Teamwork and Delegation
Normally, the positions within the Local are filled by people like yourself, who volunteer time and effort to make the Local as effective as possible. To a large degree the potential for effectiveness as a union depends upon your ability as Local Officer to maximize your time and effort.
One way in which your potential at the Local level can be reached is for you and other Local Officers to work as a team. While each member of the team will have specific responsibilities, all are committed to the overall task of running the Local and achieving the same goal i.e. creating an effective union presence at the workplace.
The team approach also means that all Local Officers must have access to the information and experience that will enable them to learn their own functions and that of other members of the Local Executive.
Time Planning and Priorities
Another way to improve your own personal effectiveness is to organize and plan your union activities. Set some time aside every day to do union tasks. This will enable you to keep on top of your union work. You may want to set a night aside every week where you will have a working meeting.
This has several advantages besides the fact that you are not working alone. The job gets done as union brothers and sisters. You talk union with other interested members and friends. Most of all a true spirit of solidarity grows as the issues develop. If these sessions are held regularly, then members get to know and may drop in ‑ Have jobs ready to be done, envelopes to stuff, phone calls to make, letters to type and signs to make, etc.
Priorities have a way of overtaking time schedules: … a Local on strike, the Component Conventions, negotiations, ratification vote meetings, the Annual General Meeting. Still there will be times when you may have to sit down and write out the Local’s activities, decide the priorities and work out a plan of action. Depending on the size of your Local, you may want to consider paying for part‑time clerical help. You will then have time to concentrate on other things.