Branch activity

Supporting members and promoting their interests.

The branch is involved in a great deal of work for, with and on behalf of members. Branch officers and stewards support individual members who have grievances or who are being disciplined or investigated.

We give advice on a range of issues about people’s jobs and conditions of service and about council policies. We consult with members about their issues and raise these with the council.

Negotiation and consultation.
We negotiate with the council and with other employers about matters such as single status, service and modernisation reviews, pay in the voluntary sector and more. We respond to consultations on policy development and review. Examples are the Modernisation Reviews submissions.

Campaigning
We campaign on issues at both local and national level. We have one several awards for communications and campaigning work – click here for details of the awards.

Communication and accountability
We keep members informed of what the branch does in a number of different ways. This website is one of them. We also issue a Newsletter, UNISON Matters, three times a year and send you other briefings as the need arises, for example we sent out a number of plain language briefings on single status.

Our main way of being accountable to you, our members, is through the Branch AGM. This is an opportunity for you to hear what the branch has been doing on your behalf and to take part in setting branch policy through the motions which are debated at the AGM. UNISON is an organising union and although we are happy to provide our members with an individual service, it is also important that members take part in the collective aspects of the union.

For more information about previous AGMs click on the links below.

Branch Annual General Meetings

Annual Delegate and Local Government Conferences

Representation
A delegation of branch activists, elected from the Branch Committee, represents the policies of the branch and members’ interests at Scottish and UK UNISON fora, throughout the year.

These meetings include Scottish Local Government Conference, which brings together representatives from the Local Government branches in Scotland and meets four times a year; Scottish Council, which brings together representatives of all Scottish Branches, including health, the utilities etc, as well as local government, and meets three times a year; Annual Delegate Conference, the national policy making forum for the union; and the Annual Local Government Service Group Conference