Becoming a branch secretary can be a daunting experience at the best of times, but imagine taking on the role just a few weeks after joining.
That’s what William ‘Billy’ Jones did at UNISON York St John University branch, which has gone from strength to strength in the past couple of years…
“I joined the branch in October 2021”, Billy says. “There’d been a bit of a dormant period during Covid, and there wasn’t really a committee – the branch secretary was taking on everything, so I agreed to be a steward.”
Not long after, the existing branch secretary got another job – and would be leaving the branch.
“I hadn’t even done my steward training at the time! But I knew it was important that someone from the branch took on the role. As there wasn’t really a committee at the time it was quite daunting, but it was also a bit of an opportunity to really build the branch up.”
Build the branch up, indeed. Membership grew by around 80% in two years, with the branch committee increasing from two people to 14.
“It’s down to having a better understanding of our membership”, Billy says. “I had some really good conversations when I took over as branch secretary which, I think, helped get really good people onto the committee, and in turn gave us all a better understanding of who our members are and what matters to them.”
As well as a growth in membership and the branch committee, the number of activists is starting to rise too.
“We’ve had four people recently complete training to become stewards, which is fantastic, and we’ve got more planning to do training soon. Hopefully by the end of spring we should have seven stewards in the branch.”
The recent growth of the branch has opened up opportunities on a regional and national level, too, Billy says.
“It means we’re able to have greater representation on regional and national structures, and we’ve had committee members going to national UNISON conferences too. It really helps them to keep the passion burning when they see how big and powerful the union can be.
“Not only that though, the growth of the branch is benefitting our relationship with university management too. I think it puts us in a stronger position to negotiate on behalf of our members, and we’ve also seen our facilities time treble recently, which is really useful for managing casework.”
The growth shows no sign of slowing down, either. According to Billy, the highest number of new members joining in one month on record was 10. The most recent figures, for March 2024, show 14 new members.
“I think a lot of it’s down to the people we have on the committee”, he says. “They’re really passionate people who love talking to others. They’ve got a knack of getting people to understand and buy into what UNISON is all about, which has definitely been key in the membership numbers continuing to grow – credit to them.
“The regional support we’ve had as a branch has helped, too. The organisers who’ve worked with us – Mags, Linda, Vikki and Neelam – we wouldn’t be in this position without them. For me, becoming branch secretary so quickly after joining the branch felt a lot easier knowing I had that support network to help me.”
The branch’s recent AGM was the perfect opportunity for Billy to look back on how far they’ve come.
“We had a turnout of over 40% of all our members, which was great. There was a big hall on the university campus full of UNISON members, and it was a real opportunity to pause and appreciate the scope of what we’ve achieved in the past few years.”
