Industrial Relations Organiser (IRO)

Job Purpose:

The IRO’s core responsibility is to build and maintain as strong and active a membership as possible in designated employments which they are responsible for. They will represent members both individually and collectively and ensure that members have a strong voice in their workplace with strong representative structures. They will lead and organise workers to ensure their membership grows and participates in the union. They will implement union strategies.

Key Responsibilities:

• Implement the Industrial Strategy & Organising Plan
• Strive to achieve the industrial relations goals
• Participate in and support the industrial team
• Work seamlessly with the organising team to grow the union
• Represent individual members in cases up to and including external hearings
• Develop, implement and pursue collective campaigns to improve working conditions and deliver IR goals
• Implement organising activity in their employment areas
• Seek to have union activists in all available positions in their employments
• Provide training to reps as required and develop be-spoke training to their reps as required
• Encourage all union staff to be involved in organising
• Develop and utilise social media platforms to build an audience in their employments
• Utilise digital tools and surveys to increase engagement and participation with members
• Review the effectiveness of all actions and campaigns in the context of the Union's overall Industrial Goals and Organising Plan and make recommendations to the Head of IR/C and General Secretary for improvements.
• Support the Advice Centre through briefing them on changes, updating FAQ’s for your employments and following up on referrals
• Promote FSU
• Participate in training and upskill on latest developments in employment law, industrial relations and organising
• Assist in increasing the capabilities of all FSU staff and seconded officers
• Ensure full understanding of FSU’s Policies and Procedures and operate within those procedures;
• Maintain absolute confidentiality with regard to FSU’s Policies and Procedures;
• Undertake such other tasks as may be required from time to time by the Head of IR/C and/or General Secretary.

Key Skills and Experience:

• The successful candidate should be able to:
• Represent individual members in external hearings
• Negotiate with employers on collective issues
• Represent members collectively in external hearings
• Utilise dispute resolution mechanisms
• Communicate clearly and positively with groups of workers
• Recruit non-members into the union
• Implement and develop plans
• Manage competing priorities
• Be highly competent in all areas of casework, individual and collective, including:
  • at least 3 years experience as lay rep or staff in a union
  • have proven successes in individual case representation
  • negotiating with employers
• Plan and report
  • analyse data/information and uses it to inform planning and  reporting
  • translate strategic objectives into operational plans
• Communication:
  • Clearly communicate both orally and in writing
  • Utilise digital tools to communicate and build audience

The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate:

• Negotiation
• Representation
• Planning and Implementation
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Self-Motivation
• Personal Resilience

Additional Competencies Required:

The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate:

• Flexibility
• Relationship building
• Problem Solving
• Decision Making
• Strong work ethic