About the Scottish Healthcare Branch

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About us

UNISON has the largest membership of all the trade unions within the employers covered by the Branch, our Scottish Health Care Branch has members who are employed in NHS Health Scotland, NHS Education for Scotland and NHS National Services Scotland and NHS Quality Improvement Scotland.

UNISON supports and protects almost 1.3 million working people throughout the public services, and campaigns on issues important to our members.

Experienced stewards can offer advice and support on a wide range of issues. UNISON is involved in and can help you with:

Bullying and Harassment
Grievance and Discipline
Agenda for Change job evaluation and help with reviews
the Knowledge and Skills Framework
organisational change
representation of your views at the Partnership Forum and on working groups
national shared services (eg finance, IT, human resources and procurement)

Members

UNISON members work in all areas of public services in Local Government, Health Services, Further and Higher Education, utilities like Gas, Electricity and Water, Transport, Police Civilians and in the voluntary and related sectors.

Members vote directly by postal ballot for the General Secretary and National Executive. In the rare event that industrial action is called for, that also requires a postal ballot. They elect stewards and branch officers locally at meetings or by ballot.

Unison members also qualify for a range of legal and financial benefits.

Branches

Every member is allocated to a Branch. Our branch is called Unison Scottish Health Care Branch. Through the Branch structures, they elect stewards and branch officers and delegates to Scottish Council.

Branches are usually based on employers or groups of employers. The employers covered by our Branch are:

NHS National Services Scotland (including)
- Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service
NHS Education for Scotland
NHS Health Scotland
NHS Quality Improvement Scotland

The Branch Executive Committee is elected annually at the AGM and is supported by the Branch Administrator - Elaine Clark who is based in our Branch Office, and our Regional Officer, David Forbes, who is based in Unison’s Belford Road Office – he can be contacted via the Branch Secretary.

Regions

UNISON branches are grouped into 13 regions, which cover the UK.

Each region has its own head office and regional council made up of delegates from all branches in the region. Our region is the Scottish Region.

The regional council develops policies and puts them into action regionally. It’s the main link between neighbouring branches and between branches and UNISON’s National Executive Council.

UNISON Scottish Council

Comprises delegates from all Scottish branches and meets three times a year to elect officers, committees, delegations etc and set policies on general matters. Oversees the work of Scottish Committees. Pay and conditions issues specific to any particular service are dealt with by the Service Groups.

UNISON Scottish Committee

Comprises elected members from Scottish Council, Service Group delegates and Self Organised Group delegates. Has the key policy and strategy role between Scottish Council meetings.

UNISON Nationally

UNISON members elect national representatives to work on their behalf. UNISON’s elected general secretary Dave Prentis works full time for the union as does deputy general secretary Keith Sonnet. Our presidential team are elected members of the national executive council.

National Delegate Conference

UNISON’s annual national conference is the union’s ruling body. Every year delegates from all over the country take part in debates to choose our campaigning priorities and policies.

Every UNISON branch elects reps to attend annual conference and vote on behalf of their local branch members.

National Executive Council

Our elected national executive council (NEC) consists of members from all regional and service groups, plus four ordinary members. The NEC decides on issues and campaigns between conferences and works with UNISON staff to support members. At least two thirds of the seats are held by women and 13 seats are reserved for low paid women.

National Service Group Executives and Conferences

There are also service groups, which bring together members across the country doing similar kinds of jobs or working for the same kinds of employers.

As a member, you can stand for election to your service group executive or as a delegate to the group conference.

UNISON staff

UNISON employs 1200 staff throughout the UK. Most work in our regional offices to support branches and local reps. There are 400 people working in our London head office and many branches also employ staff locally to support their work.

General Information

If you want to know more about the structure of Unison or indeed your own Branch then why not contact your local steward or the Branch Office at the details given about.

Alternatively you can access more information through the Unison Website – www.unison.org.uk