Drive boosts record recruitment

A month-long recruitment and retention drive by public services union UNISON has achieved its best recruitment figures for a single month ever, the union says.


The November campaign, dubbed “Grovember”, saw 18,000 new members sign up. With 12,380 members leaving in the same period, this meant the union grew by just over 5,700 members over the month.


General secretary Dave Prentis said the figures made November “the best recruiting month in UNISON’s 25-year history.


“But more than that, we achieved growth, with every single region and service group increasing in size over the month.”


UNISON said it was now “poised” to show a rise in membership over the year for the first time in a decade. With continuing austerity, the Trade Union Act and job losses in the public sector, “that’s an incredible achievement”, said Prentis.


He noted that, thanks to public sector cuts, UNISON “has to recruit more than 100,000 new members every year to remain strong”. The union’s national executive committee has agreed to run a project on retaining members in 2019.

https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2018/12/record-recruitment-figures-announced-nec-meeting