Targeted recruiting "works"

Unions are showing some signs of success from targeted recruitment drives, according to a TUC report.

Focus on union services, produced by the Labour Research Department, found that unions were getting good results from campaigns targeting specific categories of workers, such as women, part-time workers and young workers.

For example, the GMB general union noted that targeted recruitment last year meant 45% of its new recruits were women compared with 37% in the membership as a whole. And 19% of the recruits were part timers, compared with 16% generally.

A targeted recruitment drive by the NATFHE lecturers' union meant that 60% of the new members it recruited in the year were women, compared with just 47.8% in its total membership. Similar higher proportions were recruited for other target groups.

Other unions reporting success in recruiting targeted groups included telecomms managers union Connect, the FDA top civil servants' union and the TSSA transport staff union.