Organising For A Change - the podcast for union builders

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

Organising For A Change is presented by Martin Smith and

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

We’re grateful to have the support of Thompsons, the leading trade union and social justice law firm, The General

Organising For A Change is presented by Martin Smith and

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

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

Two things are for sure – first, that the best leaders of

We’re grateful to have the support of ⁠Thompsons⁠,

Organising for a change is presented by Martin Smith and

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

In this episode, Martin and Simon discuss why the idea was

Because let’s face it, when a quarter of the workforce can't

But if the campaign for a 4 day working week is attracting a

We debate exactly how and why UBI is linked to four day

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

We’re grateful to have the support of Thompsons, the leading trade union and social justice law firm, The General

Organising For A Change is presented by Martin Smith and

In this episode Simon and Martin look back to 1997 and argue that unions were too much in awe of the Labour landslide of that year, and failed to reap the best set of outcomes from a relatively benign political environment, despite many notable advances.

Now, unions are growing in membership and strength and relevance for the first time in decades. With a new government getting their feet under the table, it’s time to get off our knees.

Crucially, how can we learn the lessons of 1997 and avoid the mistakes? Listen and find out!

We’re grateful to have the support of Thompsons, the leading trade union and social justice law firm, The General

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

Total run time 29m21s