New training for LGBT branch officers at UNISON

UNISON has taken a number of actions to encourage LGBT members to become shop stewards or branch officers. These include piloting a branch LGBT officer training course in 2013, which was run again at national level in LGBT History Month in 2014 and has been rolled out to the regions.

Around 100 LGBT branch officers have been through the training. One was Lesley Holme, from UNISON Suffolk Policy Staff branch. She said: “Getting a group of like-minded people together helped us identify information and skills we already have but did not know we had... Those who attended from my region are now working together to set up self-organised groups in our respective branches, assisted by a regional officer. Our enthusiasm unleashed and our confidence growing, we continue our UNISON work having grasped what this is all about – a modern, current and forward-thinking union.”

UNISON also holds sessions for fledgling activists at its annual LGBT conference, and each issue of the Out in UNISON newsletter profiles activists and how they got involved in the union. All UNISON journals also carried profiles of the union’s first out gay president in 2013.

Case study from Equality Audit 2014: Improving representation and participation in trade unions