Organiser (Brent or Newham)

We are recruiting two organisers - one in Brent, with a deadline of 1 September and one in Newham, wiht a deadline of 8 September.

About the roles

Since 2018, the LRU has grown its membership to over 7,000 renters across London.  Through our six branches, we support renters to take action to transform the housing system.  Organising in communities, the LRU runs training, facilitates peer support, takes collective action and campaigns on local issues, to grow our power.

The purpose of this role is to support the growth and collective leadership of our branch members in and around the Brent branch or the Newham branch. This work will support the union’s fundamental goal of transforming the housing system, in alignment with our values and strategy agreements. The work will include recruiting and activating new members, and facilitating leadership from a broad base of renters, with a particular emphasis on working with those who face the worst impacts of the housing crisis. 

How we work at LRU

You will be part of the LRU staff team alongside 15 other staff, who work with members to build the power of the union by organising, campaigning, training and facilitating peer support and member solidarity actions.  We expect staff to uphold the union's values, and work together to implement collectively agreed strategies.  Each staff member has a line manager, and the staff team are accountable to the elected member Coordinating Group, and to each other.

Key decisions are held by branch and elected member Coordinating Group, with staff inputting into and facilitating these decisions.

Job description 

This role is varied, and can look different month-to-month.  This job description outlines some activities that you will be doing every month, and some activities that you will only do from time-to-time.

Building the power of the union

• Organising with a branch to identify and build a base building campaign or bigger dispute on an issue that aligns with our strategy, moves renters to action and builds the base of the branch, particularly among renters facing precarity and oppression. This includes supporting a branch to develop their organising plan, building teams, facilitating meetings, research, outreach, social media, action planning or anything else that helps build an effective campaign. Normally an organiser would only work on one main project or campaign within a branch.
• Providing support to members to set up and run teams, organise actions and make sure branch meetings and weekly meetings are welcoming and effective. Setting up teams or meeting structures might be the main project that an organiser works on before moving on to working on a bigger campaign.
• Recruiting and activating members. This includes carrying out regular outreach sessions with members and making weekly calls to follow up with new contacts. As much as possible, this will be linked to a branch’s main campaign and/or the union’s strategic priorities. 
• Participating in cross-staff regular outreach and calls sessions.  This can include weekly organiser call sessions, outreach sessions in other branches, and facilitating welcome calls.
• Supporting the branch to link its activity to the broader democratic structures of the union, including cross-union strategy, trainings and working groups, and upholding LRU values and agreements. 

Building leadership

• Building the skills and leadership of member organisers by having ongoing coaching 1:1s with 3-5 role holders and member leaders in the branch to support them to lead the branch, run teams and support others to become organisers. It will also occasionally include working with other staff to prepare and run skills training for members.  
• Having organising conversations with members who face housing precarity or oppression to support them to get more involved in the teams in the branch.
• Making sure the database is kept up to date, including tracking engagement and recording call outcomes, and supporting members to use it.
• Responding to requests for support via the website. 

Building collective capacity

• Supporting members to develop, participate and mobilise as part of cross-union campaigns, to tell their stories and take part in communications work.
• Taking part in team meetings and participating in the staff Organising Team. 
• Joining staff working groups when capacity allows.
• Supporting democratic processes.
• Fostering collaboration between branches.
• Inputting into staff decisions and LRU strategy discussions.

Person specification

Essential 

• Strong interpersonal skills, and the ability build deep, trusting relationships across difference, and including people in distress
• Experience of recruiting and activating people through outreach activities (door-knocking, and street stalls) and 121 organising conversations
• Ability to empower and motivate our members to take action
• Experience of organising workplace or community-based disputes or campaigns, or collective fighting on material issues
• Self-motivated with the ability to prioritise tasks, work to deadlines, both independently and in a team
• Good written communication skills, from experience of different types of writing
• Experience of facilitating meetings or group activities, across differences
• Basic understanding of the housing system
• Ability to learn and use both legal and practical solutions to a variety of housing issues.
• Ability to hold yourself, and support those you’re organising with, when doing difficult work
• Experience of using digital databases for organising
• Committed to, and able to uphold LRU values and agreed strategies

Desirable 

• Good working knowledge of housing law
• Experience of developing campaigns
• Experience of coaching members or other staff
• Experience of developing and delivering training
• Good knowledge of the organising/social landscape in Brent or Newham
• Speaking any of the following languages at an intermediate or advanced level - Arabic, Somali, Portuguese