tell me about your union rep

[compliantreble]

I am about to start my training as a union rep, and to make shore I do it as well as I can I was wondering if any reps have any advice for me?

I would also love to hear form people who have used their union rep, were they helpful or not and why?

I work in HR, so I sit on the other side of the table. I work with some good and some not so good TU reps.

Firstly, don't believe everything your members tell you before giving advice. We recently had a case where a TU rep was giving bad advice, this was based on incorrect information the members had told them. Don't get me wrong, management can act badly, but if a story sounds outrageous, it may well be.

Secondly, be sensible. The best TU reps I've worked with understand the business and come up with sensible solutions. For example, an employee demanded a change in line manager. When the TU rep became involved, they understood this was never going to happen, so tried to encourage ways of working together.

HR/management aren't necessarily the enemy. Although we sit at the opposite sides of the table, TU reps can make my job easier and I'll help the good reps eg I talked a new rep through the process last week, as I know they are sensible.