TUC Winter Patrol – engaging and organising young workers across Yorkshire

Over three days and across three cities, seventeen young trade union activists from across the movement came together for the TUC Winter Patrol, engaging young precarious workers in the hospitality industry.

What is the Winter Patrol?

The TUC Winter Patrol is a project based on a model from LO-Norway where for over forty-years young trade unionists patrol the country entering businesses unannounced to speak with workers about their pay, terms and conditions and encourage them to join a union. In 2019, the TUC Yorkshire & Humber ran its first Summer Patrol and since then we have continued to build on that foundation.

What did the Patrol do?

We visited over one-hundred unorganised workplaces in Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford.

We interviewed a range of workers on basic pay rates from £4.81ph (per hour) through to £13.00ph (with the majority on £9.50ph) doing all sorts of jobs - bar staff, hotel receptionists, restaurant staff, baristas, managers and sandwich artists.

We had eighty recorded interviews with workers about their pay, terms and conditions. We also asked more personal questions, such as “What would £15.00ph mean to you?”, “Are you better or worse off this year than you were last year?”, “Is your wage enough to get by on?” and “Are you interested in joining a union?”

As you may have gleaned from the quote at the top of this report, too many interviewed are struggling. The majority interviewed confirmed they were worse off compared to last year, that they were worried about their bills and that their wage was not enough to get-by on.

Many though are keen to take action and improve their circumstances. Of the eighty recorded conversations, forty-one expressed interest in joining a trade union (two even signed-up to join a union on the spot).

How does the Patrol follow-up with workers interviewed?

In our 2019 Patrol, as it was solely a TUC run project, we couldn’t sign anyone up to a union directly, instead signposting them to the TUC’s unionfinder tool. So, ahead of our Winter Patrol we reached out to our Regional Executive (comprising reps from all the affiliated unions) inviting them to link up with us so we could directly target and sign-up, or signpost, workers to a union. BFAWU and Unite confirmed they were keen to link-up with the project. They provided the target workplaces for the Winter Patrol and will follow-up directly with those workers who expressed an interest in joining a union to help them organise to improve their workplace.

A training opportunity for future organisers

The Patrol comprised five Norwegian participants and twelve UK participants from the NEU, BFAWU, Unite, Unison, UCU, GMB and CWU. Ahead of each day’s patrol we ran training courses, led by local organisers from Sheffield Needs a Pay Rise (SNAP) and Leeds Get Organised (LGO).

The courses set out the background of the Patrol, provided an overview of the work of SNAP and LGO, a quick legal rights briefing and how to have a deep organising conversation with workers.

It’s the deep organising conversations that are the most important element of the training. Learning how to tap into the deeply felt issues that workers care about, giving them hope that their issue can be won and empowering them to organise to do just that, is how we move disengaged and disorganised workers towards becoming union activists.

International Solidarity

Repeating a point highlighted in our 2019 Summer Patrol report, this patrol illustrates what international solidarity can achieve.

Sharing ideas, providing opportunities for young trade unionists to meet trade unionists from abroad facing similar issues, and working together to identify new and different ways to achieve our goals.

We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Norwegian trade unions as we build and develop our Patrol.

Next Steps

Following this year’s patrol, we have invited feedback from participants and will continue to develop the Patrol as we work to inspire and develop the skills of future organisers.

We will also work with other TUC Regions to expand Patrol projects across the country.

We will also explore new ways of developing the project, for example, as one Winter Patroller has submitted: “As a BAME Officer, I think it would be a great idea to build on the success of the Summer and Winter Patrols to organise a BAME Young Workers Patrol, particularly in cities like London where there is high density of diversity.”