Activate: How organised is your branch?

At the recent PCS annual delegate conference (ADC), delegates voted unanimously to agree a new national organising strategy that was influenced by activists and branches.

The most fundamental change is that, rather than set centrally agreed targets, the strategy asks groups to set their own priorities for the year ahead. This will allow every single activist, branch and group to assess how well organised their part of the union is.

Once this is done, they can identify the best next steps and, crucially, draw on the support that is available to them to achieve their own targets.

There is a template group organising plan which group executive committees can complete, setting out their core objectives for the year. Once groups have set the aims and objectives for the year, these should be cascaded out to branches. Branches should also then complete their own branch organising plan, so they can look in more detail at their own strengths and weaknesses workplace by workplace.

The new organising strategy also asks a crucial question: what does a highly organised branch look like?

Spectrum of organisation

It isn’t always clear what an organised branch looks or feels like. As the strategy details, there is a spectrum: ‘Lowest level of being organised’, ‘Somewhat disorganised’, ‘Room for improvement’, ‘Relatively well organised’, and the ‘Highest level of being organised’.

These samples look at different metrics – ballot turnouts, density, visibility, activist base, communications levels, and more – to show what the ultimate horizon for PCS organisers must be.

If it is to be boiled down to one key idea, a highly organised branch is strike-ready all year round. Yet no matter where your branch appears on this spectrum, there are always steps you can take and support you can ask for to make it stronger.

If your branch is on the lower end of the organisational spectrum, you can take some simple steps that make a real difference.

A dedicated noticeboard where joining forms, leaflets, and posters can be pinned is a low-effort way to make an immediate change to the presence of PCS to your colleagues. You can also obtain PCS lanyards, pens and coasters and distribute them. Crucially, you can also ask people to join, starting small with people you know, and go from there.

If your branch is fairly active, you can develop an organising plan. What is your current density? What can it be increased to? How will the branch do this? What are the local issues and campaigns that can be run?

It is also important to foster a strong organising ethos and agenda. Organising can often be seen as a nice add-on to the day-to-day work of running the branch, attending meetings and handling personal cases. But activists should challenge this by ensuring that organising is given a priority place on your branch executive committee’s (BEC) meeting agendas.

Additionally, there are a range of bite-size sessions that can be used to upskill your branch and provide new ideas for organising. The PCS academy prospectus is regularly updated and lists every training course that is available.

Holding regular learning events and activities raise PCS’s profile in your workplace and branch. You can request a tutor to run a learning event by completing the branch learning fund request form.

High level of organisation

If you’re confident that your branch can consistently get over 50% in a ballot, the next step is to ensure that we build for super-majorities (70%, 80% or higher). This is real power.

If you have a large enough branch and plenty of activists in place, having a dedicated organising sub-committee that reports back to the BEC on organising will allow for a dedicated team who can implement organising strategies across the workplace.

Mapping and structure tests are vital parts of a PCS organiser’s duties. The entire workplace can be mapped to show who is a member and who isn’t, and which areas of the workplace have reps and advocates who can cover them.

Structure tests can also be recorded to show which members are engaging with an issue and which require more persuasion.

Finally, branches should prioritise mentoring because reps can’t do it all, and long-serving reps won’t be around forever. There are PCS bitesize and one-day courses available that explore succession-planning; identifying keen new reps and advocates; supporting their development as trade unionists; and ensuring the long-term health of the union.