Training for all activists
With AGM’s fast approaching, it’s a great time to review activist training right across the branch. Whether you have new officers coming into post, or experienced reps who want to keep their skills fresh, we have training available across the whole union, in the classroom and online, to ensure that you, your reps, and your officers, all have the knowledge you need and the confidence to put it to work where it’s needed.
Read on to find out about our courses including:
- Introductory training for stewards, health and safety reps, and union learning reps
- Training for new branch officers
- Advanced employment law training and mentoring training
Our national Black Members Development programme is available to all regions and, with 150 members already having gone through the scheme, you may well have Black members in your branch who are ready and waiting to step into a new activist role. Either way, it’s a great way to get Black members more involved in the union.
Training for reps
Training for workplace reps (stewards), health and safety reps, and union learning reps (ULRs) are available both in regional programmes and online. These courses equip those vital activists with the skills they need to advocate for the full range of members’ rights in the workplace.
View all regional education teams and their programmes
National online training open for booking:
Health and safety reps training
Union learning rep training – 14 May – June (1 day a week x 4 weeks)
Training for branch officers
Most of our regional education teams will be running their branch officer training over the next couple of months. These usually take place over one weekend, giving officers in a wide array of roles the chance to build the branch team and to network with others from across the whole region.
This Year of Green Activity, look out for Environmental Officer/Green Reps training. This three module course looks at the big picture of climate change and the need for a just transition to a low-carbon economy before examining what this means for activists’ specific employers and workplaces. Regional education teams will be running it, as will the national UNISON College team.
National training programmes for selected branch office roles are now online, including courses for:
Environmental officers and green reps – 14, 21 and 28 April
Branch treasurers (OLBA) – 1 May; 7 May; 15 May; 28 May; 25 June; 10 September; 20 November
Branch welfare officers – 12 May; 8 September; 10 November
Branch LGBT+ officers and contacts – 29 April; 22 October
Branch disabled members officers – 5 May; 4 November
All of these courses are delivered online apart from the 29 April session for LGBT+ officers and contacts.
Training for you
Advanced employment law training programme 2026
Our programme of advanced training on employment law for officers and reps who undertake complex casework is running once again in 2026. Each one of the suite of courses on discrimination law helps equip you to recognise potential illegal behaviour and understand where a member may have a realistic case.
Gender Identity Discrimination Law – 24 March;
Sexual Orientation Discrimination Law – 13 May;
Disability Discrimination Law – 20-22 May;
Race Discrimination Law – 17 September;
Religion and Belief Discrimination Law – 23 September;
Age Discrimination Law – 11 November;
Sex Discrimination Law – 17 November;
Sexual Harassment Law – 23 November.
Mentoring in the branch
A branch is only as strong as its activists. And it needs new activists to join, grow, and flourish if it isn’t going to stagnate or trickle away. Training is a good first step, but for an activist to reach their full potential and be able to shoulder some of the branch’s responsibility to support its members, they need support themselves as they start putting that training into practice. That’s why we encourage all branches to set up mentoring schemes to make sure that happens effectively and consistently. And we have training to help you do that. Setting up a branch mentoring scheme takes the theory of mentoring and builds on it to help you make a plan for a scheme in your own branch, while Getting started in mentoring is aimed at individual activists who are keen to support their less experienced peers.
For branches which have members in Community (i.e. the charity, voluntary, and not for profit sector, including housing associations) we have a specific Setting Up A Branch Mentoring Scheme session on 21 April. We know that there are particular challenges when it comes to organising in this sector, and our activists in Community appreciate all the support they can get. (You don’t need to be a member of the Community service group yourself to attend this training, just to have members from that service group in your branch.)
Setting up a branch mentoring scheme