West Midlands Region – Education Regional Organiser X1

About this job

The West Midlands Region has over 112,500 members working primarily in health, social care, education and the community & voluntary sectors. UNISON College offers activists and members free training spanning 90 topics over 200 sessions annually for personal and professional development. In addition UNISON contributes to strategic organisational and training initiatives across Health & Social Care and the statutory Education Sector.

The Role

Leadership Role

1. The Regional Organiser is the key generic organising role in the region, with responsibility for recruitment, retention and organisation of members. They act as a powerful advocate of organising and building branch and membership organisation, and the profile and reputation of UNISON in the branches and with employers. The Regional Organiser (Education):
   • leads on the development and delivery of the UNISON activist and member learning programme under the UNISON College brand, including
     • planning and ensuring the effective implementation of a programme that reflects the needs of members in fragmented workplaces,
     • working with the wider organising team to ensure that reps are followed up and supported in putting their learning into practice,
     • facilitating training and education in relation to the organising agenda or other relevant areas as appropriate with organisers and lay representatives,
     • delivering training as appropriate. This may include tutor briefings and staff development;

• provides leadership ensuring that branches, activists and members are aware of and act in line with UNISON rules and policies;
• supports, guides and develops branches and activists through major periods of change in the delivery of public services. Ensures union organisation, education and training and influence is maintained and developed through these periods and that training is flexibly delivered to meet the needs of activists in dispersed workplaces;
• promotes activist development across their area of responsibility. Persuades and mentors branch activists on how to establish an organising approach, identify suitable organising initiatives, evaluate the outcome of initiatives, design and adapt recruitment campaigns to build work place organisation, increase membership density, establish and work to membership targets;
• builds branch organisation and performance, identifies training and development needs of activists, adapts established courses to meet local needs and provides ongoing support through coaching and mentoring of stewards and branch officers;
• leads collective negotiations across the range of sectors which UNISON organises in at local, regional or national level, or in their area of special responsibility, in this case activist and member education, analysing complex data and presenting this in an accessible and persuasive fashion;
• represents members individually and collectively, assists branches to develop systems and processes for managing and undertaking their casework effectively.

The Regional Organiser (Education) work package

2. Regional Organisers provide leadership to a group of branches within a locality, service group or work area which in the case of Education will be region-wide to ensure that branches have the strongest possible workplace organisation.

3. UNISON structures its work programme to provide for the systematic implementation of policies adopted by its democratic lay member structures. Regional Organisers are responsible for implementing the work plans and programmes arising out of the four key objectives determined by the National Executive Council:

• Recruiting, organising and representing members.
• Negotiating and bargaining on behalf of members and promoting equality.
• Campaigning and promoting UNISON on behalf of members.
• Developing an efficient and effective union.

4. The Regional Organiser (Education) is a key deliverer of the operational plan for the region, which ensures that the resources for their areas of responsibility are directed towards the achievement of the NEC’s objectives and priorities. The plan identifies regional priorities and establishes progress or performance indicators to enable effective monitoring and evaluation of all work and achievements.
5. The key aims of the union as detailed in our Rule Book seek to:

• iii) Extend and promote our influence in the workplace and in the Community.
• iii) Promote, safeguard and facilitate participation by all members in the union’s democracy, with special regard to women, members of all grades, black members, disabled members and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members.
• iii) Provide effective standards of service in the areas of representation and advice, information to members on the work of the union, the provision of financial benefits and the maintenance of educational facilities for members.

6. To further these aims, Regional Organisers make a significant contribution to the political development of the region and implementation of national campaigning objectives. They regularly handle media and media relations connected with their areas of responsibility and have strong presentation and public speaking skills. They have a strong understanding and commitment to partnership working within an organisation, to the public service ethos and a keen membership focus. The Regional Organiser (Education) will in addition be expected to promote, cascade and deliver political education and learning activity which supports and builds campaigning skills.

7. Regional Organisers have considerable knowledge of an industrial relations environment and experience of representing individual or collective issues. They have strong advocacy skills.

8. UNISON regions are currently undergoing a period of major change to meet the union’s developing recruitment, organisation and campaigning agenda. Regional Organisers need to be committed to leading change and helping branches and lay activists to do likewise.

9. While the Regional Organiser (Education) post is a demanding position, requiring attendance at meetings outside of the conventional working day, UNISON is a strong supporter of the work/life balance ethos. Post holders will therefore prioritise their working arrangements in such a way as to demonstrate by example their personal commitment to these aims in partnership with senior regional lay officials.