Home » Membership » Manage your membership » Local branches What are local branches? Did you know that every member of PAM is automatically a member of a local trade union branch where you can influence the union’s activities? When you join PAM, you can choose which local branch you would like to join, or allow the union to decide for you. Manage your membership Join PAM Participate Transferring to PAM from another union Who can join PAM? Members share: Why I joined PAM E-services Paying membership fee Recommend membership Update your member information Local branches PAM for Couriers Local trade union branches organise a lot of useful events, trips and training courses that you can join. The events are affordable and often even free. Water aerobics, a spa trip, a theatre night, a family trip to the Korkeasaari Zoo, a movie night, a hiking trip at a national park – these are just a few examples of events organised by local branches. What would you like to do? Contact your local trade union branch and ask what they have to offer, or suggest a fun event for them to organise! You can change your local branch if you need to, such as if you change jobs or move to another city. It’s a good idea to join the local branch that is closest to you and that your colleagues also are part of. Local branch activities are organised by volunteer members as a service to other members. The activities are funded by membership fees. How do I know which local branch I am part of? The easiest way to check your local branch is your membership card, which you can find on the PAM e-service. You can log in to the e-service with your online banking credentials or a mobile certificate. Where can I find information about my local branch’s events? Learn more about the events of local branches on the event calendar. Local branches also advertise their events in our website and magazine for members. Make sure to also follow the local branches’ own websites and social media accounts! Are you under 30 years old? Would you like to actively participate in your local branch’s activities? Local branches can elect people for roles defined in the local branch’s rules, and for other important roles. Such roles include persons responsible for membership, communications, education and youth activities. It is recommended that the person responsible for youth activities is also a member of the local branch’s committee. If they are not, the person responsible for youth activities can also be given the right to speak and participate in committee meetings. It is recommended that the person responsible for youth activities is a young person who can identify with the daily life of young people. It is recommended for each local branch to have one person responsible for youth activities. A local branch may also establish a youth section if it has multiple active young members. The youth section is managed by the person responsible for youth activities. Person responsible for youth activities represents young people in the committee and is active in the local branch’s activities actively interacts with young members recruits young people to the local branch’s activities receives feedback and requests from the members organises activities for young people according to the local branch’s resources works systematically and with goals in mind takes care of marketing for youth events and creates standardised practices for communications The local branch is a member’s home base PAM has 117 local branches across Finland. Local branches can be for a specific region, industry, company, or they can be national. Local branches play an important role in representing their members’ interests in their region’s workplaces. The active members of a local branch keep the local branch moving. A local branch’s committee is the team that manages the branch’s key operations and serves as its board of directors. The members of each local branch elect the committee for their branch, and any member of a local branch can nominate themselves for the committee election. The committee takes care of the local branch’s operations and property for one or two calendar years at a time. The committee elections take place in the local branch’s autumn meeting, which is organised in October–December. The term of the newly elected committee starts at the beginning of the next calendar year from the autumn meeting. The elected positions in a committee are the chair, deputy chair and secretary, as well as a minimum of two and maximum of ten full members, the same number of personal deputy members or at least two general deputy members. In addition to the members of the committee, local branches have many other important positions, such as the persons responsible for student activities, recruitment, communications, and membership. Responsibilities of local branches offer information and support for working life, such as training and organising networking events for members and union representatives, discuss working life rules at vocational education institutions process motions made by members and provide statements on any issues in the workplace, including organising events for workers at the workplace and conveying the members’ feedback from the workplace to the union organise leisure time activities for members Local branch’s board and roles of board members Active members elected to the board manage the local branch’s operations. They are responsible for: deciding how money is spent deciding what kinds of events will be organised deciding what kinds of membership benefits and services are offered to members ensuring that proper terms of employment are followed in the workplace contacting new members and informing them about the membership, benefits and activities arranging a union representative for the workplace if the workplace does not have one arranging training for new union representatives and supporting them in their tasks You can read more about the position descriptions for local branches’ officers here. There can be one person chosen for each position, with exception for membership officers, of which here can be up to three. Notify PAM of the persons who have been chosen as local branches’ officers here (in Finnish). Are you an active member of your local branch? Develop your skills in our online courses and trainings! Read more Howspace platform for local branches Howspace is a platform for active members of local branches. It contains materials, useful information and instructions for local branches announcements. Enter Howspace here If you are a member of local branch’s board, but cannot sign in the Howspace platform please contact jarjesto@pam.fi. Webshop for local branches Enter the webshop for local branches PAM’s local branches
