The General Secretary of the Social Workers Union (SWU) – John McGowan and SWU Cymru Rep – Anna Collins, used a visit to Cardiff to urge social workers to take a stand about the issues which affect them.
Social Workers are urged to find out more about how the SWU Campaign Fund could help them raise awareness of issues which they see in their work and among the vulnerable people they support.
The Campaign Fund currently supports a range of activities from campaigning for more part-time social work roles through to improving bursaries for social work students in Scotland and England. Previously we campaigned for students in Wales: https://swu-union.org.uk/2022/07/swu-campaign-fund-update-student-led-campaign-increases-financial-support-for-social-work-students-in-wales
Campaigners working on the media code for reporting on social workers have also been busy meeting the media industry. Following support from the press regulator IMPRESS, SWU wrote to all editors of national newspapers to promote the guidance and has held meetings with the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) and the National Union of Journalists.
John McGowan commented:
“Our Campaign Fund is there for social workers to help get their voice heard. No matter how big or small the challenge, if social work professionals think that having a campaign will help address the challenges that they see every day, we are happy to receive applications for support from them.”
BASW Cymru Professional Officer Narinder Sidhu said:
“It was a productive day with SWU and we welcomed learning more about the campaigns and work streams that SWU have been involved in. Some of their campaigns such as the student bursaries campaign began in Wales and have now evolved across the nations. We were keen to hear about the SWU funded Austerity Action Group which continues to grow in momentum and is a prime example of social work activism at its best.
BASW Cymru will continue to strengthen our allyship with SWU in the best interest of our members. SWU offers social workers better protection, opportunities for member led initiatives/campaigns and free training too. BASW Cymru and SWU will continue to work collaboratively on our diversity and inclusion work and challenging oppression and marginalisation.
I would invite our members to check whether they are members of SWU who offer our practitioners a comprehensive union cover package at a low cost. I regularly have members contact me during crisis who realised they had not joined SWU at the time of joining BASW.
SWU and BASW Cymru encourage social workers and those who use services to take a stand about the issues which affect them and consider the SWU Campaign Fund. Social work is about communities and connection, if you have an idea on how you can make a positive change please get in touch.”
Simon Francis, founder member of Campaign Collective which has partnered with SWU to deliver the Campaign Fund, commented:
“We have now helped over eleven groups of social workers through the Fund, but there is room for more and we would urge social workers in Wales to get in touch.”