We are joined for this episode by Avril Chambers, the driving force behind one of the GMB union's biggest union building successes - organising school support staff. Avril shares the background to identifying and then union building amongst a new workforce of several hundred thousand. Those who say "it can't be done", "it costs too much", "it will never work" need to pay particular attention. The rest of us can only listen in admiration! More information at gmb.org.uk/public-services/schools-academies-and-education/. Companion blog here!

Organisationstend to do what they were designed to do, And unions were designed quite a long time ago in some cases. And what they need to do and what they actually do has kind of diverged.

Unfortunately, there's no theory of change a union can take off the shelf and say, right, if we do that, that'll work. You have to start in your own organisation.

Easy to say, more difficult to do - Simon and Martin share their decades of union experience to try and come up with a few pointers.

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 30m07s. Organising For A Change 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. This episode was first published on 11 October. Next episode drops 25 October.

Welcome to Series 2.

In this episode, we're going to talk about how and why people join unions, and it’s not just because it's obviously the right thing to do.

Over the last 30 years we can probably say we know a lot more than people might think about the dynamics about how and why people join unions.

While the power of data is growing and is phenomenal in terms of helping us understand the how and the why. But the fundamentals don't actually change much, and we discuss how the 5 C’s are still at the core of any union building strategy.

So far so good, and potentially very powerful stuff. So to find out what the 5 C’s are, and why (and if) they still hold good, listen and make up your own mind!

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 29m10s. Organising For A Change is presented by Martin Smith and Simon Sapper. Music is by Scott Holmes. It is a Makes-You-Think production. Contact the show at orgainsing@makes-you-think.com. This episode was first published on 27 September. Next episode drops 11 October.

In this episode, we look at what happens when despite a great organising campaign – one where you recruit lots of people, and you make a lot of noise, and you really gain traction - and then you reach a certain point, and then enter the CAC process for formal statutory recognition, or something else happens, which means you hit a sort of ceiling, and you stop.

What then happens to the energy? What then happens to the membership? What happens to the union building process in such circumstances?

As ever, our discussion is calm, measured and derived from a combined 80 years of union activism. Where we disagree, we do so amicably. But there’s no getting away from the importance or relevance of this debate.

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.

Organising For A Change 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.

Episode run time 30m05s. This episode was first published on 13 September. Next episode drops 27 September.

Silos are a big problem for all organisations but unions in particular. High-trust and dynamic activity risks being undermined by suspicion, and dysfunctional priority-setting.

Martin and Simon explore the causes and characteristics of silos and what can be done to dismantle these barriers to effective union building, and to stop them developing to start with.

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.

Organising For A Change is presented by Martin Smith and Simon Saper. Music is by ⁠Scott Holmes⁠. It is a ⁠Makes-You-Think⁠ production. Contact the show at ⁠orgaising@makes-you-think.com⁠. Episode run time 24m45s. This episode was first published on 30 August.

National pay bargaining is in decline and doesn't always work as intended. In the episode we argue that we should disaggregate the one-size fits-all approach and encourage and empower more local union activity - a race to the top if you will.

But what if local structures can’t or don’t support such a model? What might be the unintended consequences of accelerating the deterioration of national bargaining? Will there be debilitating jealousies between or within unions? We certainly don’t dodge these key questions:

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.

Organising For A Change is presented by Martin Smith and Simon Saper. Music is by Scott Holmes. It is a Makes-You-Think production. Contact the show at orgaising@makes-you-think.com. Episode run time 26m12s. This episode was first published on 16 August.

In the new episode of Organising For A Change, we look at Leadership in the context of our unions.

We discuss how and why notions of leadership in the labour movement have become constrained within very tight parameters, and think about Machiavelli’s universal truth that what you need to do to achieve leadership status is often very different to what you have to do to preserve it.

We also look at how ideas about leadership can end up disempowering the very members unions need to enthuse and energise.

What does good, effective leadership look like in today’s movement – and how can we give ourselves the best chance of securing it?

Two things are for sure – first, that the best leaders of tomorrow are those we don’t even yet know. And second, we need to leave space for those future leaders to develop, grow and, yes, lead.

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.

Organising for a change is presented by Martin Smith and Simon Sapper. Music is by ⁠Scott Holmes⁠. It is a ⁠Makes-You-Think⁠ production. Recorded in April 2024, first published August 2024.

As union builders prioritise holding Labours feet to the fire over their existing commitments to 33 new workers’ rights, its important that we make the government understand we will always want more and UBI/4DW pilots are also on our agenda. Always have a claim on the table!

The notion of a UK standard four day working week has gained fresh impetus with the election of a new government. A second major trial is planned - run by the UK’s 4 Day Week Campaign and flexible working consultancy Timewise, and due to report in later 2025.

In this episode, Martin and Simon discuss why the idea was so strongly opposed by the outgoing Conservative government, and (spoiler alert) whether that stance was motivated more by antipathy to workers’organising to take more control over their working hours than any evidence base about the virtues (or otherwise) of a shorter working week.

Because let’s face it, when a quarter of the workforce can't get enough hours of work and want more because of low pay and broadly, a quarter of the workforce are working far too many hours and being overworked, we’ve got a problem and one that it is imperative we address. We mull over what that means in practice and why the prize for getting this right is wider, deeper and bigger than many may recognise.

But if the campaign for a 4 day working week is attracting a fair following wind, calls for a Universal Basic Income (UBI) are in far rougher waters.

We debate exactly how and why UBI is linked to four day working and argue that UBI can be a far more effective and beneficial form of state subsidised pay than the current benefits arrangements.

In fact, in moving to universal basic income, we would just be reflecting something that's happening with the current deployment of universal credit anyway, but giving more agency over what peopple spend. And while, in our view, UBI would make a huge difference to the lowest paid workers, it's hardly going to see them going out and booking flights to Vegas to splash their newfound wealth.

As you’d expect, we’ve also got our eyes on the inter-relationship between union organising to deliver both shorter working weeks and UBI, and the union building dividend that comes with both the campaign and what the campaign achieves.

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.

Organising For A Change is presented by Martin Smith and Simon Saper. Music is by Scott Holmes. It is a Makes-You-Think production. Contact the show at orgaising@makes-you-think.com. Episode run time 26m08s. This episode was recorded in April and first published on 19 July. Next episode drops 2 August19.