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UNISON - NHS Professional Organisations Branch

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Giving a voice to the branch

The Basics

It is not the website’s intention to present a massive raft of information on trade union history or current health campaigns as all of this is readily available on the TUC and UNISON websites. Our aim is to provide branch members with core terminology and key information about how the union functions at the workplace level.

What do you mean by....?

The branch:
While the union actively campaigns and provides key resources at a national and regional level, most people will only deal directly with the union at the workplace or branch level. The branch is composed of all UNISON members within a defined patch (organisation or group of organisations).

Your branch brings you together with other employees who face common issues in the workplace. Branches enable you to get support from the union, work with your colleagues and make your views felt in UNISON.

Workplace representatives are the core of the branch and, without them, there would be no union to support you at work and negotiate for a better deal.

Branch officers:
The branch holds regular meetings and is run by a committee consisting of members elected to take on different roles. The committee are referred to as branch officers and are elected by the members each year at the branch annual general meeting (AGM). Within the committee, key roles include those of Chair, Branch Secretary and Treasurer.

Page last updated: 21 February 2020

Branch representatives:
Representatives are members that are elected by their UNISON colleagues to act as a local contact on UNISON matters. There are four types of representative within UNISON:

  • Steward: who organises, recruits and represents members
  • Health & Safety representative: who raises issues which affect the health and safety of members
  • Union Learning representative: who is an enthusiast and advocate for learning in their own workplace
  • Workplace contact: who distributes information or supports a steward

Training for UNISON representatives

Formal training is provided by UNISON for those members wishing to become stewards, health & safety reps, and union learning reps. For stewards, this involves a 5-day course provided either in two parts (3-days and 2-days) or running on a given day over five weeks.

Further information on training for:

  •  stewards ,
  •  health & safety reps , and
  •  union learning reps 
is available through the individual links above.

Remember: all representatives are volunteers and continue to pay their subscriptions like all other members. Any member can put her/himself forward as a representative and the branch would always welcome a member who wished to find out a little more about representation. Once elected, stewards are given the opportunity (and time off) for all appropriate training.

Join today if you're not a member!

You can approach one of the stewards listed here or on your organisation's intranet page. Alternatively, please see UNISON's website to join on-line and receive an immediate membership number.

UNISON - NHS Professional Organisations Branch

Understanding how the union works