Having first been elected to the National Executive Committee in 2019, the last two years have certainly been a steep learning curve on just how important a strong and together leadership is for our union and our members.

At a local level, I am Branch Secretary for one of the largest branches in the Revenue and Customs Group with this last year spent tackling the ongoing pandemic and the issues this threw up for members in our workplace, such as supporting members to be able to work from home safely and ensuring those unable to do so were treated fairly.

Since joining the Branch Executive in 2014, we’ve underwent a number of changes which saw us going from a largely male dominated committee to one in which the majority of our committee are women with a number of new reps taking up roles in the Branch at the same time.

Equality is a major passion of mine and I have been involved in our union’s national equality structures for many years as a part of Proud’s National Committee, working to raise awareness of and organising on issues impacting on LGBT+ members of our union, and the wider LGBT+ community.

Ensuring the voices of under represented members are heard is something I believe in and I have worked to do that in my own roles within the union while also taking any opportunity I have to educate and empower others to get involved themselves, whether at local, group or national level.

As we continue to deal with the ongoing pandemic and our employers response to it, I believe we need a united opposition to take them and the Government and Devolved Administrations on to ensure that our members are protected and I want to continue to play my part alongside my Democracy Alliance colleagues in continuing the work our NEC has done over the last year in the face of the coronavirus.

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