualities than the former.
On Organising For A Change – the podcast for union builders – we very much believe in the value of signposts and that’s one reason why we are so pleased to welcome our guest for this episode, Louise Chinnery, senior national official in the health group for Unison and the architect of that union’s incredibly successful campaign to recruit and organise Health Care Assistants.
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Louise takes us though the union’s overarching campaigns such as Pay Fair, described as the first “big strategic campaign…as a one Unison organising priority” and how the health -sector specific Earnings Max initiative fits within that.
This in turn spawned the focus on Health Care Assistants and Louise discusses the background to that work, the campaign-orientated approach and offers unmissable reflections on what worked well and what faltered to deceive.
There’s no doubting the results: £104 million in recovered back pay, £41 million in members’ pay per year going forward, 5000 new members recruited and 164 days of Industrial action with employers who refused to engage.
No surprise that Louise describes this work as “the single most amazing thing I have had the pleasure to be involved with”, in her 30 years of working in the union movement.
Checkout Louise’s blog on the HCA campaign on Martin’s website.
Access this and all episodes at bit.ly/o4ac
We’re grateful to have the support of Thompsons, the leading trade union and social justice law firm, The General Federation of Trade Unions – delivering trade union education, building solidarity and the home of StrikeMap, Pellacraft, award winning and trusted supplier of promotional goods, and Battersea and Wandsworth Trade Union Council. Thank you all.
Episode run time 30m33s. The Organising For A Change podcast is presented by Martin Smith and Simon Sapper. Music is by Scott Holmes. It is a Makes-You-Think production. Contact the show at organising@makes-you-think.com. Also available on UnionDues. This episode was first published on 22 November 2024. Next episode, the series 2 finale, drops 6 December.
