In conversation with Claire Rodgerson who works for charity Tyne and Wear Citizens UK.
What is your background/back story?
“I was born and raised in Sunderland but left at the age of 19 and I didn’t come back for quite a while. When I was growing up, as child of the post-industrial era, we only seemed to learn about the glorious past, not about what our future could be. My dad was a trade unionist, so I used to hear about organising for better working conditions in the shipyards but nothing from my wider world about how we might organise for a better future. Nothing about getting our voices heard, as working-class people in the North East.
“I saw inequalities in Sunderland, in Dewsbury where my grandad lived and when I went to see my family in India and became politicised – curious and angry about systemic inequality, yet never found a route to engage with and attempt to dismantle the structures that sustain this. I didn’t find party politics helpful to me to engage in, after seeing how New Labour let so many down.
“So, I left to try and find out how to understand and dismantle political and economic inequality. The next nine years took me to various places – university, protest movements, grass roots charities and international development – but, after ending up working in the UN system for a while, I decided to return home to try and connect policy recipients to policy makers in a more meaningful way, in a community where I had more legitimacy and which I love, the North East. This led me to become a community organiser.”
How long have you worked for Tyne and Wear Citizens UK?
“I’ve worked for Tyne and Wear Citizens, which is part of the national charity, Citizens UK, for five and a half years now, although I did take six months secondment to work back in the violence against women and girls’ sector, applying organising methods to a project seeking to improve policy responses to adult survivors of sexual exploitation.”
Who do Tyne and Wear Citizens UK work for?
“We do something called broad based organising. It is broad in two ways. Firstly – via our membership. Citizens UK have 500 organisations as members nationally and we have 35 in Tyne and Wear Citizens. These include churches, faith institutions, education organisations and trade unions.
“We bring people together in this way as, when seeking to tackle injustice, there are lots of people doing lots of wonderful things but often doing them separately. Organising seeks to enable civil society institutions to be greater than the sum of our parts, building our collective power to address social injustice. We organise in this way on the premise that we don’t have a crisis of good people, but we do have a crisis of power.
“We are also broad in the types of issues we work on. Members listen to each other find out what is putting pressure on people what concerns we share – also what we might do about them. They use democratic processes to determine, in a campaign cycle, what we work on and when – thinking about what’s worthwhile but also, where we have best chance of winning change. So, we campaign on broad range of issues including poverty, mental health, racism, hate crimes and environmental justice.”
Can you tell me about successes?
“Citizens UK is the home of the real living wage campaign and we have worked on this in Tyne and Wear since the chapter founded, in 2016. When we started there were 30 accredited Living Wage employers in the region – and now there are over 330.
“Tyne and Wear Citizens UK works with employers to encourage them to accredit as Living Wage employers, guaranteeing that their workers receive an hourly rate of pay that is based on the cost of living. When we started there were no accredited local authorities, no universities, and no football clubs – and we wanted to get anchor institutions on board. Now we have Sunderland and Newcastle Councils accredited, Newcastle University & the University of Sunderland and they’re all wanting to spread a culture of decent pay in their areas, via the creation of Living Wage Cities. We work with them and other employers in those in the cities which has led to thousands more people getting a pay rise.
“One of our aims as a charity is to develop the leadership of everyday people so that they can contribute to change. We’re really proud of the fact that at the forefront of these campaigns have been people who have benefitted from the real Living Wage.”
Can you tell me about your plans?
“This year is election year for 50% of the world’s population and people in the North East have the opportunity to be part of this.
“We are focusing on the North East Mayoral election and the general election later this year, with campaigns operating at both levels.
“We’re gearing up for Devolution with our Mayoral Assembly on 22 April, at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House, when our members will put specific policy questions to the candidates. Candidates will respond to asks on the cost-of-living crisis, education, and housing.
“We welcome people to come along and see what we’re about but attended should know that this is not a traditional husting as such. Our members have been working on developing their policy asks, based on our democratically elected priority campaigns. We’ll soon release a manifesto detailing the process and the asks. If people wish to find out more, please check our social media and website for updates.
“Our Assemblies are more like political theatre than a Hustings – if you’re intrigued – come along!
“We would love to see as many people there as possible, as we know how deeply that these injustices are experienced across our region.”
What other initiatives are you involved in, and which other organisations do you work with?
“The bulk of my time is spent with our member institutions. They own Tyne & Wear Citizens and as such, I serve them – supporting them to use organising methods to support their work, to work together across difference and create change together.
“We do, however, have partners across the region, who we work with to mutually strengthen our work for justice. One example of this is our Living Wage City work, in Sunderland and Newcastle.”
Why is the work of Tyne and Wear Citizens UK important?
“Many people in our communities really care and get angry about the injustices yet, through no fault of their own, have a sense of political economic disenfranchisement and alienation.
“Community organising is there to address this, to develop the leadership of us angry people, so we can work with others and become agents of change in their own communities. This is important because there are no superheroes or politicians coming to save us. We can – and should be – working with decision makers – but we can’t rely on them to deliver justice to us. That will only lead to more alienation.
“Our members are following in the proud tradition of North East organising. In Citizens UK, we say that those who don’t have a seat at the table are probably on the menu. Well, we’re supporting people to work together to build power and solidarity – to get that seat at the table. We teach our members how to build power and how to use it well when they get it. In Tyne and Wear Citizens UK, we work in our broad-based alliance to develop solidarity over shared injustice, where previously there may have been division, bringing people together to change our region for the better.”
What would be your vision of a better future for the people of Tyne and Wear and the country as a whole?
“My vision for a better future is one where people realise their power and can work with others to build reciprocation and solidarity, in order to create structural change. This includes people connecting with each other, finding out what we have in common while also celebrating differences – building solidarity not playing into the hands of divisive politics and media. Imagine how powerful that would be and what we could achieve!”
Tyne & Wear Citizens – North East Devolution: Mayoral Assembly is on Monday, April 22, from 6-8 pm at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House• 109-113 Westgate Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4AG GB.
For more information and to register please see here.
