UNISON must continue to fully resource organising campaigns to deliver a decade of growth to help it win for its members, the union’s NEC told the opening day of its annual conference today.

This comes after the union recorded a massive growth of nearly 40,000 at the same time that the activist base grew by 4,500 with its Organising to Win strategy.

For the NEC, Andrea Egan said Unison’s organising strategy has brought “astonishing outcomes” and said the union has “proved that organising can be a transformative strategy for delivering for our members.”

But she admitted “we still have pockets of membership decline” and need to double down on retention.

“We celebrate our success but we acknowledge that much more still needs to be done,” she said, including ending “the scourge of migrant worker exploitation.”

Jan Tomlinson highlighted the importance of organising in social care in Cymru/Wales at a time when “life as a care worker can feel desperate with many trapped in work poverty.”

She said Unison was able to organise care workers to speak directly to leaders in the assembly and local councils, adding: “Organising to win means we can all be more optimistic about the future.”

West Midlands delegate Dave Auger said the union’s strategic organising approach has led to a number of successful strikes.

But he said: “We need to engrain organising to win in the training of activists.”

Sandwell local government worker Tony Barnsley said: “Let’s arm our activists with the techniques of strategic organising.

“There is power in a union. Let’s teach our activists to harness that power.”

Caitlin, a young member from Greater London, said: “Every single branch should be an organising branch.”