The policies of the Union are decided by the National Delegate Conference which is held every second year and attended by representatives from all the Union's Divisions and Sectors. The delegates at the Conference receive reports on the progress in various areas of Union activity and set the priorities for the Union's activities for the coming two years. The Union's National Executive Council then sets about ensuring the implementation of the decisions taken by the National Delegate Conference. In some cases this may be quite straightforward, but in others it may require a major campaign to secure the kind of progress sought by the Conference.

The policies established by the Conference also provide the general framework for the decisions the National Executive Council may have to take in response to any new developments that may arise during the two years between National Delegate Conferences. On matters of critical importance a Special National Delegate Conference may be called by the National Executive Council to determine the issue in question.

Divisional Delegate Conference

In the Union's Divisions, the implementation of policies on matters concerning the types of workplaces their mandate covers are determined at Divisional Delegate Conferences - which also take place every two years. These Conferences consider reports from the Division Committees on the Union's activities for the previous two years and map out the priorities for the Divisional Committees for the next two years.

Each Sector is represented at the Conference on the basis of one delegate for each 100 financial members for the first 600 financial members and one delegate for each 200 financial members thereafter.