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FDA at Fast Stream Basecamp 2025

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FDA National Officer for the Fast Stream Robert Eagleton, Assistant General Secretary Adrian Prandle, Fast Stream Organising Lead Nathan Brindle, and Co-Convenors Dan Marshall and Natasha Bloomfield at Base Camp 2025.

At the Fast Stream Basecamp in Birmingham, FDA reps welcomed new first year Fast Streamers, speaking to them about the union’s work and how to get involved.

Fast Stream Committee Co-Convenors Dan Marshall and Natasha Bloomfield held Meet the Union sessions at the recent Basecamp, providing attendees with information on the FDA’s work, including recent successes on Fast Stream pay, and discussing reasons to join the FDA.

Speaking from the event, Marshall discussed his reasons for getting involved with the FDA, saying:

“I joined the FDA on my first day as a Fast Streamer because I’ve always believed that being part of a trade union is really important, both for you as an individual, but also as part of a collective voice for the workers in that organisation.”

Marshall started out as a casework rep, going on the join the Fast Stream Committee as Regional Officer, and then being elected as Convenor, which he has been for the past year and a half, and describes as “an incredibly rewarding experience”.

“It’s fantastic to get to represent Fast Streamers and help improve the Fast Stream for those members, and also for the role that plays in the civil service more widely.

“Basecamp in particular is a great opportunity to speak to Fast Streamers right at the start of their civil service careers, and often their careers as a whole. We can introduce them to what the FDA is and what trade unions are all about, and talk to them about the opportunities that come from getting involved with the FDA. We’ve already had lots of people today keen to be caseworkers, organisers, and mentors through the Public Sector Development and Mentoring Scheme.”

FDA Fast Stream Committee Co-Convenors Dan Marshall and Natasha Bloomfield leading a Meet the Union session at Base Camp.

Nathan Brindle, who is an Organising Lead for the FDA in the Fast Stream, also gave his reasons for getting involved with the union, saying:

“Some people view joining a union as just insurance, and I understand that because it is there to back you up when you’re in a tough situation. But it’s a lot more than that as well. When I do things like this event, I get to talk to Fast Streamers from all over the scheme.

“As a caseworker dealing with a variety of cases that come in, I get to understand some of the struggles that people are going through on the Fast Stream, which can be really varied. It can be, ‘I don’t know how to read this policy’ to ‘I’m in the middle of a mental health crisis’. Knowing that just by volunteering a little bit of my time and being part of this union can help someone out in a bad situation, I find that very rewarding.”

Looking to the future, Brindle said:  

“As an Organising Lead, I’d like to do more regional events because I want people to know this is a union that represents the whole country, and all the regions, not just London.”

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Natasha Bloomfield, Co-Convenor on the Fast Stream Committee, reflected on what inspired her to become involved with the FDA, saying:

“I came to base camp last year and I listened to Dan and Honey, the previous Co-Conveners, give a talk about the FDA and they were really enthusiastic. That showed me that it was a really supportive network.

“There’s a lot of active work that’s gone on in the FDA for the Fast Stream in terms of pay negotiations and policy changes that just make me this feel extra infused, and it seemed like a nice community as well.”

Bloomfield said attending the Fast Stream Annual General Meeting was a great opportunity to meet people, and where she became interested in becoming a rep due to the opportunity it offered to help people, saying:

“I was strongly encouraged to go for a role in committee from other very enthusiastic committee members. I ended up going for the casework coordination role, and it was a really rewarding experience. Fast Stream Committee is a really nice network to be a part of in of, as everyone is really enthusiastic, has lots of ideas and works together… If you have an idea, it’s really easy to make it happen.”

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