This section will include information on local organising initiatives by the union.

Together UNISON members make up Britain’s biggest trade union - almost 1.3million members working across the public services.
We have more workplace reps than any other union in the country - backed up by experienced full-time regional and national officers.

Being a UNISON member gives you a huge range of benefits, including:
Unrivalled protection and representation at work
Help with pay and conditions of service
Health and safety guidance and support
Confidential welfare services for you and your dependents in difficult times
Excellent legal services including free help with work problems and legal support for members and their families
Pensions advice
A special hotline, UNISONdirect, for help and advice on workplace issues
Online employment and workplace advice
Education and training advice and courses, leading to vocational and professional qualifications
Cash benefits for accidents and injuries at work
A colour magazine sent to your home four times a year, a fortnightly newspaper for our stewards and activists and a full range of publicity
Special deals on everything from computers, tax returns, holidays, mortgages, car breakdown services, insurance and credit cards
Our own holiday centre for members and families at the Devon seaside

Here’s four good reasons why UNISON is right for you:
No one works harder
UNISON won more than £35million in injury settlement payouts for its members last year, has fought many high-profile equal pay claims around the country, and is a major influence on government policy such as the minimum wage, health care, policing and pensions.
Women represented
UNISON's membership is two-thirds women - so we make sure their voices are heard throughout the union. At every level of the union, women are elected in fair proportion to their membership.
A voice for everyone
UNISON makes sure everyone has a say in how the union is run, from branch member to general secretary. Our unique structure ensures top-quality help and advice is available at local, regional and national level.

UNISON is not only the country’s biggest trade union, it’s one of the fastest growing too. Last year UNISON recruited 148,755 new members, a staggering 407 per day. This is another step along the road to building an organising union of two million members.

This section will feature local initiatives linked to the union's lifelong learning project.

The developing role of lifelong learning advisers and learning reps, who now have legal rights to time off for their duties. will expand the number of activists at branch level engaged in advocating workplace learning.

The work of lifelong learning advisers also helps recruit members and activists and building branch and workplace organisation.

Denise Adams trained to become a learning advisor in March and already as a result of her activities she has recruited four new members to UNISON.

She works as an administrator in the haematology department at Queen's medical centre in Nottingham.

"I really wanted to do this course as I felt that all the department's professional medical staff had access to training but that the support staff were neglected," she says.

Ms Adams has spent much of her time visiting different departments and explaining what is on offer and how it can be funded.

"People say they want to get on but they don't know what to study," she says. "I act as a stepping stone by helping them, putting them in touch with senior staff and talking to people on their behalf."

Ms Adams describes a lot of her work as 'publicising' what is available and encouraging people, particularly older members, to consider some form of further study.

"There are lots of frustrated people out there who would benefit from these courses but they need people like me reaching out to the grass roots as otherwise the information is not reaching the right people.

"I tell everyone that the work I do is backed and led by UNISON and some people have joined up as a direct result."

This section will include local health & safety initiatives and information.

In a recent survey most UNISON members identified health and safety as the most important workplace issue for them.

As the largest public service union UNISON is at the forefront of campaigns on issues such as stress at work and violence in the workplace. Many of our members are also at risk from problems such as:
RSI from keyboarding or working in call centres
Back pain from lifting and carrying people and heavy loads
Insufficient training and equipment
Infected needles and needlestick injuries