Introductory Stewards Course
This is a regional course for untrained stewards in the Greater London Region, leading to ERA accreditation.
What will the course cover?
- Understand the role of an organising union in public services;
- Recognise the importance of equalities in UNISON;
- Work with members to tackle issues in the workplace;
- Work with members in resolving cases;
- Know where and when to seek advice and guidance;
- Understand how procedures work in practice;
- Handle grievance and disciplinary and similar types of cases as the representative of UNISON members within your workplace;
- Be certified as competent to accompany members at a disciplinary and grievance hearing in line with Employment Relations Act 1999;
- Understand the broader roles in which UNISON operates, including internationally.
Please note attendees must be an elected Steward to attend these courses and their membership record must confirm this
NEW – 27 September, 4,11,17 & 25 October 2024 – In Person
NEW – 8,9,10 & 15,16,17 October 2024 – Online
NEW – 8,15,22,29 November & 6 December – In person
NEW – 12,13,14 & 19,20,21 November – Online
Stewards Refresher
The online course is for UNISON stewards who did an Introductory Organising Steward course over five years ago OR reps and branch officers who have never done an Introductory Organising Steward Course but have been carrying out the full role of a steward i.e. representing members on grievances and disciplinaries.
This course is designed to meet the requirements of the Employment Relations Act (ERA) on re-accreditation and will provide the opportunity to refresh and update your skills as well as to be briefed on any legislative changes and/or updates to UNISON’s policy and procedures. UNISON’s NEC determined in 2010 that all UNISON reps should attend a Stewards Refresher course every five years.
The course is approximately 8 hours in total, over the two days. This will comprise of online classroom sessions (via MS Teams or Zoom) with the tutor from 9am – 1pm each morning on both days, with some course work in between sessions. You must be available to attend both sessions and ideally you will receive time off from your employer for you to complete this on both days.
£30 course fee
NEW – 23 & 30 October – Online
NEW – 4 & 11 December – In person
Lost in UNISON
UNISON is committed to helping and developing you, our new stewards through this initial period while you’re still finding your feet. We’d like to invite you to attend a steward induction session which will give you some training in steward basics, allow you to explore your role, develop your skills and gain the experience and confidence to be an effective steward in your workplace.
The course is 6 hours in total, over the two days. This will comprise of two sessions with the tutors between 10am and 1pm on both dates. You must be available to attend both sessions and ideally you will receive time off from your employer for you to complete this on both days.
Coming soon
Introductory Health and Safety Reps Course
This is a regional course for untrained health & safety reps in the Greater London Region, covering all aspects of the role.
Please note attendees must be an elected Health & Safety Rep to attend these courses and their membership record must confirm this.
NEW – 4,11,18,25 November & 2 December – In person
NEW – 18,19,20 & 25,26,27 November – Online
Branch Officer Courses
Challenging Racism in the Workplace
TBC: Online
As trade unionists, regardless of our race, we have always had a responsibility to challenge racism in all forms. Our campaign ‘Challenging Racism in the Workplace’ launched almost 14 years ago has helped to hold employers to account using workforce statistics – but it is still the case that Black members are more likely to face disciplinary or capability procedures than any other worker.
To make real change now and in the future across London public services, we must work collectively in UNISON to do so. We all have a role to play in the fight for equality and tackling racism.
‘Challenging Racism in the Workplace’ is part of UNISON’s core work on race equality, using the collective power of our union to tackle discrimination. Given the challenges of pursuing individual claims we want to move to a more collective approach to challenging racism where it’s proven we’ve been more successful. To achieve this, UNISON is working to support branches to identify key issues and make sure that challenging racism becomes core union business.
I’m pleased that the Greater London Region is rolling out the online ‘Challenging Racism in the Workplace’ course designed for Branch Officers and workplace reps.
The course is designed to familiarise branch officers and workplace reps with the key elements of the Equality Act 2010, including the duty it places on employers to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations. The course will also help to develop a branch action plan for raising race equality issues with employers which should give confidence to your Black members to raise issues with UNISON.
The aims of this course are:
- To raise your awareness of the opportunities the Equality Act 2010 provides to identify institutional racism and ensure that the issues are dealt with
- To improve your knowledge of the tools you can use to engage with your employer on tackling race discrimination
- To explore how an organising approach can be taken to tackling racism in the workplace.
- To build confidence in negotiating with employers and anticipating any challenges
- To develop a realistic action plan for the branch
Attendees must be able to commut to attend on oth dates. Branches can register up to 4 attendees, however priority will be given to those branches who have not previously sent representatives.
More Advanced Courses
These courses are particularly aimed at more experienced activists who have already completed their introductory stewards training. Details of each and links to register can be found below. Applicants need to be able to attend the course on all three days and be ERA accredited.
You are encouraged to request time off from your employer to attend this training. If you need any support in requesting time off, please contact your branch in the first instance.
Dealing with a Grievance Case
9 & 16 October 2024: In Person (Central London)
This is a two-day, in person course which seeks to build on the knowledge and skills from the Introductory Stewards course to equip ERA trained Stewards to support members through the grievance process.
As well as an overview of the formal and informal process, the tutors will use videos of grievance hearings as case studies, linked to activities that explore arguments, used by the employer and how you as the UNISON representative can support your member to respond. The course will show how a typical hearing runs and examines the roles of all participants. If you have limited experience at representing members at these hearings or are going to do so in the future, this course will be a very useful opportunity to gain a better knowledge of this type of hearing.
The aims of the course are to:
- Examine the role of reps during grievance cases;
- To understand and manage the expectations of members;
- To consider the effectiveness of grievance procedures alongside other alternatives;
- To build on existing skills and knowledge in representation;
- To develop awareness of new communication methods to manage difficult situations
The £30 course fee will apply.
Employment Law course for new reps
5, 6 & 7 November 2024: In Person (Central London)
This course is aimed at new reps looking to develop their understanding of the basics of employment law which will assist you in your role undertaking individual casework and collective issues.
The course specifically looks at TUPE and the wider employment law field, it will also cover recent developments in employment law.
You must be ERA accredited to attend this course.
The £30 course fee will apply.
Dealing with Redundancy & Reorganisation at Work (for new reps)
18, 19 & 20 November 2024: In Person (Central London)
This three day in person course looks at anticipating and dealing with management proposals for change and re-organisation at work.
It will also help you prepare a trade union response to protect your members’ interests. Again, it is particularly aimed at more experienced activists who have already completed their Introductory Stewards training.
You must be ERA accredited to attend this course and secure time off to attend all three days of the course.
The £30 course fee will apply.