As one of the largest trade-unions in Britain and Ireland, representing hundreds of thousands of members across the public and private sectors, GMB is committed to providing the best education programmes for our reps and activists: ensuring that our members’ interests are at the forefront of the union’s campaigns, negotiations, and actions.
Our Education Programme covers a range of topics vital for tackling issues in the workplace and in society more broadly. From coaching and development programmes for organisers to better support our reps, to tackling sexual exploitation and the rise of the far-right: GMB’s Education Team not only equip reps with the skills they need to represent members in the workplace, but also tackle the issues outside of the workplace that are constantly seeping in. Our education programme is designed to uphold our union’s purpose and vision, and to fulfil our aims and objectives, as follows:
To improve working conditions; to develop workplace leaders; to fight for workplace power and industrial democracy; and to promote equality within the union for our members. In short: To MAKE WORK BETTER.
GMB stands with all workers who face discrimination, supporting and campaigning with members on the issues that they themselves have identified. As set out in our Union’s Rulebook, GMB is committed ‘to ensure equal opportunities within the Union, the workplace, and wider society; and to end harassment, prejudice and discrimination at work on the grounds of gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, nationality, religious beliefs, disability, age, marital status, sexuality, or social class.’
Our union is committed to upholding and advancing equality within our organisation, the workplace, and our society. From the grassroots up, starting with our rank-and-file Branch Equality Officers, GMB’S National Equality Department, Women’s Campaign Unit, and National Race Organiser coordinate campaigns to support members facing discrimination (and often hidden forms of exploitation) in workplaces.
As Eleanor Marx, who taught our founder Will Thorne to read and write, said: ‘Education is the weapon of the working class; with it, the mind that is trained can resist exploitation and demand justice.’ Our Education programme is not only designed for acquiring skills and knowledge, its purpose is also to create an understanding of the world around us so that we can leave it better than we found it.
