An inspiring message for union noticeboard
“I think the best thing you can ever do is be a union rep … you fight for the person who hasn’t got a voice. You fight for the ‘little’ people — and all the ‘little’ people make the country great.”
These are the words of guest speaker Neville Southall to UNISON’s local government conference held at the Liverpool Arena, but they apply to any union rep.
Southall, the former Welsh international footballer, became a legend when playing for Everton less than four miles away at Goodison Park.
Since leaving professional football, Southall has forged a second career working with troubled children and youngsters at a pupil referral unit, in Ebbw Vale, Wales.
Declaring that “UNISON is the best thing in the world,” Southall said of reps like himself: “You go in and speak up for somebody — you make a difference. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but you try.”
He mentioned becoming a rep and learning to "play the bosses’ game", but ultimately, “if we speak with one voice, we’re powerful.” When you’re a UNISON rep and you’re trying to help a member, you can be “the only thing that stands between them and poverty … the only people that stand up for them.”