ABSTRACT
In the mid 1990s, the TUC began to promote a new agenda amongst its affiliates, that of putting greater resources into organizing new groups of workers and revitalizing existing workplace organization (Heery 1998, Heery et al. 2000b, 2001). As part of this, the TUC established the Organising Academy to train a new generation of specialist organizers, new courses in organizing theory and practice have been established for FTOs and lay members, and annual conferences have been held to address the issue of organizing. The organizing model or agenda is widely understood to mean a focus on generating sustainable self-activity by union members at the workplace, rather than relying on FTOs and union services from the top down, as well as the creation of strong workplace unionism amongst new and established workplaces. In the context of securing new recognition agreements, organizing is focused on finding workplace union activists to recruit their colleagues and build up support from within.
