Twenty years ago, UNISON and the FDA created Managers in Partnership (MiP). It remains a unique joint venture among Britain’s trade unions. In our view, MiP has done what we hoped for in 2005—bringing thousands of NHS senior managers into a trade union that represents and speaks up for them with governments and in the media.

Why create a separate organisation for NHS managers in the first place? In the early 2000s, both unions had problems organising NHS managers into their membership. For the FDA, predominantly a civil service union, senior NHS managers did not have an obvious home in its structure and their employment needs were appreciably different from other members. They required more personal representation, especially during continual re-organisations of the NHS, which sadly still feature as much today as then. For UNISON, with its leading presence in the NHS, the needs of a tiny number of senior managers would always get lost in the campaigning work of a union representing the entire workforce.

Unions facing these problems traditionally had three options: compete, merge or withdraw. The decision to collaborate on a solution, drawing on the strengths of both organisations, was one of those eureka moments and greatly to the credit of both unions’ leaders at the time.

Also groundbreaking, was the wide-ranging research into what NHS managers wanted from a union. The result was a unique organisation. While remaining part of the partner unions—its members belong to both UNISON and the FDA—MiP was given significant autonomy over how it represented members, individually and collectively with employers, and in public discourse. MiP would have its own identity, staff, budget and policies. It would be a specialist home for senior managers in the NHS and allied sectors.

How we did it was just as important as what we did. It took us a long time to build the trust needed to risk something so new and different. While both are rooted in our country’s public services, the two unions are very different in size and culture. That early investment in building trust has paid off. We have worked in quietly effective partnership ever since, never needing to fall back on hard agreements and proceeding by consensus. We have a shared strategic interest in MiP’s success, and have developed the understanding and relationships to deliver on that.

MiP’s membership has trebled, it now has 150 workplace reps, and a public reputation and influence out of proportion to its size. This success is built on the hard work and enthusiasm of MiP staff and member activists, supported by the
partner unions.