Regional Organiser x2 – Eastern region

UNISON Torbay Health; Bury St Edmunds; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

UNISON, the U.K.'s leading public services union, is seeking a Regional Organiser to drive workplace organisation across the Eastern region. You will guide branches, coach activists, and lead a small team of organisers while negotiating on behalf of members and shaping casework processes. This is a field‑based role with regional travel.

You'll develop training, build stakeholder relationships, and influence union strategies at multiple levels to strengthen member representation.

Qualifications

• Understanding of the movement, equality focus, and commitment to organising.
• Experience guiding and developing local branches and activists.
• Strong knowledge of employment law and changes affecting members.
• Proven ability to manage a team and lead negotiations.
• Excellent communication and advocacy skills for challenging scenarios.

Responsibilities

• Provide day‑to‑day leadership and advocate for members.
• Guide, support and develop local branches and activists.
• Identify activist training and coaching needs for stewards and officers.
• Manage a small team of area/local organisers.
• Lead negotiations and represent members individually and collectively.
• Help branches develop systems for handling casework.

Skills

Equality

Organising

Worker power

Employment law

Stakeholder engagement

Leadership

Negotiation

Communication

Job description

The role

Our 1,200 staff work across 12 UK regions and our national centre in London. Regional offices support the work of local branches, helping to represent, recruit, organise and retain members – as well as making key contributions in areas such as campaigning, strategies for negotiation and bargaining, and actions against discrimination.

As a Regional Organiser, you’ll be playing a hands‑on, day‑to‑day leadership role, as well as acting as an advocate of the union. Guiding, supporting and developing local branches and activists to ensure the strongest possible workplace organisation, you’ll identify activist training and development needs, provide coaching and mentoring to stewards and branch officers, and manage a small team of area/local organisers. Additionally, you will lead negotiations, represent members individually and collectively, and help branches to develop effective systems and processes for handling casework.

What we’re looking for

• An understanding of our movement, its pressures and drivers, with a passion for equality.
• A commitment to organising and building worker power.
• Ability to provide advice and guidance on the effective organisation of key branch duties (e.g. maintaining membership density, activist base enhancement, supporting employers with major restructuring, maintaining confidence in union ability to influence outcomes, oversight of case work and reducing response times).
• Good knowledge of key employment law, including developing case law and upcoming changes that may affect members.
• A strong understanding of the political landscape and how this might impact our approach.
• Ability to manage a team of staff, with a willingness to collaborate and to lead by example.
• Excellent communication and advocacy skills, with proven ability to manage high level negotiations and representation of cases in challenging situations.
• Ability to build and strengthen relationships with key stakeholders, ability to influence and engage at all levels e.g. activists, democratic bodies/committees.
• Strategic project management experience, including budget management. Ability to develop strategies and solutions to solve complex problems.

Please refer to the job description and person specification for full requirements for this role.

This is a field‑based role and you will need to be able to travel in and around the Eastern region, including to our regional offices in Bury St Edmunds and Chelmsford as required – and occasionally to other regions of the UK for training, meetings or other purposes. The Eastern region covers a large area including Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk.

About UNISON

UNISON is the UK’s leading public services trade union, with over 1.3 million members working in the public sector, private, voluntary and community sectors and in the energy services. We employ approximately 1,200 staff, with around 370 at our national centre in Euston in central London and the remainder in our 12 regions across the UK, including Northern Ireland.

UNISON is a dynamic, progressive union, committed to equality. We encourage men and women of all ages, Black and minority ethnic groups, disabled people, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to work with us.