Organiser jobs in London, greater london

Since LRU started campaigning for rent controls in 2024, we’ve secured the support of MPs, trade unions and charities, organised large demonstrations and pushed the issue of rising rents up the political agenda.

The purpose of this role is to work alongside members and other union staff to take our campaigning for rent controls to the next level through a combination of protests, local organising, coalition building and targeting of power holders, landlords and corporations. 

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 collective capacity

• Ensure meetings of the Campaigns Committee are effective and well run.
• Collaborate with the Campaigns Lead and the Collective Disputes Team to support collective disputes by private sector renters to resist rent rises.

• Inputting into staff decisions and LRU strategy discussions

• Taking part in team meetings

• Joining staff working groups when capacity allows

Building leadership

• Providing support to the Resist Rent Rises member team, including by responding to people who get in touch and motivating them to take action, and supporting members through the rent tribunal process, alongside other staff.

• Bringing wider union members into the campaign for rent controls, leading political education around rent controls, and building member leadership in the campaign. 

Building the power of the union

• Conduct regular outreach to London private sector renters experiencing rent rises, through outreach using the resist rent rises website, branch and weekly meetings, door knocking, stalls, and phone banking.
• Grow outreach on resisting rent rises through rent tribunals, in collaboration with branch members in branches and campaigns committee
• Work with members to capture stories and experiences of rent rises, and support renters to tell their stories of rent rises in a powerful way, working with the Resist Rent Rises team, Campaigns Lead, and Campaigns Committee
• Build protests, direct actions, and press coverage of resistance to rent rises, in group and individual cases
• Raise the relevance of rent controls in the press by collaborating with the Campaigns and Comms teams to share renter stories of rent rises

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

• Enthusiasm for the urgency of rent controls, perhaps through personal experience of unfair rent rises

• Willingness for, and ideally experience with, outreach to renters

• Experience of working with press/media for campaigns

• 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 London

• Speaking any of the following languages at an intermediate or advanced level – Bangla, Spanish, Arabic, Somali, French, Turkish, Tigrinya

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

Power to Prosper is a national community wealth building programme, delivered by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) in partnership with a network of community hubs across the UK. The programme works to build community-owned economic power and challenge racial and economic inequality.

Power to Prosper is in the process of becoming an independent organisation and is currently being incubated within the New Economics Foundation group. During this incubation period, contracts of employment will be offered on a fixed-term basis through NEF Consulting.

As lead organiser, you will lead the P2P Community Organising workstream, providing strategic direction and coordination across local hubs alongside the NEF Head of Organising. You will line manage two Senior Community Organisers, supporting their development and overseeing the wider P2P organising team. Working closely with colleagues across research, communications, programmes and operations, you will ensure community insight shapes the programme’s strategy and that the organising workstream is delivered effectively through strong coordination, resourcing and support.

Role: Lead organiser
Hours of work: 35hrs per week Monday – Friday
Salary: Starting from £53,000
Location: Hybrid — Flexible within the UK, however please consider that this role requires regular travel to the London Office and Hub locations
Contract type: Fixed term contract ending 30th September 2028

How to apply
Deadline for applications: 12pm Thursday 3rd September
Interviews: First stage interviews offered online on 15th September with second stage in-person interviews on 23rd September please ensure availability on both dates.

Start date: ASAP

To apply: Please send your CV and Covering letter (no longer than 2 pages) outlining how you meet the person specification in Word format.

Given the nature of the programme, we are looking for candidates who can demonstrate a clear commitment to racial equity and an understanding of how race intersects with economic inequality. In your cover letter, include specific examples of how you have applied an equity-focused approach in your work and how this experience would support your contribution to a programme focused on building community-owned economic power.

Please also complete the Equality and Diversity monitoring form.

• Job description
• Equality and diversity monitoring form

You must be eligible to work in the UK, as we are unable to sponsor visas.

Inclusivity at Power to Prosper and NEFC
Power to Prosper and NEFC want to be an inclusive workplace with a diverse body of staff. We don’t want to conform to the traditional think-tank model where people from certain backgrounds are hugely under-represented. We know we have some way to go in this and are therefore genuinely keen to receive applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic people; women; neurodivergent people; disabled people; people who identify as LGBT+; people with experience of mental health problems; and people who identify as working class or have done so in the past.

Accessibility and Equal Opportunity:
We value all candidates and are committed to equal opportunity. As a Disability Confident employer, we guarantee an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support you during the application process, or would like information in an alternative format, please let us know.

We actively promote positive action to advance fairness and tackle underrepresentation within our workforce.