A weekend of workshops, awards, courses and comedy
UNISON is now 25 years old, so we’ve decided to celebrate. And you’re invited to the party.
On 19 and 20 May we’ll be running courses for new or recently elected branch officers, workshops for activists, and on Saturday evening a gala dinner and awards ceremony.
Taking on a branch officer role can be quite daunting so we want to make it as easy as possible for members to get involved in their union. Each course will look at the role of the post and provide you with the knowledge to carry out the role effectively.
There’ll be nine branch officer courses to chose from: chair, communications, equality, health and safety, secretary, treasurer, women, young members and political campaigning.
Alternatively you may want to attend one or more of the workshops that will be running over the weekend. These are open to new and experienced activists and will give you the skills and knowledge needed to understand and get involved in the big issues facing us as trade unionists.
The workshops are:
- Talking racism and fascism – a fight never won
- Organising low paid women workers
- Understanding Brexit
- Presentation skills
- Media skills
Saturday evening’s gala dinner and awards ceremony is when we’ll be celebrating our successes and getting down to some serious enjoyment.
In recognition of the hard work done by branches and activists over 2017 we’ll be recognising achievements in the following areas:
- Learning
- Recruitment
- Campaigning
- Communications
- Health and safety
- Activist of the year
- Branch of the year
Our guests at the dinner and presenting the awards will be general secretary Dave Prentis and NEC member and current president Margaret McKee. Eric will be helping out too.
The evening’s entertainment line up includes stand up comedian and former senior Labour party advisor Ayesha Hazarika.
While returning to her stand-up roots with her show ‘Tales from the Pink Bus’ which was a sell out hit at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival and ‘the ‘Women of the World’ at the Southbank Centre, Ayesha makes frequent appearances on TV and radio as a political commentator.
You can follow Ayesha on Twitter @ayeshahazarika
Music will be provided by DJ Buzby. If he can’t get you up and dancing no one will!