By | 3 min
The TUC aims to mobilise a million voices against cuts on March 26th in central London. Whatever the turn-out, it will be the first time for years that many in the mainstream media have been forced to take a view on a union event. The march will be an important milestone for the campaign against cuts, but could also be a once in a generation opportunity for the union movement to update its own image and narrative.
While the march is likely to be a great success for those attending, the story that is remembered will still be set to a great extent by the small handful of commentators that remain disproportionately influential with in the Westminster bubble. There is a danger of cross-currents between positive accounts via social media from those who have come to demonstrate and miss-information from a mainstream media that does not buy into it.
Opinion at a recent Unions21 roundtable was clear: Union image needs updating to be attractive to young people and the march is a great place to start. Everything about it must be positive and family friendly. Union members should come in their work clothes to show that this is ordinary working Britain on the march. Care workers, fire fighters and teaching assistants should be seen, but also heard: Union officials should with draw their right to be interviewed by the media and suggest in their place lay reps from diverse backgrounds, showing the public that the movement is wider than they think.
The march’s aim is to highlight cuts, but also the alternative. Banners should say what we’re for – as well as what we’re against. In ‘sell the sizzle’, a paper which sets out new ways to campaign on climate change, the authors warn that ‘hell doesn’t sell’, that although armageddon climate scenarios might be accurate and eye-catching, they haven’t changed attitudes or behaviours nearly enough. Similarly, though unions are best placed to show the public how cuts are hell for both employees and service users, in order to win the wider argument we need to open each and every communication to the media with the promise of heaven. We need to speak with hope, a sense of progress and excitement about tomorrow.
Putting our energy into updating the image of unions is not a magic bullet. Brendan Barber said at a Unions21 conference that it is the tangible benefits that trade unionism delivers that will win new members - not gimmicks or superficial symbols. It is the conversations that happen in workplaces up and down the country between reps and workers that are the most important communications.
But Unions21 research has shown that 36% of the working public think unions are out of date and 90% of trade union members say the media is too cynical about unions. At a time when many of the positive things unions are doing to help their members through hard times are being drowned out and booted off the agenda, being given the right to be heard is important.
If we change the story, journalists will eventually have to report it.
Dan Whittle is Director of Unions21. Unions21 does not have policy but publishes articles to stimulate debate. Union image and the cuts will be discussed at their annual conference on March 18th, a week before the March for the Alternative. A publication with contributions from Polly Billington, Mike Harris, Joe Goldberg and Tim Finch on union image will be launched later this year.
