Organise impact report

In just the last few weeks, Organise members like you have worked together to raise issues, come up with solutions and win campaigns to make work better for our 1 million strong community.

Here’s a snapshot of the Organise community’s recent impact 👇

New workers’ rights law ⚖️

The Employment Rights Bill has just been passed by MPs. [1] More than 100,000 Organise members helped to influence this new law, to make sure it truly represented what workers need.

Here’s what we did together, alongside a huge effort from trade unions, campaign groups, and thousands of workers from all corners of the UK [2]:

More than 33,000 of us called for all workers to receive statutory sick pay from the first day of illness and to make sure those of us on the lowest incomes qualify for sick pay too ✅
Thousands of us lobbied MPs and big companies for a ban on exploitative zero hours contracts - they’ve been banned and the ban will apply to agency workers too, so bad companies can’t use a loophole ✅
102,000 of us signed the petition to protect the right to strike ✅
254,474 of us joined the campaign to make fire and rehire illegal ✅
18,800 of us made sure the cost of living is considered when setting the minimum wage ✅
6,775 school support staff campaigned for an official pay negotiating body - the Government has agreed to put in into law! ✅
4,367 of us called on the Government to promise an official review into parental leave - it’s going to start in June ✅

But there’s still work to do.

Some workers could actually lose out on sick pay, because of how the new law has been worded. We can't let that happen. If you believe that every worker should be entitled to sick pay, take a second to sign this petition to increase sick pay for everyone.

G4S security staff win equal pay 🏆

G4S night shift workers have won a payrise to bring their salaries in line with day shift workers. They spent 3 years asking for meetings and being ignored - until they started a petition with Organise. This victory means an extra £2,017 in the pockets of night shift workers every year.‍

‍Here's how they won their campaign:

‍1. After writing the petition, the organiser shared it with their other G4S colleagues, who felt safe to sign it because all petitions on Organise are anonymous.

The petition gathered public support, rapidly gaining 1,000 signatures and putting public pressure on G4S.
Because of all the support, the night shift team felt confident to take their demands and the petition directly to G4S management.
Thousands of us voted to expose G4S's unequal pay in the media and to politicians unless they acted fast.
Feeling the weight of public pressure, G4S agreed to a meeting, and ultimately, their demands for equal pay!

This victory didn’t just happen - it was built step by step with the collective power of workers and supporters like you. 1,239 Organise members stood up for fairness and won. This is what real change looks like when we come together. [3]

Uber drivers petition delivery 🚖

Thousands of us helped an Uber driver get reinstated after their account was wrongly deactivated with no way to appeal. [4] But this isn’t just about one driver—this is a widespread problem that’s left thousands of Uber drivers unfairly deactivated and without an income.

Now, thousands of Uber drivers are backing the campaign to stop Uber from deactivating drivers without any explanation or way to appeal. Over 300 Uber drivers have shared their experiences of unfair deactivation—some of whom have been locked out of their livelihoods for over five years!

On Wednesday, drivers took their campaign straight to Uber HQ in London to deliver their 10,000-strong petition demanding fairness. An Uber representative came out to collect the petition and hear drivers’ experiences - a huge moment in getting Uber to take notice.

And it’s not just petitions - together, we’ve helped more Uber drivers get reinstated by setting up tools for them to email their MPs and demand action.

This campaign is only growing. Stay tuned for media coverage and Uber’s response!

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Here’s a picture from outside Uber HQ:

Protecting financial support for sick and disabled people

Tens of thousands of us are mobilising to make sure the government doesn’t scrap essential financial support for sick and disabled people, millions of whom rely on cash payments when they cannot work.

The government responded to our demands to launch a full public consultation before committing to any changes. [5] And this week, they went one step further and promised not to start a “voucher” scheme instead of cash payments. [6]

But with big cuts to financial support for sick and disabled people still on the horizon, together we’ll keep the pressure up to make sure DWP Minister Liz Kendall listens to those most affected and protects vital support.

Cracking down on water companies

Water is an essential, not a luxury. But for too long water companies have been getting away with paying massive dividends to shareholders while polluting our environment and hiking prices for all of us. And when bills rise, it’s those of us who earn the least that feel it sharpest.

Over 65,000 campaigned for the government to crack down and ban water company bosses from getting bonuses if they don't meet environmental and customer service standards. The government listened to our demands and are passing a new law with jail terms for water bosses who don’t comply. [7]

Organise in the news 🗞️

The Financial Times - read by the UK’s CEOs - published an article about how Organise is helping workers go public about bad bosses.

The article explains how female employees at Ted Baker used Organise to expose their CEO’s culture of harassment. A group of employees started a petition, sparked an internal investigationand the CEO resigned. The Ted Baker organiser Caroline Herzig says “If you’re just one person in a huge organisation, you figure anything you say will just land on deaf ears, but collectively you can really make a change.”

You can read the full article here.

From winning fair wages to changing the law, Organise members are at the forefront of making work better for all of us. These examples of impact highlight how important – and effective! – it is when we all come together to take action.

What change do you want to see at work? Take action today in just a few simple steps with Organise.

Thank you for all that you do,

Roxy, Amy, Honor, Bex and the Organise team

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NOTES:

[1] UK Parliament: Employment Rights Bill:

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3737/stages/19461

[2] Employment Rights Bill impact:

https://the.organise.network/campaigns/network-department-of-work-and-pensions-we-need-safe-sick-pay-now-2974b62118baec61

https://the.organise.network/campaigns/protect-the-right-to-strike

https://the.organise.network/campaigns/teamup-make-fire-and-rehire-illegal

https://the.organise.network/surveys/thanks-for-voting-now-how-do-you-feel-about-minimum-wage-in-the-uk-during-a-col