Support for environmental reps

Understanding your role

Organisations are far better placed than individuals to install cost-effective green measures and agree collective ways to change our behaviour at work – such as through recycling schemes. Union action to green the workplace can help ensure that financial savings from resource and energy efficiency ease the pressure on other costs and helps to protect jobs. The need to strengthen the link between sustainable workplaces and sustainable jobs has never been more urgent. 

In your role, you will:

• raise staff awareness and encourage behavioural change to workplace practices;
• ensure that green issues are considered in operational procedures;
• promote staff consultation in ‘greening the workplace’;
• monitor the effectiveness of environmental policies and provide staff input.

What you can do in your role

As an environmental rep, your role is to encourage members to participate in environmental issues within the organisation, provide information and support for them, and to keep them up to date with union issues and campaigns, and to keep members involved in local negotiations.

You can act as a sounding board for members about workplace environmental issues and can advise, share information or connect them with support elsewhere in the union. Reps also act as a link between members, other union representatives and the national organisation.