The social work voice: How could unions strengthen practice?

Abstract

Social workers have many different demands placed upon them daily. From a necessity to consistently engage in professional development and reflection through to the requirement to challenge social injustice and strive for social change, much is made of our ethical respon- sibilities and practice standards. This is as it should be due to the complex and demanding nature of our work. Yet far less is said about how social workers can effectively meet these strong commitments and who can support us to do so. The question of who ‘advocates for the advocates’ remains side-lined in the continuing development of our profession. This article examines unionism and how it may provide the support and advocacy needed to progress some of the long-standing issues faced by the social work community, as well as some of the key obstacles to this. In addition, an overview of the Social Workers Action Network (SWAN) within the Public Service Association (PSA) is provided to examine how these conceptual dilemmas are being dealt with in practice.