It’s all about the data

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock you’ll have heard about the new data laws – here’s what UNISON is doing

As you’ll undoubtedly know from your inbox, from 25 May the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is in effect.

The law gives individuals more choice and control over how their data is used.

The regulation also brings in stricter duties, which all organisations must follow. At UNISON, we are committed to keeping your data secure and to not using it in ways you wouldn’t expect. This includes:

  • being open and honest about how we use your personal data – You can see how in our updated privacy policy;
  • making it simple and straight forward for you to access the data we hold on you;
  • keeping your data secure and acting quickly if things ever do go wrong.

For UNISON activists working with members’ data, the top three things to remember are:

  1. keep data safe – treat other people’s data as you would your own. (for information on how to do this, refer to the Branch Data Protection Handbook);
  2. when you collect data, always be transparent about how you are going to use it – only collect what you need and nothing excessive;
  3. if anything does go wrong with data, or you are not sure about anything data related, email our specific data email address – we will help you keep any risk to a minimum.

Find out more: GDPR for UNISON members