EC Meeting Papers January 2019

Occupational profile

This occupation is found in… Trade Unions, Staff Associations and Professional/Trade Associations covering a very wide range of industries

The broad purpose of the occupation is... to develop and deliver union organising activity and campaigns that will recruit and retain union members and activists, ensure union members are represented in their workplaces and deliver improvements for members at work. For many employers, the ultimate aim of the Trade Union Official is to achieve self sustaining unionised workplaces with effective lay member structures in place so that members and their elected representitives in the workplace manage their own affairs. The occupation, therefore, involves a mixture of directly delivering a range of services whiles also training, supporting and motivating volunteer lay trade union activists to do the same ensuring that union activity is in line with overall union policy. The balance between directly delivering services and overseeing volunteers varies from employer to employer according to their operating model In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with… volunteer lay member activists, other union members, potential members, employers (often Human Resources and OPerations Managers but other roles too), other union staff (both from within their own employer and other trade unions), and representitives of other external bodies such as trade federations, national and local governments, political parties, Non-Government Organisations and other campaigning organisations, press and media. An employee in this occupation will be responsible for… implementing their employer's organising strategy covering a number of workplaces, employers or a geographical area. They would normally report to a more senior union official and/or a lay member executive. They may have responsibility for leading a team of local volunteer representitives. Work allocation and reporting structures vary; Trade Union Officials may for instance have lead responsibility for collective negotiations with employers or may represent an individual case up to Tribunal level. Typical job titles used for this occupation… Trade Union Offical.