Dear RSA management and board,
As a collective of fellows at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), we are writing to you to express our profound disappointment, and concern, to read this weekend in the Observer that efforts are being made to suppress the unionisation of staff at the RSA.
In 2020, the RSA launched a report called ‘A blueprint for good work’. In this report, alongside a set of excellent progressive recommendations to create “good work”, the author outlines the below:
“The central aim of our new social contract is a transfer of responsibility away from individuals: we believe individuals should enjoy good work as a right and that it is the responsibility of all the other institutions involved in work to help them secure the five good work principles. In the long run, we believe the lion’s share of this responsibility should move towards worker voice organisations, principally trade unions.”
It is therefore disheartening to read that the chief executive of the RSA, Andy Haldane, has directly contrasted one of the recommendations of the RSA’s report on “good work”, by not agreeing to recognise the IWGB as a workplace union for staff.
As the report states, ensuring “good work” as a right is the responsibility of institutions involved in work, which we are sure Mr Haldane both endorses and believes himself. Trade unions are not the enemy in the workplace, they are a vital part of ensuring positive workplace relations between staff and management. When properly supported, trade unions are a force for good - please do not fall into the damaging rhetoric that workers organising for their rights are an antagonistic group to be quashed.
As a group of fellows at the RSA, we are therefore urgently asking you to move beyond the conflicts and tensions outlined in the Observer article, and immediately re-initiate a positive process towards voluntary recognition of staff’s preferred workplace union, and a collective bargaining agreement with IWGB members at the RSA.
Part of the requirements of fellowship is, as stated by the RSA, believing in a different future, where our aspirations are not limited to doing less harm but are supercharged by the desire to do more good.
As stated by the RSA, individuals should enjoy good work as a right. We hope that Mr Haldane recognises that stopping attempts to unionise is harming his staff, and by default, the experience of fellows who are supported by RSA staff in all of our endeavours.
With best wishes,
Fellows of the RSA
Nairn McDonald RSA
Dr Simon Ruding
Riley Thorold
Gary Rae
Daniel Lowe
Kristy Diaz
Allen Chester
Neil Barker
Francesca Treadaway
Benedict Dellot
Iain MacLaren
Alex Barker
Anthony de Sigley
Fran Landreth Strong
Christine Megson
Joanna Wilde
Noga Levy-Rapoport
Daniel Oliver
Jim Thomas
Anna Dent
Tim Whitaker
Anna Ambrose
Rich Mason
Ella Firebrace
Viana Maya
George Davey Smith
Farheen Khan
Michelle Cook
Bob Jeffery
Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC
Adam Wagner
Nick Barlow
Yusuf Solley
Lucy Holmes
Mark Robinson
Tom Levitt
Frances Leach
Dean Samways
Rob Greenland
Louise Drake
Karishma Rafferty
Rich Pickford
Jessica White
Todd Hannula
Chris Lintott
Lisa Peter
Thomas Jeram-West
Tony Greenham
Annabelle Newton-Taylor
Ruth Kennedy
Nigel Thorne
Sophie Gwynne
Rick Hall
Robert Andrew Greenberg
Tom Tobia
James Gough
Bernard Mohr
Rhiannon-Jane Raftery
David Morgan
Kat Calvin
Ross Henbest
Frances Eluned Parry
Nicole Brown
Emily Dunford
Hazel Dixon
John Pettigrew
Alan Benson
Dr Hannah Barham-Brown
Elodie Rousselot
Timothy Leyshon
Davina Burgess
Imani Clough-Brown
Luke Billingham
Paul W Fleming
Chris Passey
Alan Lockey
Steve Gregsob
Kieran Brown
Dominic Francis Pinto
Prof. Dr. Evone Botros
Sam Lanyon
Katharine Sacks-Jones
Dominic Atkinson
Jon Burke FRSA CEnv
Keith Horsfall
Dan Phillips
Ray Georgeson
John Kolm-Murray
Alice Bell
Tegid Roberts
Ruth Hannan
Michael Finn
Professor Simon Parker
Sam Juthank
Mike Webster
Tracey Morgan
Michelle Preston
Stephanie Hemelryk Donald
Kerri Farnsworth
Hannah Knox
Ali Ward
Dan Smith
Jackie Elliman
Samanthi Theminimulle
Timothy Mathews
James C Fisher
Volker Hirsch
Chris Grady
Roderick Mengham
Dr David Gillespie
Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas
Alison Critchley
Colin Newlyn
Dan Lockton
Catherine Goodall
Antony McMullen
Talia Hussain
Marianne Heaslip
Kate McAlpine
Helen Willmott
Toby Lowe
Raechel Kelly
Haidee Bell
Anne-Marie Crowther
Ian Burbidge
Anne Frances Harper
Eve Holt
Huw Spencer
John Fletcher
Richard John Bellringer
Dan Thompson
Nigel Meager
Andy Gibson
Amy Dalrymple
Toby Lowe
Dr. Rahmin Bender-Salazar
Jake Fraser
Alex Zur-Clark
Diana Coben
Boris Pomroy
Toby Lowe
Steve Brooks
Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas
Alexander Metcalfe
Jack Shaw
June Campbell
Davinia Batley
Wyn Griffiths
Davinia Batley
Cathy Sharp
Keith Jeffrey
Maureen Mackintosh
Brian Morgan
Charlie Hertzog Young
Damali Ibreck
Lee Mauve Patron
Hugh Foy
Gustavo Montes de Oca
Sarah Thirtle
Sevra Davis
Tim Crabtree
Claire Maxwell
Steve Coles
Peggy Manning
Stu Thomson
Efua Poku Amanfo
Paul Finnis
Courtney Savie Lawrence
Richard Hull
Chris Fox
Mark Blacklock
Dr Jon Rainford
Zoe Gilbertson
Anna Fielding
Mark Hall
Liz Pepler
Lesley Martin
Anj Handa
Clare Laxton
Amos Schonfield
Thom Kenrick
Jane Bryant
Graham Woodruff
Kate Hammer
Nat Hunter
Will Pearson
Steve Chambers
Maysam Rizvi
Dr Belinda Bell
Michael Toyer
Anna Fielding
Matthew Cock
Katharine Willis
Jonty Sharples
Eva Watkinson
Amahra Spence
Emmet McNamee
Dr Neil Herrington
Kate Swade
Davina Ripton
Stephen Clare
Stephen Hill
Maja Luna Jorgensen
Daniel Wain
Jennie Rawling
Tristan Hambleton
Tom Chance
Jillian Linton
Barbara Crowther
Madelyn Postman
Jonty Sharples
Petronella Tyson
Rachel Laurence
Chris Luffingham
Patricia Ann Stow
Simon Redding
Kyle Soo
Simon Rosser
victor schonfeld
Alexander Metcalfe
Bill Gibbon
Jacqui Fernie
Adrian Oldman
Helen Foster
Tom McCallum
Meredith Niles
Meredith Niles
Meredith Niles
Oonagh Murphy
Ann Longley
Mark Earls
Lord Knight
Katz Kiely
Abigail Campbell
Tina Ellen Lee
Darren Abrahams
Jeremy Haneman
Ann Longley
Jake Woodier
Paul Smyth
Jayne West
Jayne West
Val Potter
Dr Cecilia Wee
Adam Annand
Meredith Niles
Adrian Oldman
Sophie Cook
Maggie Cooper
Jason Hickel
Dan Phillips
Abigail Campbell
