UNISON Cymru Wales Winner, Linda David Communications Award: Alison Lloyd, Neath Port Talbot County
Meet the people recognised at UNISON’s recent Cymru Wales Awards 2019 night
Winner, Linda David Communications Award: Alison Lloyd, Neath Port Talbot County
Linda David was a very popular and respected branch and regional communications activist within Bridgend and University of South Wales branches and the regional communications forum. John Hughes, Linda’s husband, was present to witness the presentation of this newly established memorial award.
Alison has been described as a hitherto ‘unsung hero’ for transforming the way the Neath Port Talbot County branch campaigns and communicates with members and politicians and the wider community.
Her initiatives have improved recruitment and retention and significantly raised the profile of the branch in the press
Alison masterminded the development of a communications strategy taking the branch from one which sent out the occasional newsletter to one that produces an award-winning quarterly newsletter. She built the branch website from scratch and developed Twitter, Face Book platforms and access to the authority’s intranet system.
She set-up a number of successful online petitions using change.org and to the Welsh government. These have provided a template for campaigning other UNISON branches have been able to follow and helped develop how the branch organises in challenging outsourcing and cuts. Better communications mean members feel more included and supported.
The most eye-catching of Alison’s initiatives went viral and brought TV cameras to Neath. She arranged for a T-Rex ‘dinosaur’ to prowl outside the council civic centre advertising UNISON’s Save Services from Extinction event. UNISON’s message of fair funding for councils reached a much wider audience as a result.
Alison unfortunately couldn’t make the Award’s night and her award was collected in her absence by her branch secretary Jane Gebbie.
