Branch officer roles

All branch officers are eligible to attend UCU's education programme for activists in their region and we strongly advise all new officers and existing officers who haven't yet attended any courses to sign up!

Please click on your regional training programme below:
London, Southeast and Eastern • Midlands • North West • Northern • South West • Southern • Yorkshire and Humberside • Northern Ireland • Scotland • Wales

In some branches there may be additional roles to the ones listed below:

Officers of the branch:

• chair/president
• vice-chair/vice-president
• secretary
• treasurer
• membership secretary
• equality officer
• environment officer/green rep.

Chair or president

The chair/president will chair all general meetings and all committee meetings of the branch and perform such other duties as are laid upon the chair/president by any rule or are decided by the committee. In the absence of the chair/president these duties will be performed by the vice-chair/vice-president, failing which another officer as the committee decides. In accordance with normal practice, the chair/president may, between meetings of the committee, take any action on behalf of the committee which is both urgent and necessary. Such chair's action must be reported for approval to the next committee meeting.

Secretary

The duties of the secretary are to call general and committee meetings of the branch; to ensure that minutes of those meetings are kept; to organise membership circulations as the committee deems necessary; to arrange notification of local election and ballot results to all members; and to perform such other duties as are laid on the secretary by any rule or are decided by the committee.

Treasurer

The treasurer will have custody of the funds of the branch and authority to make payments from them in accordance with the rules as the need arises. The treasurer's duties will be to keep the books of the branch; to present the accounts of the branch for auditing as necessary; to present these audited accounts to a general meeting of the branch, to publish them to all members of the branch, and to submit a copy to the honorary treasurer of UCU.

Membership/recruitment secretary

The membership/recruitment secretary will be responsible for recruitment and for keeping any membership records that are necessary at local level. The membership secretary will provide membership information promptly to UCU in accordance with instructions from UCU head office or regional office to enable statutory and rule requirements of membership records to be met.

Equality officer

The equality officer will have knowledge of and commitment to relevant issues, monitor the implementation of equality policies within the institution, and, where appropriate, encourage and support local negotiations on equality matters and monitor the volume and nature of personal casework which involves equality issues.

They also ensure that UCU's national annual meetings, and any other relevant events and opportunities for women, black members, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) members and disabled members are publicised locally, that members from all groups are encouraged to participate, and that the branch maximises the opportunities for recruitment and organisation amongst all groups.

Environment officer/green rep

Any UCU member with an interest and drive to progress workplace solutions in addressing the climate and ecological crisis is encouraged to put themselves forward to be elected into this role within their branch. Green reps can work in a similar way to other union reps by raising awareness of green issues in the workplace and making sure they are included in the negotiating/bargaining agenda. Their role is vital in ensuring that employers address the climate crisis and sustainable ways of working, ensuring the workforce is fully engaged with in the transition to greening the sector. Read more here: Organising for people and planet - a guide for UCU green reps [202kb]

More information on branch officer roles can be found in the UCU rule book: you can find this here