Consulting with members and non-members

When organising to resolve issues collectively, the obvious place to start is to ask members about their experiences. This makes sure the campaign is properly targeted, and is also a good way of raising the profile of the union and building membership around an issue that affects everybody. Members can be asked through paper surveys, electronic polls, questionnaires, informal chats or in a well-organised workplace, by setting up a formal working group to focus on the issue of PM. To consult effectively, unions need to make sure their email and mobile telephone number databases are well organised and up to date.

There are several examples of highly effective use of surveys, covering members and non-members, in this booklet, for example by the PCS (Chapter 2) and the teachers’ NUT unions (Chapter 3). Both surveys reveal not only unfairness and frustration at a dysfunctional system, but also high levels of discrimination.

In a good example of finding innovative ways to collect members’ views, teachers’ union ATL is creating a bank of members’ shared experiences through its online Work-life tracker tool, part of its Make1Change campaign. This information can then be fed into campaigning and government consultation.