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About branch officers
General
The UNISON rule book requires that each branch shall elect, annually, the following core branch officers:
- branch chairperson
- branch secretary
- treasurer
- education co-ordinator
- lifelong learning co-ordinator
- equality officer(s)
- health and safety officer
- communications officer
- membership officer
- international officer
- young members' officer
- welfare officer
- Labour link officer (elected by Affiliated Political Fund (APO payers).
Branches are also entitled to elect other branch officers, to assist with the work of the branch, in accordance with the rules. For example, branches may wish to create branch officer posts to lead on recruitment, publicity, and / or social activities. Such positions may be directly elected or filled through a process of delegation and work-sharing within the branch committee. To support a sectional structure, branches may appoint 'senior' stewards or 'convenors' to lead organisation and bargaining at the level of each bargaining unit.
Each branch officer post may be shared between two or more members, subject to the approval of the branch. Branches are required to give serious consideration to making use of this facility, as an effective means of sharing the workload and involving more members in the work of the branch.
All of the above branch officer posts will be elected annually by individual ballot of members, at or in advance of the annual branch meeting. The election process must be detailed within branch rules.
In either case, all members of the branch should receive an invitation to nominate and notice of the election in time to participate fully.
Any member of the branch who has been a member for at least 13 weeks and is not in arrears with their subscriptions is entitled to be nominated for election to any of the branch offices. Any nomination must be supported by at least two members of the branch.
Retired members as branch officers
The retired members in the branch have the right to elect a retired members' secretary annually. The secretary may attend and speak at normal meetings of the branch committee, and can vote on any issue other than those which are concerned with the pay and conditions of work.
It is important that UNISON remains a vibrant union by encouraging new members to become active in all aspects of the union - bringing a fresh perspective and approach. UNISON rule prohibits retired members for standing for office other than in exceptional circumstances, and so officers who retire from work are expected to stand down immediately.
At the same time it is recognised that retired members take with them a great deal of valuable experience, and sometimes have time that to assist the branch in other ways - for example as recruiters or helping with administrative tasks. Members taking early retirement on grounds of disability may wish to continue to make a valuable contribution within a branch or regional disabled members group, as a member of the National Disabled Members' Committee or as a delegate to the National Disabled Members' Conference.
Where a branch has a special reason why a particular retired member might be allowed to stand for office, or continue in office following retirement, reference should be made to the Protocol on retired members seeking permission from the National Executive Committee to hold office.
Where a disabled member wishes to remain active following retirement within disabled members' self-organisation (as described above), the member may make application to do so by reference to the Protocol on 'early retired' disabled members applying to the NEC under rule C2.6.2 - UNISON Rules 2006 (pdf file opens in new window).
In all cases, where branch officers are nearing retirement, the branch committee should consider 'succession planning' - what can be done to identify and encourage individuals to come forward and stand for election, to assist their development needs, and to ensure a managed handover of responsibilities from the outgoing branch officer to the new.
Functions of branch officers
A number of functions are defined within the rule book (opens in new window) as the responsibility of specific branch officers. However, these tend to be general statements covering overall responsibility for the proper running of the branch, each of which entails a large number of tasks.
In order that branches may make best use of the rule enabling branch officer posts to be shared, responsibilities of the core branch officer posts have been detailed (see links above). Responsibility for a task does not necessarily mean doing the task. All branch officer posts can be split into a number of tasks and functions that can be shared by more than one person.
It is important that branch committees evaluate the time demands on each post and seek to negotiate adequate facility time with the employer to allow the bulk of trades union duties to be carried out in paid time and at no loss to the officer.
Branch committees may also wish to distinguish between those tasks and responsibilities that must be underpinned by elective authority, and those which do not and which could be delegated to branch employed staff or volunteers.
Most of the members who have become active within UNISON started by doing a little. Branches should seek out and encourage members who are prepared to contribute to UNISON in any way at all. Some will go on to become stewards, safety representatives or branch officers but everyone that helps makes a significant contribution to developing UNISON as a dynamic, vibrant trade union.