Ultimately, you get to take part in making a difference to members’ working lives - there is nothing quite like the satisfaction you feel when you have secured a win in your workplace, or represented and helped a member in a personal case.

The main role of our workplace reps is to be the face of the FDA locally and ensure that we are delivering for members on the FDA’s five main benefits:

• Providing excellence in individual representation and employment advice;
• Being a pragmatic and influential voice negotiating pay, pensions and terms and conditions to improve members’ working lives;
• Defending the impartiality, integrity and professionalism of civil servants;
• Helping members to progress in their careers via FDA Learn and Keyskills; and
• Champion equality and fairness at work.

We have recently adapted our workplace reps’ training so that we can deliver it online. As a new rep, you will be given training through a three-part course, providing information about:

• The role of the workplace rep;
• How to represent members in a personal case; and
• A Q&A with the General Secretary, Dave Penman.

We keep training groups quite small, so there are lots of opportunities to participate. Workplace reps get close and ongoing support from their National Officer. We are also organising webinars for existing reps as part of our commitment to ongoing training. Our first webinar will be about engaging with members remotely.

If you would like to become a rep but would like to know more, you can contact your National Officer.

In these extraordinary times, we know that our members across the civil service will be keeping the country running. Now, more than ever, we need to ensure that we support our membership both individually and collectively, and our reps are the frontline of supporting and defending members.