Our staff association has been going for more than 1.5 years now and in a recent staff survey less than 50% of staff said they were satisifed with the association. This is despite the fact that 90% of staff took part in the original elections for representatives (who had put themselves forward for election).

We have given the association members external training in negotiation and communication and they have delivered a number of successes for their members such as a new more generous sick pay scheme, the right to be paid for jury service, improvements in factory cooling and so on.

However, as we have 7 association members over 4 sites and 370 people I wonder if this is enough. We have a number of shifts to cover and the feedback is that not everyone gets enough information about what happens at the bi-monthly meetings the staff association have with senior management (these meetings are chaired by the MD). Apart from this when I conducted focus groups to understand more about the issue, employees were critical of the association but didn’t come forward with ideas on how to improve things.

Has anyone had similar experiences with a fairly new staff association and is it worth continuing with this format or searching for another solution, as i am keen to ensure we engage employees in as many people related decisions as possible.

I would be interested in your views on the matter. Thanks.

Rob McElfatrick