Equal Opportunities Independent Review

Section 4

POSTAL SURVEY OF CWU BRANCHES

Although there was a relatively short time to carry out this study one of the initiatives that we took was to carry out a postal survey of branches within the CWU in order to obtain some basic information on the equality issues that we were looking at.

The response rate to the survey was just short of 50% and this is sufficient to make statistically sound conclusions that means that the results provide a strong indication of trends. The only bias that might occur is that it is likely that those not responding will have probably done less on equality issues than those who have responded. Hence the survey results may show a slightly more positive and pro-active picture of action taken on equality in the CWU than may actually be the case. However, the general picture that emerges remains valid.

The results of the survey are included in the remainder of the report with the relevant parts of the survey forming part of the review of the various identified subject areas. One overall point that should be made is that while the response rate for this survey was reasonable for this type of postal survey (just under 50%); this was identified as a priority issue by the action and a considerable amount of effort was expended in chasing up replies. However, more than half of the CWU branches still failed to fill in what was a very short and straightforward questionnaire. This does show, as with the relatively low turn out at some of the regional meetings arranged to explore equality issues, that the issues of equality is seen as a low priority by many branches in the CWU. This is a cause of some concern.