Branch Development Event March 2010

Branch priorities are recruitment, steward support and campaigning against public service cuts

At a time when all our members are faced with a range of challenges, including the grim prospect of cuts to our jobs and the services we provide, the branch will focus on recruiting new members, supporting our stewards and contacts and campaigning vigorously against public service cuts.

Bill, Les, Steve and Anne work under the supervision of Betty Lyon, Area Organiser

This was the conclusion of a Branch Development event held in March, and well attended by branch officers and stewards. Activists recognised that there are challenging times ahead and the more members we have, the better able we are to protect jobs and services.

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10 good reasons to join UNISON
The activists who came along identified 10 good reasons to join the Aberdeenshire Branch of UNISON, ranging from all the conditions of services we have negotiated for members such as parental leave; to our legal and welfare services and our up to date communication with members. This will be the basis for a new branch specific recruitment postcard.

Shona, Susan and Naida work on 10 good reasons to join UNISON

We also looked at how best to involve our contacts and support our Branch Officers and stewards, as all these roles are crucial in recruiting new members and supporting existing members. We agreed to set up mentoring for new stewards and to bring together contacts with stewards to enable them to support each other. We will also look into setting up cross branch meetings for the various branch officers' posts which do not already have these, such as Equalities and International officers.

And we looked at how best we can support our members who are faced with redundancy and TUPE transfer - already an issue for many of our colleagues in other councils and in the Voluntary Sector and something we may yet face in greater numbers in Aberdeenshire.

"This highlights the need to strengthen our steward and contact network and to increase our membership," said Bob Revie, Branch Secretary. "However, it is very good to see the influx of new stewards this year."

"It is clear to see that where there are active stewards in a workplace, the recruitment of new members rises significantly," said Betty Lyon, Area Organiser, who lead the day.

Finally we looked at taking forward the "Stop the Cuts: Public Works Campaign at a local level. Kate Ramsden, Branch Chair said, "This is the critical issue for all our members and we need to find ways of getting our members to support it, not just for themselves, but also for the people who use our services."

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