About

We are a specialist union for union workers, professional association workers, union representatives and any worker linked to the Labour movement in the United Kingdom. We are totally independent and member-led.

We are a campaigning union. Campaigning vigorously for maintained pension rights, for inflation-proof pay rises, for gender equality, including the right to self identify and for an end to institutional racism.

We are democratic and listen to the concerns of all members. Every member is encouraged to be active in the UWU and your voice counts.

We don’t compete with any union. Most UWU members are members of more than one union and the UWU will work with any union to support and deliver for our members.

We are focussed primarily on union workplaces without an independent union. However, membership is open to any union worker. Representatives can join as associate members for access to networking and training.

View our frequently asked questions

President

Tracy Edwards

Tracy has worked in the trade union movement for many years in a variety of different roles. Tracy was an early joiner to the UWU as she believes in strong, independent representation for all workers. Tracy has previously served on the union’s executive and is honoured to serve once more in a presidential capacity.

General Secretary

Chris Musgrave

Chris is one of the founder members of the UWU and currently serves as General Secretary on the national executive. Over the past 20 years, Chris has worked as a lay rep, organiser and officer at a local, regional and national level. He brings a significant amount of experience from a range of sectors and unions to his role with the UWU. 

Chris passionately believes trade unions should be the change they want to see and has come to understand only a strong independent union can ensure this.

National Executive members

• Andrew Woodman really wants to make a difference. Andrew stood on a promise to campaign tirelessly for the members, on the issues most important to union workers. Andrew’s specialisms are health and safety, equality and casework. Andrew is a socialist and applies the principles of socialism to everything he does. Andrew strives to ensure the voice of socialism is heard within the union.
• Mark Oley has been an executive member for over a year and has worked with other executive members and the general secretary on seeking to promote the aims and mission of the UWU, including recruitment and organisation. Mark is also one of the UWU caseworkers, he assisted in the drafting of the UWU model home working policy and is currently co-leading work on a model policy on menopause for members to consider and raise with their employers. Mark is committed to working with the executive and all members to grow the UWU and make it the union of choice for union workers.
• Russell Waterhouse has worked in financial services for nearly thirty years and his career has always been supported by involvement with unions. Russel soon became a branch rep and then a full-time organiser. Most recently Russel has been working as an officer and finds challenging unfairness in all its forms highly rewarding. Russel is a committed trade unionist and has always been passionate that a union reflects the thoughts and concerns of its members. Russel believes the need for strong trade unions has never been greater with the potential changes to employment laws, protections and the ability of unions to organise.
• Cheryl Gedling joined PCS union on her first day as a civil servant in 1990. I was elected to the Registers of Scotland Branch Committee in 1991 and represented members at local and national level. Cheryl was elected to the PCS National Executive Committee in 2005 and continued as an NEC member until I took up post at PCS in 2016. Between 2014-2016 Cheryl held one of the 3 Vice-President positions. During these 11 years, Cheryl was appointed to represent the union on the STUC Women’s Committee, the STUC General Council and TUC Women’s Committee. Cheryl’s time on the STUC Women’s Committee included a year as Chair and the chairing of the annual STUC Women’s Conference. Cheryl has represented members on a wide range of issues over her career and will now deploy her skills and experience on the UWU executive.
• Jon Benson has been a UWU member, activist and volunteer organiser since the union’s beginning. During that time he has undertaken a leading role in web design, membership system management and organising new UWU branches. Jon has already had early success both in setting up sustainable structures at the workplace level but also in terms of worker wins. Jon is looking forward to continuing his commitment to members and the union in the year ahead.
• Alan Brown has been an active trade unionist since joining CPSA (predecessor of PCS) on my first day of employment in the Civil Service in 1983. Within a year, Alan was the shop steward in his workplace. He was the youngest ever elected member on the DWP Group Executive Committee which at one stage represented 118,000 members. Alan held various elected positions as a PCS lay representative, including National Executive Committee member, DWP Group Vice President, DWP Group Organiser, DWP Group Executive Committee member, DWP Scottish Regional Committee member, Branch Secretary and Branch Organiser. Alan was a DWP pay negotiator and led negotiations with the employer in a number of areas over many years. Alan was seconded to PCS as a full-time officer for over two years before being appointed an Industrial Officer around 10 years ago.