Finding your voice in your union

Monica Pratt always used to keep herself to herself at NHS England, where she works as a business manager. 

But the Northern Health & Community branch member has developed a new confidence through the skills she’s gained and the friendships she’s made on UNISON training courses over the past 18 months. 

These days, she’s speaking up in her team at work, addressing union conferences and presenting awards at big events. And the person most amazed by this transformation is Monica herself.

Monica joined the Northern Health & Community branch when she started work for NHS England in 2018 but her sole contact with the union was when she enrolled on the occasional course she thought might help her at work. 

What got her thinking about playing a bigger role in the branch was how she was treated in her previous team after a bereavement.

“I was really treated badly when I returned to work in my previous role, so I thought I will try to help people who might be going through something similar and don’t know what to do,” she says. 

Monica hasn’t looked back since enrolling on the workplace stewards’ training course in November 2023.

“What we learned on the course was about building relationships, so that’s what I do when I get a referral: I try to build the relationship, relate with my colleague and relate with that issue so I’ll be able to support them and help them overcome the challenge,” she says.

“That’s what I’ve learned with the union – you can’t do it alone: no man is an island – but when you have support from other people all around you, you feel, ‘Yes, I have the power in me to make the changes that I need to make’.” 

Monica says she has come out of her shell by becoming more active and developing herself with the support of other activists. 

“In my former team, I just kept quiet and allowed things to slide but now I speak up when I feel things are not right in my current team,” she says. 

“I try to challenge things in line with the policy of the organisation, so that we correct things as we go, not just leave things undone that are affecting people all around us.”

Monica is the first to admit that all this has been a massive change for her. 

“I’m a very shy person, but through UNISON I’ve been able to mix with other people, make new friends and build networks across the board, so it’s been really the board, so it’s been really fulfilling for me,” she says. 

“I’ve really grown a lot in character, in communications and in my inter-personal skills.” In her first full year as a UNISON activist last year, Monica took part in Black members’ conference, women’s conference, health conference and National Delegate Conference (NDC). 

“I really surprised myself at Black members’ conference because I went to the podium for the first time to support a motion,” she says. “I was shaking but I was able to say one or two sentences about giving workers the skills that they deserve in the workplace so they’ll be able to be more productive.” 

Monica stepped out of her comfort zone again when she volunteered to present one of the awards at the regional Black members’ group event for Black History Month in the autumn. 

“I want to go out there to show this is what has inspired me, this is what I’ve been taught, and I’m really trying to make it happen and demonstrate that it all works,” she says.