To not understand why people recommend Pregnant Then Screwed?

And sometimes are wrong themselves in the advice they give. As stated, some HR professionals aren't very good!

Transphobic? Or standing up for women's rights?

No woman gets to give other women's rights to single sex spaces away, even if they're happy to share spaces with men.

Oh, and FYI...nobody gives a flying fuck about being called transphobic. It ceased to have any impact as an insult / accusation bloody ages ago.

HR are not there for you.
They are to support the organisation.

I suppose it depends what you want to be supported on. And whether you’re transphobic or not.

Some of those women believe that TWAW and as a result that union is captured and does not stand up for women's rights. Have you not seen that Sandie Peggie is suing her union for failing to support her? It clearly happens in some cases.

I would suggest that research is done and a union which isn't captured is joined. Which is better advice than blindly joining a union which wont necessarily support you when needed.

Not really. I was interested to understand the unions’ stance and a cursory google suggests it’s an uncritical TWAW one, which I find utterly bewildering in any credible organisation which gave the tiniest of tosses about equality. That’s pretty much a massive FU to the 51% of the population who are, you know, the kind of woman that doesn’t require a tagline to persuade people of their sex. (I refuse to use the ridiculous and superfluous term “cis”).

Margaret Thatcher was a woman, for goodness sake. Women are not above being captured by dangerous ideology and trade unions seem to be a case in point.

It's not just nonsense, it's dangerous nonsense.

I really hope it doesn't put women off joining unions, and they can see it's just a ridiculous 'learned MN response'.

You keep posting this nonsense despite being told countless times that it’s rubbish and that several major unions are headed up by women. It’s almost as if you don’t want women to avail themselves of the support union membership offers.

🤣🤣🤣Good luck expecting a Trades Union to support an actual woman these days. As if. They only care about the men in frocks these days.

I ran the Pregnant Then Screwed advice line for over 10 years. When Joeli left, they also stopped referring people to me. Please check out our new advice services at Pregnant and Protected www.pregnantandprotected.co.uk - we can help.

You should ask your manager to refer you to Occupational Health. Youre pregnant therefore youre protected under the Equality Act 2010. The organisation will be given recommendations for reasonable adjustments for you. Youre covered under this legislation until your baby turns 1 year old. Good luck.

My union were really helpful recently when I had a bullying and harassment grievance laid against me by a member of staff I'm performance managing. It's so frightening, even when you know it's baseless, and having someone calm and knowledgeable in my corner was a godsend.

If you were in a union, all that would be done for you. Always join a union.

Whilst they should be up to date with employment law often they aren't! In cases of employer v employee they should make no comment whatsoever regarding the law.

It depends on your earnings. The lower you earn, the less you pay. I've just had a look at my payslip and mine is £7.85 so lucky you! 🤣

If your workplace doesn't recognise unions for the purpose of collective bargaining (and many private sector orgs don't) completely pointless IMO. They'll just give you the same information ACAS, Citizens advice and google will supply for free.

This is not right. They will also pay for legal advice / solicitors all the way to Tribunal if needed. Plus they can come with you to meetings with your employer which ACAS etc can't do.

I don't need collective bargaining, I'm quite capable of negotiating my own pay.

In your situation I would start with your organisation's maternity and pregnancy policy and try to resolve the issue internally first.

My union (Bectu / Prospect) was £50 a month pre-lockdown. I left. Better putting that in a savings account for future legal fees. As other PPs have pointed out many unions are structurally sexist, have failed gender critical women or anyone who disagrees with key left wing Shibboleths (see Paul Embery and the Fire Brigades Union) or seem more interested in passing motions about Palestine than actually negotiating on behalf of their members.

If your workplace doesn't recognise unions for the purpose of collective bargaining (and many private sector orgs don't) completely pointless IMO. They'll just give you the same information ACAS, Citizens advice and google will supply for free.

Agree with a PP. Many employees seem to have very little understanding of employment law and get angry if they can't negotiate everything on their own terms. Some jobs at my work for example are not suitable for flexible working or anyone with mobility issues (night shifts, heavy lifting). This does not mean maternity or disability discrimination is at play.

Some people think of Union membership as a get out of jail free card against termination or accountability - it isn't.

Pregnant then Screwed is a lobbying organisation that seems mainly to have been a platform for the career of its founder. That said, I hear they have done some good things. Their branding is awful and I doubt would go across well in a professional negotiation.

Essentially lawyers give you legal advice and whether you have a case! You have to pay. Others won’t advise you directly.

It's realistic, they offer free advice, not legal representation. A union would offer legal representation if they thought that you had a good chance of winning a case and will always negotiate with the employer on your behalf.
If you don't like the advice and you're not a union member, you can always pay an employment lawyer for their advice

It'll be because women are more likely to be in a union (particularly degree educated women) and because women are also more likely to work in the public sector. So the demographics align.

It's 1 in 4 of the working population in a union, not 1 in 5, but obviously highly varying by industry. About 50% in teaching; much lower in e.g. financial services.

Prospect's fees scales (I think they've gone up a little since 2 years ago, bit so has my salary.) I would assume, without googling, that other unions do similar scales.
(From £1.38 to £19.63 a month, if the image doesn't add.)

Pregnant and screwed are a charity/campaign group highlighting inequality for working mothers, I can't see anything wrong with that.

I'm currently in a restructure at work, lots of people are being made redundant. It's scary how many people are now claiming to be experts in employment law because they either googled or misread the acas website.

Everybody's situation is different and whilst you might think they were unhelpful, they would be even more unhelpful if they guaranteed you something that wasn't true.They are just signposting you to information.

Also as for unions, lots of work places don't have them as they not unionised. The one place I did work at that had one absolutely dragged out a restructure for 8mnths. Yes we got more pay but the uncertainty went on forever and trying to search whilst working with moving leave dates was pretty shite to be fair.

Yes - I was coming on to suggest Maternity Action

Useless?

Could this mean they didn't say what you wanted them to say?

No. For 25+ hours:

https://workaffinity.co.uk/join-1/

ETA: I've had brilliant, prompt and thorough service from them.