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The CWU

The Communication Workers Union is the largest union specialising and focused on representing workers in the communication industries in the UK with almost 200,000 members. With approximately 3,500 of those members in the Great Western Branch.

The CWU was formed in January of 1995 when the Union of Communication Workers (UCW) joined forces with the National Communications Union (NCU) and merged.

The CWU represent members in multiple industries, all with links to communications, these include but are not limited to Postal, Telecoms, Mobile, Financial services, Technology, IT, etc.

The CWU has Postal branches as well as Telecoms & Financial Services (T&FS) branches.

The following companies are some of those which we have memberships in and are represented by our Telecoms & Financial Services branches. BT, EE, Virgin Media O2, ISS, CBRE, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Santander and Capita.

The CWU Postal branches represent our members in Royal Mail Group, UK Mail, DPD and Parcel force.

Our members work in a number of professional fields, including engineering, computing, clerical, mechanical, driving, retail, financial, call centre and manual.

The CWU’s statement of values

  • To provide first class collective and individual representation for all CWU members.
  • To achieve security of employment for all members.
  • To offer individual membership services of the highest quality.
  • To expand trade union membership throughout the communications industry.
  • To promote, by industrial and political means, the success of the industries in which our members work.
  • To campaign against all forms of discrimination.
  • To further these objectives by promoting the influence of the union throughout the national and international community.

The CWU also offer our members extra benefits, such as discounted gym membership, cheap cinema tickets, holiday packages and many more.

Strength in numbers

We are a campaigning union and work hard to get our voice – YOUR voice – heard on a variety of subjects such as fair pay, pensions, fair terms and conditions, health and safety, equal opportunities, and politics. The CWU are renowned for our well organised and implemented training of our Officers and Representatives. Our training, knowledge and structures give us a great advantage when representing our members. This is only second to our numbers especially when campaigning.

Our real strength is in our numbers, this is most relevant when it comes to collective bargaining and campaigning. The higher our membership numbers and percentages in a workforce for any company, increase our bargaining power.

This was most clearly demonstrated during our recent Industrial Action and subsequent win with BT & Openreach.

It is encouraged that every member should advise and encourage their collegues to the benefits of joining and becoming members. As a member we become an important part of the Union and also its strength.

Our strength comes from working and campaigning together. Please join us if you haven’t already or have a look through our current campaigns to find out more about the work we do to support our members.

 

We are affiliated to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Union Network International (UNI).

The structure of the union

The union’s first duty and responsibility is to protect and promote the interests of its members in the workplace. Reflecting a model democratic structure, every CWU member belongs to one of the union’s branches.

Each branch elects delegates to, and determines policies to be debated at, the Annual Conference which determines the policies of the union on both industrial and general issues. Between conferences, the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) is responsible for policy decisions. The NEC is elected every two years by individual postal ballot. Its division into five constituencies ensures that all industrial and occupational backgrounds have a voice. The constituencies are clerical, engineering, operates and ancillary, postal and postal technical services.

The NEC deals with all issues of a general nature, such as organisation, recruitment, finances and services. For occupational issues, it divides into two industrial executives, one for telecoms and financial services, and the other for postal issues. The union has a number of advisory committees, mainly consisting of ordinary branch members. These are to ensure that the needs of women, ethnic minorities, retired members, young people, LGBT+ and those with disabilities including neurodivergent are brought to the attention of the executive.

The union is also affiliated to the Trades Union Congress, the Scottish Trade Union Congress, the Wales TUC, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Labour Party, the Communications International and other organisations as determined by annual conference.