Created by the union for Unite members to communicate with fellow members a key feature of the site is the online virtual telephone bank – similar to that of the Labour Party’s but targeted solely at Unite members – along with news stories, events, constituency information and other resources.
The virtual phone bank lets Unite members speak to fellow members in their homes or on their mobiles to urge them to vote Labour when the election comes, but equally importantly, enables us to contact them now to find out their key concerns and voting intentions. The phone bank has already proved how valuable a resource it is, being used to good effect in the Glasgow North East by-election, where the union turned out a considerable number of Unite members to vote Labour simply by speaking to them direct.
The phone bank system is highly effective and targeted as it concentrates on Unite members and is designed to be part of mobilising our core vote and with large numbers of members in all the Labour key seats. The Glasgow North East by-election success shows the importance of Unite’s virtual phone banks in determining this year’s election outcome and the future of the country.
Unite is stepping up our campaigning to back Labour at this election because we know that it is only Labour which has the right approach to the future by investing to secure jobs and skills, support businesses and keep people in their homes. It is the Tories who threaten all this with their talk of austerity and deep cuts. It was the Tories who opposed all the measures taken by Labour to tackle the recession.
Our direct communications have shown that Unite members are consistent in saying that job security is their number one issue. The Tories’ deep spending cuts will mean a million public sector jobs will go and tens of thousands in the private sector. We are getting the message to our members that this election really is a choice between Labour and the Tories not a referendum on Labour.
Unite members can get involved with the campaign today by registering their details at www.unite4labour.org. It’s simple, just click on register, enter your email address and Unite membership number together with the password of your choice and you’re in. For any help with registration, members can contact the union’s phone bank co-ordinator Andrew Brady at [email protected]
We will be holding regular call4action days with the next one coming up tomorrow, Thursday 25 February. If you are a Unite member please sign up without delay and remember that just two calls a day can keep the Tories away!
You can also keep up to date with the campaign and call4action days by following us on twitter http://twitter.com/Unite4Labour