GMB North West

GMB North West & Irish region is one of the GMB’s nine regions and covers members working in every industry and sector of the economy right across the North West of England and Northern Ireland. We are a campaigning Trade Union committed to protecting and promoting the interests of working people and their families everywhere.

GMB members benefit from the protection and peace of mind of belonging to one of the UK’s most professional and fastest growing Trade Unions. We have over 600,000 members nationally and a 25,000 strong army of Workplace Representatives, highly trained Full Time Officers and specialists in all areas of work including Health & Safety, Employment Law and pensions.

In the North West & Irish region, we negotiate the terms and conditions of over 80,000 members in hundreds of workplaces from Chester right across to Buxton and up through Merseyside, Cheshire and Lancashire as far as Lancaster and Morecombe and right across Northern Ireland.. GMB members are everywhere, in factories, shops, schools, offices and in local government and the NHS.

We have a network of regional and branch offices (details can be found here).

GMB has members in every part of the UK economy doing every type of job imaginable. GMB members are men and women, full and part time, young and old and are made up of a wide and diverse cross section of our society. GMB members join as students and apprentices and stay with us throughout their working lives right up to and into retirement.

We have a strong workplace organisation representing and advising members on all work related matters such as grievance and disciplinary and provide full legal support to members in Employment Tribunals or if they become ill or injured as a result of their work. (Each year our solicitors recover over £50 million on behalf of members nationally)

Every day of the year GMB is solving members' problems and we provide expert guidance and advice to people at work on a range of issues including:

The GMB is a campaigning Trade Union with a long proud history of fighting for the rights of working people in our society. We are currently running campaigns in local government to defend members from the effects of the government’s deficit cuts and proposed reforms in the NHS. We are campaigning on behalf of members working in ASDA and thousands of care workers in Southern Cross nursing homes.

North West & Irish region is headed up by our Regional Secretary, Paul McCarthy. We have four Senior Organisers who each have a team of Highly skilled and highly trained Full Time Officers with responsibility for workplaces across the region. In addition we have a training department with our own team of Education and Health & Safety Officers providing training to our vast army of workplace Reps. In addition we have a large team of highly motivated and dedicated support staff working closely with over two hundred branches in the region ensuring that GMB members always have access to the very best support and advice when they need it.

Our purpose
We work to improve the quality of life and provide new opportunities for all our members and their families. We aim to improve the lives of GMB members and make sure that their achievements lead the way for working people in Britain and across the world.

Every GMB member should have the opportunity to discover and develop their talents. All our members should enjoy work that is fulfilling and rewarding.

We will work with employers who are aware of future possibilities, and negotiate useful and beneficial agreements that help to achieve our purpose.

We will work to widen the understanding of employers whose experiences, knowledge and aims are more limited. We will aim to end exploitation, discrimination and injustice.

We will persuade non-members to join, encourage members to become active, and help active members to take full part in the life of the GMB. In particular, we will recruit and help develop young people so that we improve their lives and protect the future of the GMB and our values.

We will train local representatives to represent GMB members in a skilled and professional way, so that they win respect for their members, us and themselves.

We will recruit members through providing an outstanding service to working people and their families, encouraging people to stay with us for their whole lives. We aim to achieve the reputation as the best trade union in Europe.

We will create an atmosphere of teamwork in which every GMB office holder and employee will feel personally responsible for achieving our purpose. Our aims are as follows.

To recruit, organise and represent all workers.
To regulate relations between employees and employers and between employees themselves.
To maintain and improve wages and conditions, and make employment as secure as possible and promote industrial democracy.
To achieve and maintain equal pay for women, promote equal opportunities within the union, the workplace and society in general, and end discrimination against people because of their sex, race, nationality, religious beliefs, disability, age, marital status or sexuality.
To provide benefits (including legal help) to members in line with our rules.
To promote training and educating members in relation to the activities they carry out on our behalf, and to provide scholarships to educational institutions for members, in line with conditions set out by the Central Executive Council.
To promote or support legislation in the interests of members, especially those laws relating to the legal rights of trade unions, industrial health, safety and welfare, social and economic welfare and environmental protection.
To help elect members to Parliament and public authorities who promote our policies and the interests of members through political methods, providing the candidates are pledged to collective ownership, under democratic control, of the means of production, distribution and exchange.
To promote the social, moral and intellectual interests of our members.