Campaign Stories
Organise members get heard at work
Organise members have achieved some truly stunning victories with dedicated campaigns for workers’ rights. Here are just some of the network's wins.
June 28, 2023
Organise members have achieved some truly stunning victories with dedicated campaigns for workers’ rights. Here are just some of the network's wins.
From advocating for fair wages to demanding better working conditions, Organise members keep demonstrating the power of collective action. Here are some Organise campaign wins that have made a real difference to the lives of workers.
An Organise member who works at Lidl started a campaign calling on the supermarket to allow Lidl workers to opt out of using name badges, after many staff reported experiences of stalking and harassment from customers.
Hundreds of us signed the petition and put the pressure on Lidl by tweeting and emailing the company - and now, Lidl allow workers to use an alias on their name badge instead of their given name! Lidl also committed to improving protection and escalation procedures for staff on the shop floor. What a win!
A staff-led petition urged John Lewis Partnership to adopt the Real Living Wage for all its Partners so that workers could better afford basic necessities.
When John Lewis initially denied the organiser’s claims that some Partners weren’t paid a Real Living Wage, the organiser jumped back onto Organise to run a survey for their colleagues. They found that 1 in 5 John Lewis workers weren’t being paid a living wage! So the network came together to email John Lewis bosses, share the petition wider, and even shout about the campaign in the press.
The campaign gained over 50,000 signatures and we delivered it straight to the chair of the board at John Lewis - who finally acknowledged the importance of fair compensation and implemented the Real Living Wage for all Partners. Absolutely incredible!
An Amazon worker took to Organise to demand an end to the unnecessary destruction of unsold items, calling on the retail giant to donate these products instead. The organiser pointed out that, instead of wasting perfectly usable items, they could be donated to charities or offered to workers for free or at discounted prices. In their own words:
“Needlessly destroying items that can be put to good use when times have been so tough for so many is unacceptable and entirely avoidable.”
The campaign started to snowball when the organiser polled their colleagues at Amazon, asking whether other workers also saw this destruction at their sites. The results were astonishing: over half of Amazon warehouse workers said they saw this happen and a quarter said it was part of their day-to-day job to destroy items.
As the campaign surpassed 85,000 signatures and got spotlighted in the news, Amazon finally started donating unused items to charity partners like Barnardo’s. Not just a win for workers but for the whole planet!
Fern lost her job after using £1.50 of her own tip money to buy lunch one day at work. She was told by her employers that she had stolen from them - and without proper regulations in place, she wasn’t able to stop her employer from laying claim to the tips she’d earned! So Fern took to Organise to ask if other hospitality workers had experienced the same.
She got hundreds of responses – and she used this energy to start a petition demanding that the government step in and finally make tip theft illegal.
The petition gained over 40,000 signatures and media attention, so Fern started an Organise action asking campaign supporters to email their MP about the issue. All those emails pushed MPs to bring the problem of tip theft to Parliament - which ultimately led to the government passing a bill that makes it illegal for employers to keep workers’ tips. Result!
A worker in a small UK charity was struggling with unattainable targets, chaotic processes, and an intimidating work culture – all stemming from the CEO at the top. They wanted to find out if their colleagues felt the same, so they used Organise to survey their coworkers anonymously.
They got 18 responses – that’s a good proportion of the staff in this tiny organisation – and the results were explosive.
With Organise staff support to stay anonymous, the worker presented these survey findings to the charity’s board of directors, who immediately opened a formal inquiry into workplace culture. Within a few months the CEO had stepped down. It just goes to show you don’t necessarily need quantity when it comes to winning a campaign.
After the Queen passed away, Lush workers took to Organise to ask their coworkers and customers if they thought Lush should close on the day of the Queen’s funeral. Over 16,000 voted in the poll and Lush’s Head Office were quick to respond, closing all stores and warehouses to allow staff an extra bank holiday.
As a pensioner living with long Covid, one Organise member had enough of struggling during the cost of living crisis. They started a petition demanding that the government increase the State Pension in line with inflation and reinstate the triple lock - and thousands of us rallied in support.
Pensioners across the country shared their experiences of having to choose between heating and eating, and the press quickly picked up the story. A member-led poll found that a shocking 15% of pensioners were spending over 45% of their pensions on fuel bills.
With over 40,000 of us putting the pressure on the government, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt finally announced that the government would increase the state pension in line with inflation - the biggest increase in history. Alongside this incredible boost to the pockets of pensioners, we won a commitment to the triple lock, proving that people power really does work.
From winning fair wages to obtaining fair and sustainable business practices, Organise members are at the forefront of transformative change at work (and in retirement, too). These victories highlight how important – and effective! – it is for people to come together to create a better deal for workers.
What change do you want to see at work? Take action today in just a few simple steps with Organise.
Roxy dives in to help Organise members start and win their campaigns. She can help you plan your tactics and build your confidence.
