Trade Union Official

This occupation is found in Trade Unions, Staff Associations and Professional/Trade Associations covering a broad range of industries and sectors. The broad purpose of the occupation is to develop and deliver union organising activity and campaigns that will recruit and retain union members and activists, ensure union members are represented in their workplaces and to deliver improved terms and conditions, protection of employment rights and security of employment for union members. For many trade unions, the ultimate aim of the Trade Union Official is to help members build self-sustaining unionised workplaces with effective lay member structures in place so that members and their elected representatives in the workplace are competent and able to manage their own affairs. The occupation, therefore, involves a mixture of direct delivery of a range of member services whilst also training, supporting and motivating volunteer lay trade union activists to do the same, all the while ensuring that union activity is in line with overall union policy. The balance between the direct delivery of membership services and overseeing volunteers varies from union employer to union employer according to the respective union’s operating model. In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with interacts with volunteer lay member activists, other union members, potential members, employers (often Human Resources and Operations Managers but other roles too), other union staff (both from within their own employer and other trade unions), elected representatives and workplaces branches, external bodies such as trade federations, national and local governments, political parties, Non-Government Organisations and other campaigning organisations, press and media. An employee in this occupation will be responsible for implementing their union’s organising strategy covering a number of workplaces, employers or a geographical area. They would normally report to a more senior union official and/or a lay member executive. They may have responsibility for leading a team of local volunteer representatives. Work allocation and reporting structures vary; Trade Union Officials may for instance have lead responsibility for collective negotiations with employers or may represent an individual case up to Tribunal level. Summary of Standard https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/trade-union-official/ Full Standard https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/media/4336/st0815_trade_union_official_l4_apforpuplication8620.pdf