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Mike Wilson, branch secretary, Erewash

USEFUL INFORMATION

Local agreements may include dedicated facility time set aside for some union reps or lay officers to carry out union activities ­ this is usually what is meant by facility time or paid release.

But while employers must pay a union rep for trade union duties they do not have to pay for time off for trade union "activities", such as some workplace meetings. This is known as “reasonable time off”.

Survey of UNISON reps 2002 (stock no 2067)
The characteristics, role and activities of UNISON stewards, as depicted by the 2001 UNISON Representatives Survey.
Link to a document on this siteAcrobat PDF version

Stewards Handbook (stock no 1055)
The handbook is intended to be a key resource for dealing with all workplace issues. It covers organisation and recruitment, dealing with members’ problems, working with the employer, health and safety, and stewards rights, as well as providing general information about UNISON.
Link to a document on this siteAcrobat PDF version (note: 900k)

Workplace organisation and the UNISON workplace representative (stock no 1951)
A4, full colour, 12 page booklet. This booklet is aimed at stewards, work place representatives and members who may want to take a more active role in the branch, building workplace organisation and legal right for time
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Union stewards and activists work many hours a week on their members' behalf, and often in their own time. Kieran Wyatt speaks to a number of reps about their facility time arrangements – or lack of them

Juggling your time

Most stewards and workplace reps would agree that there aren’t enough hours in the day.

And the fact that nearly a quarter of stewards receive no facility time at all from their employers was one of the major revelations to emerge from last year’s stewards’ survey.

Link to a document on this siteDownload the Stewards Survey in PDF format

The survey highlights the plight of stewards without facility time and the need to help them urgently.

It also goes a long way to explaining why many members are reluctant to become stewards if they have to do all the work in their own time.

Following up on the survey, we've spoken to a number of stewards around the country about facility time, also called paid release. Some of them had very good arrangements with their employers: others got no time off at all.

Fred Davies is a planning officer in Wychavon district council. He has an informal agreement where he gets half a day a week to meet management and the UNISON regional officer. It is hard to get more time as the employers point to the fact of a small workplace with only 130 members.

“I’ve been a steward for five years but will be giving it up this year,” said Mr Davies.

“It’s just too much and I can’t do what I would like to be doing. What I find is that when I get back to my own work, it’s still there and piling up.

“I only have time to be reactive rather than proactive and I can’t do the post justice. I’d need one and a half to two days to do the job effectively but the employers just award ‘reasonable time off’ rather than proper paid release.”

Mr Davies says that big one-off projects ­ such as job evaluations ­ need additional time.

“We need greater availability of full-time UNISON officials but they’re under great pressure too. Our regional officer, Carol Edwards, is great ­ but she covers many districts and I only get to see her every month or so.

“But full-time officers help keep managers on their toes and they certainly react differently when a regional officer is present!”

Unions together
In contrast, Maureen Braid, the branch secretary at Tayside police support branch, gets 50% facility time, with full coverage of her substantive post. She has been branch secretary for five years representing about 290 members in a force of 1,800.

Maureen explains that working with other unions has helped her secure proper time off.

“Until last year, it was an unofficial agreement with the employers that I got 50% facility time,” she says. “But we negotiated with them to get it down in black and white. There are two full-time Police Federation reps here, so we were able to argue that UNISON should have representation too. Management came round eventually.”

About 80% of her time is taken up with grievances, although she “doesn’t think twice about bringing in legal help if the case is complex.”

UNISON head of organising and recruitment Allan Kerr says it isn’t surprising to find grievances form a large part of stewards’ work.

“Grievances are better dealt with by stewards than regional organisers,” he says. “They know the parties involved, are familiar with the context in which the grievance arose and are best placed to know what resolution is likely to be acceptable to the parties.”

Ms Braid admits her branch is quite “lucky” in the amount of facility time it has. “We have a fully resourced office too ­ separate from my work station ­ and the employers are flexible with my time. Sometimes I might need only two days in the week, other times I might need three. It’s all about give and take.”

Radical difference
The secretary of Falkirk council branch is Gray Allan (above, right), a library worker in the town library which has 22 staff. He gets 50% paid time ­ 17.5 hours per week ­ thanks to a detailed facility agreement with Falkirk council which covers named activists only.

At present, though, he has a temporary increase of an extra 50% due to additional work caused by Single Status ­ so he is working full time on paid release.

But even so, says Mr Allan, it is not enough. “I still have to take work home. But as you can’t get more than 100%, the answer is more activists.”

Paid release, he says, makes a “radical” difference: “I am able to plan ahead and prepare more effectively for meetings, for example, instead of doing everything on the run or at the last minute.”

Like Ms Braid, most of Mr Allan’s time is taken up with members’ problems but employers will have issues they want or need UNISON to be involved in. His advice is simple:

“Make sure that you do not fall in with their priorities. Do UNISON work first.

“Never have time for employers’ issues ­ when they moan, point out if they gave you facility time you would be better able to address their issues.”

Mr Allan says that mentors ­ someone on hand to give advice and answer questions ­ always help.

Alan Kerr concurs, saying “as part of their branch development plans, branches should be looking at how to introduce mentoring schemes.

“They can get advice and assistance to set them up from their regional organiser.”

More shadowing of experienced stewards is something Ian Clay ­ joint branch secretary and health and safety officer at UNISON Chesterfield council branch ­ would welcome.

“Paid release gives me dedicated union time which is important because most of my time is taken up with representation work,” he adds.

Be persistent
The time that Mike Wilson (above, left), branch secretary of Erewash UNISON, receives is probably typical of many stewards. He gets two hours branch office time and as much as is needed for individual casework as a steward, plus occasional attendance at meetings with senior management where he is representing the branch.

Unsurprisingly, he says it’s “nowhere near enough”, adding: “We have poor release arrangements.”

He points out that the branch has “only recently been assigned a branch office and PC, after much negotiation and nagging.”

But the benefits of facility time are legion, he says.

“Paid release allows me to take time away from my full-time council job and address the running of the branch in a way that hasn’t been possible before. “I no longer have to interrupt my planned work schedule or disturb my colleagues with ‘telephone negotiations’ ­ at least not often.”

Mr Wilson says stewards who don’t get good facility time agreements need to be persistent.

“Say to them this: If you don’t give me facility time, I’m going to have to keep on disrupting my work and annoying my colleagues by dealing with issues at my desk as they arise.“I’m going to be firefighting all the time instead of organising.

“Give me an office and time enough to use it so I can plan my day and let everyone know when to contact me. Then I can do my day job, and my colleagues can get on with theirs too.

“And I can use the assigned facility time to co-ordinate the efforts of the branch, to delegate tasks and improve communication.

“Then the union can do what it needs to do. We’ll have better industrial relations, and my boss will be happier because he knows when I’m available for him, and when I’m not.”

He says the tactic worked eventually at Erewash and is slowly starting to pay dividends. Managers have to accept that, by recognising trade unions, the council allows some of its resources to be diverted to the unions.

“It’s a trade off that too few of our managers and councillors seem to understand,” he muses.

“But it’s a point that we at the branch are labouring. We are seeking the comprehensive rewriting of our existing facility time agreement.”

Email the article's author Kieran Wyatt

Gray Allan, library worker, Falkirk

KNOW WHAT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO

Time off: Essential for recruitment and organising, union democracy, a real say in employment issues, strong local bargaining and training stewards.

Recognition: You have some rights to time off when you are an official or member of a recognised trade union or if a trade union is recognised by an employer to any extent for the purposes of collective bargaining.

Your rights: As a steward or branch officer you need and have some rights to paid time off for trade union duties, for training and for union activities.
Your rights come from the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act (1992). Conciliation service ACAS can give practical guidance on time off and a basic guide can be found at Link to an external websitewww.acas.org.uk/q_a/q_a10.html#3

Duties: There is a distinction between duties and activities Duties include negotiations on terms and conditions of employment; recruitment, staffing, redundancy and dismissal; allocation of work or the duties of employers; disciplinary matters; trade union membership or non-membership; facilities for officials or trade unions; arrangements for negotiation or consultation.

Unpaid time off: All members of trade unions are entitled to claim reasonable time off without pay to participate in union activities, except industrial action.
These activities could include attending workplace meetings to discuss or vote on negotiations with employers, meeting full-time officials to discuss issues relevant to the workplace, voting in union elections, meetings of official policy making bodies,such as the NEC or annual conference.

Training: Union reps have the right to paid time off for training relevant to their duties at the workplace. To qualify for paid time off, the TUC or UNISON must approve the training.

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