Which union should I join? Small public sector organisation.

[Workworkwok]

I've never been in a union before.

I work in a small niche public sector organisation (less than 20 people), in an administrative role.

I don’t know if anyone else there is in a union, there’s no obvious sign of mass union membership. I could try asking around.

I did TMB union finder and it came up with a list but not sure how to choose - Unite, Unison, FDA, GMB, Community, PCS

What should I look for?

I'm not anticipating any specific issues at work.

I‘m beginning to wonder if this is the best approach!

Is it an arms length body or a local authority as a local authority is not civil service but public.

Given what’s been said above re NJC we are local government I think.

I am in an Arm’s Reach Body and I’m a member of Unison. We are such a big ARB though, that our office had its own branch! As well as mass campaigning over pay, conditions etc, I have needed them on an individual basis, once for representation when I was witness in a whistleblowing case, once for a competency investigation and once over a mat leave related issue.

Thanks. Competency investigations are the kind of thing I want to have some back up with, just in case. I’m good at my job, and so far getting great feedback but aware that office politics might change and I could be the fall guy for people higher up.

i’d email them all and ask if they do pay bargaining for your organisation and if they currently have members in your area and if you join where your nearest rep is based.

id consider their responses and prices and see.

you want a union that preferably has a seat at the bargaining table so members thoughts and feelings can be represented. (as well as the insurance type side of things for you if anything goes wrong).

for example an annual pay rise of 3% of a senior grade is quite a lot of money for her, but buttons for the most junior positions, so your union would argue 3% with a minimum of £xxx for those grades. Or whatever. Im just saying that you want your requirements represented by people that understand your needs.

I’d also consider the membership size across the organisation as a while eg england or whatever.

a large union can put the fear of god into an organisation when they start talking about country wide strikes. more likely to be taken notice if and requests considered, than a small union.

Unison. I’m same

It's Edapt but they're only for education as far as I know.

As stared above pay bargaining along those lines is happening already via NJC and my being a union member won’t make any difference to that. Collective pay bargaining is not my reason for joining.

but yes, I think I will need to contact several and see what impressions I get, good tip about asking who and where my union rep would be.

£500 won't get you far im afraid. You could be looking at legal costs of upwards of £10k if you needed to go to employment tribunal and you didn't have a union.

Can you find out which unions are represented on the NJC? They will be of most use to you, although as many Unison members will tell you, if there are very few members doing your job, you still can be overlooked.

No it really isn't you could easily spend that on one session with and a letter from an emoyment solicitor
You really won't get better value than from the right union
You would also need insurance against any 3rd party action, if you have dealings with any public/outside agency.

Thanks, good to know.

this is all very informative,

I do think Unison is the main union at one nearby local council, and we do use that council’s policies and are linked to them regarding pay negotiations. Even though our remit as an organisation is beyond theirs, we have dealings with several councils so not sure why we are tied to that particular one.

As far as I can tell it’s GMB UNISON and Unite.

I work in an administrative role in higher education and have just joined Unison.

UNISON

I was a member of UNISON for many years and acted as a shop steward at one stage. When I moved into a management role it became clear that, whilst they were happy to accept our monthly subscriptions, they were extremely half hearted when it came to representing people in managerial positions.
I left UNISON and joined GMB who were much more amenable to proving support and advice. Years later I was representing by GMB when I was unfairly dismissed. They were so supportive at branch and regional level and provided a brilliant QC to represent me. I won my case thanks to them and have remained a member even though I am now retired.