Why become a representative?

Our members become representatives for a variety of reasons:

"My little effort does help to ensure fairness to staff and thus help give patients good nursing care."

Making a difference

Our representatives want to make a real difference to the workplace, the working lives of RCN members and to nursing in general. Becoming an RCN representative gives you an opportunity to work with like-minded colleagues and meet new people, make friends and contacts and have an increased sense of camaraderie.  Being a representative means you may get involved in things that you perhaps wouldn’t normally do, such as influencing decisions and working with people at all levels of your organisation. There are also opportunities to learn new skills and knowledge, many transferable, through the representatives’ learning and development programme. Our representatives enjoy being more politically aware, learning new media skills and gaining increased confidence.

Time off for learning and development

Where the RCN has a recognition agreement, accredited trade union representatives are entitled to reasonable time off for learning and development and representative duties. They should be given access to facilities that will help them undertake their duties as a representative and they cannot be unfairly dismissed or suffer adverse treatment on the grounds of their work as a representative.

Supported by RCN staff

RCN trade union representatives are fully supported and informed by RCN staff, with continued learning, development and support from the RCN Learning and Development team and RCN Officers. They have access to a specialist area on the website which contains a wide range of resources along with access to a private discussion zone. They receive our monthly newsletter, ‘Activate’ and invitations to attend national conferences, and after successful completion of module 2 of the learning and development programme, a subscription to ‘Nursing Standard’. The RCN also has awards recognising the good work and achievements of our representatives.