A time for ACTION
Telecoms & Financial Services October 5 2017The CWU’s annual month-long October focus on organising and recruitment across the telecoms and financial services (T&FS) sector is swinging into gear, with branches across the country pulling out the stops to contribute to this year’s hive of activity.
The first of the many initiatives so far reported to headquarters will take place later this week, when Central Counties & Thames Valley branch will be promoting the benefits of union membership at BT Fleet in Reading – and East Midlands branch will be promoting the union’s new campaign to ‘Close the Gap’ on Manpower pay at BT sites in Leicester and Nottingham.
Next week the momentum will build significantly, with Portsmouth, West Sussex & Isle of Wight branch holding a union learning event in Crawley on Monday – and North Anglia branch operating a stall and drop-in centre at the BT site in Cambridge on Tuesday.
The following day Greater London Combined branch will be leafleting workers arriving at Sky’s site in Osterley – and Meridian branch will be hosting a recruitment stall focussing on the contribution made by women in the union at BT’s site in Canterbury.
After that, things will really get going across the country, with no less than 14 branches already committed to hold a raft of activities ranging from promotional CWU stands in canteens to leaflet drops and ring-rounds and mass-emailings of members and non-members alike.
Coventry branch plan to leaflet every EE, O2 and Virgin Mobile shop in their area – with further leafleting at their local Sitel call centre and VM offices.
Mid Wales, the Marches & North Staffs branch, meanwhile, will be promoting mental health awareness at BT sites in Oswestry and Stoke, handing out ‘Take Your Break’ stress cubes and cartons of juice
And, rounding off this year’s Action Month in time-honoured fashion, Somerset, Devon & Cornwall branch will be hosting a special Halloween themed event at BT’s Exeter site on October 31.
Call centres…and beyond
This year’s Action Month has deliberately been extended beyond the contact centre arena in recognition of the fact that reaching out to potential new members and engaging with existing members is crucial to the union’s vitality in all workplaces, not just call centres.
It follows on from two similarly broadly focussed CWU Action Weeks that have already been held this year – the most recent of which took place in the last week of July.
That week proved highly successful, netting no fewer than 170 new members and engaging thousands of existing members as a direct result of an array of imaginative themed activities co-ordinated by T&FS regional organising committees with the enthusiastic help of branches.
In the North West, the Preston Brook and Bury branch held a special event promoting the CWU digital photography competition and CWU Left Click (the CWU on-line education portal) to members in Capita. As a result of these activities there was a particularly noticeable surge in recruitment in the non-recognised sector in the branch. Manchester Combined branch, meanwhile, conducted leafleting activity at Virgin Media sites in Baguley and Wythenshawe.
In London and the South East there were two separate call rounds to non-members working in BT Facilities Services (BTFS) and a leafleting session outside Sky’s Osterley site in London.
In the North East 28 new members were recruited as a direct result of Branch activity at Doncaster Call Centre and in Northern Ireland questionnaires and recruitment literature were handed to workers at Teleperformance and recruitment activity also took place at BT’s Flex Centre in Belfast.
In Scotland, the CWU’s Glasgow & Motherwell and Edinburgh, Dundee & Borders branches held mapping exercises to identify pockets of non-membership in BT TSO and BT Global. Scotland No.1 branch, meanwhile, held open days at BT’s Alexander Bain & Telehouse offices.
In the South West, Great Western branch hosted a special ‘Women’s Hour’ event at BT’s Bristol St. Clements House site and a lunchtime social was held for Teleperformance workers which garnered so much interest that a further event took place last month. Somerset, Devon & Cornwall branch set up CWU information stalls at BT’s Exeter and Truro Exchanges.
In the Eastern Region, North Anglia branch targeted young workers at BT’s Adastral Park where CWU induction sessions for Modern Apprentices joining the company were taking place.
Central Counties & Thames Valley branch conducted a special call round to all of its female members and in Wales members of the T&FS Regional Organising Committee leafleted a Sky induction event.
Deputy general secretaryAndy Kerr told The Voice: “The diversity of activity in our July Action Week and the way in which branches have grasped the Organising Agenda and run with it is extremely encouraging. With Action Month now getting underway it’s imperative that CWU activity continues in this vein so that the union can grow and become even more representative of the members it serves.”
- A special focus on the outcome of this month’s Action Month activities will appear in the next issue of The Voice. In the meantime, watch out for updates at www-cwu-org.www.cwu.org