The Branch is run by a committee which consists of members elected to take on different roles. These range from being a Steward, Health & Safety Rep, Equality Officer, Education Officer, Treasurer or Branch Secretary.

Members can be come directly involved in the University of Southampton UNISON Branch by becoming a work place representative.

The UNISON workplace representative is the most important link between the union and its members. Workplace representatives play a number of roles.

• They are organisers who talk to, recruit and organise members around workplace issues, hold meetings, undertake surveys and help run ballots.
• They give members information about union issues by publicising UNISON campaigns, distributing leaflets and keeping members informed about and involved in local negotiations.
• They are advisers and sounding boards, talking to members about workplace problems and - if they feel confident - giving advice on how to deal with these.
• Alternatively, they may arrange for the member to get advice or assistance from elsewhere in the union, or work with them to obtain the information they need.
• They are representatives and spokespersons for members in their workplace.
• Where they feel confident and have received appropriate training, they accompany members in meetings and assist them in raising problems with managers before these get out of hand.
• Otherwise they seek advice and support from other union representatives. They also have an important role in ensuring that the views of the members within the workplace are represented to the wider union.

They are the workplace representative in UNISON - an essential part of a large and powerful national organisation.

All workplace representatives and members belong to a local UNISON branch, which is their main source of advice and support. In turn, branches belong to one of UNISON's regions which integrate with the national structure.

This way UNISON provides strong and effective organisation for all our members and their representatives.

Click the links below to find out more about the types of Work Place Representatives UNISON and how to become involved in the University of Southampton UNISON Branch.

• The UNISON Steward 
• The UNISON Health & Safety Representative 
• The UNISON Learning Rep 
• The UNISON Work Place Contact 

Work place representitives can also become Branch Officers. Click the link for a list of current Branch Officers and vacant positions. Click the link to find out why some of our members became UNISON representatives.