Being told my job description was changed after I joined

This. With bells on.
op - a union isn’t just there once you have a problem.

we are not helping you with a pre-existing problem.

Yes, fair play, I agree with that.

For what it's worth I was unionised for two decades and my dad was a branch secretary! I do know how it works.

So then they should say that. Come on, it's bad advice to suggest that if you breakdown with no cover that no one will touch you or come to your aid.

House contents insurance, then.

What pp means is that you can’t join on the same day and then have that call out covered by your new policy. You can join, but you will also have to pay for them to come out to your breakdown.

Nor do lots of people these days. I remember explaining to a colleague that people who go on strike don't get paid.

Not saying they won't - but it's objectively false to say you can't join on the same day as a breakdown. I think wrong information should be corrected!

The principal is the same- you can’t claim on insurance if you didn’t have it at the time of an incident, and you can’t claim help from a union if you were not a member at the time of the event.

They will charge you for that privilege. My SIL learned that the hard way!

You don't join a union with an issue and expect them to represent you. That's not how unions work.

You can absolutely break down and then join the AA and ask for assistance in the same breath.

Where is this ignorance coming from?

It’s not pay as you go…

You wouldn’t break down in your car and then expect the AA to come and fix it for nothing cos you joined that day…

Not remotely similar - car insurance is a legal obligation.

Its like wanting to claim on an insurance policy you bought today for an accident last week.

Unions are there to help their members. Often what they do for their members benefit everybody in the organisation regardness of if they are a member or not. They rely on the small subs they charge you every month to run a union at all, and to help members who need it.

I work in the public sector too. Over the last 6 years, Unite has fought hard for us to remove the lowest pay grade entirely, and significantly improve the pay offer for the remaining bottom two grades who were worst affected by years of below inflation annual pay increases. They fought our employer against lacklustre efforts to protect us during the pandemic and got much improved working conditions for all employees. They fight for annual pay increases in line with inflation. They fight for our rights as employees. All local government employees would be much worse off financially and in terms of our contracts and employment rights without our union.

I pay something like £7 a month for my union membership (granted I'm part time and low on the pay scale). They have helped me when I had an issue with my line manager. My colleague has been put on a performance improvement plan and he has had a LOT of help from them - basically got the whole thing against him dropped. They will fight for their members but you in turn need to support them with regular membership in order for them to be able to do their work.

My union won't help with individual issues within the first 3 months of joining, and I wouldn't be surprised if they refused pre-existing situations. If you joined just for the help and left immediately how much help do you honestly think you deserve for the grand old sum of £21? How much help do you think the union could afford to give you for £21?

Join the union or don't join the union I don't care, but for goodness sake don't join for just as long as you think you can milk their services for your individual situation. That's NOT the deal, the same way as insurance works. You don't drive without insurance then take out insurance only once you've crashed your car and cancel it again once they've paid out. It's the same deal with the union.

I think everybody should join a union. I think they are very important things. I think nobody should expect help from a union who they don't want to pay into.

You actually want an employment lawyer, not a union.

A union you pay subs to and they are there if you need them. You can just pay the subs for the month you need them and never again, it’s like an insurance policy.

If you want to pay for one off advice about a situation, this is what employment lawyers do.

You join it before you need it, when you start the employment.

Cheeky Fuckery of the highest order! You can't really be this stupid, surely?

I think OP doesn’t really understand how unions work or operate.

My union won't take on cases until someone has been a member for at least 3 months, I think. Most unions have a rule like this (might be a differenttime, e.g. one month,) though they can make exceptions - I would expect that to be more in the case of a large group in a workplace being maltreatment, rather than a single person.

I've not worked anywhere that has had enough union members for it to be a recognised union, so no collective bargaining. I've been very glad of their help a couple of times, though, on issues that affected just me - it is like insurance- I spent years hoping I wouldn't need to use them, when I did, it was worth every penny I had paid in subs. Likewise with insurance- I don't want to be in the position of having to make a claim, but I've been very glad that I could when I needed to.

If you are prepared to wait, I would join the union, and ask for support once the minimum period was up. It's a situation that's been going on for a while, so will another 2 or 3 months make a big difference?

@tilyougetenough I don't know whether your work expectation was misrepresented to you or is unfair. However, it may well be that your attitude hasn't endeared you to your manager and is maybe why they are not especially supportive. The public sector is stretched in all directions as well so pay increases are sensitive.
You could always try your luck applying elsewhere?

unions are there for members like an insurance policy. you pay up monthly in the hope you never need them!

i’ve been in mine paying my subs for over 20 years.

all this money from members like me has been used to pay for lawyers and legal advice, somwtimes to take the government to court costing millions for example thw macleod judgement for firemen etc, travelling expenses for reps to get to places members need them etc, full time union reps who help members and who are experts in things, running costs like AGM meeting room hire etc.

union reps also sit on pay negotiation boards where they discuss terms and conditions and try and get a better deal for workers. this is why we have things like paternity leave etc.

unions are the reasons we have weekends off! Many employers wouldnt dream of that but the combined force of unions made them. They are important.

what they are not is something you pay twenty quid to a couple of times, while racking up significantly more costs than that for reps to assist you only once you have a problem. Those costs are subsidised by people like me. Why should i want my money used to help you? you haven’t paid in for long, why should you get help. youll only leave again once you receive it……until next time.

in answer to your question i dont know if posts are still allowed to be regraded. it stopped for a while with the recruitment freeze. you’d have to ask HR what the regrading policy is.

You should join a union if you believe that collective bargaining is a good idea, and if you think that unions are there not just for when things go wrong. In other words you pay your subs so other people get help when they need it.

No, they are there to represent workers, and to ensure employers behave fairly on the whole, not just for one-off cases. In order for them to be able to do so, members need to pay their dues. If people just joined when they had problems, then cancelled, they would not be able to afford to function!

Not all unions will represent you with an existing grievance so it would be worth checking that out before joining to see if they would actually help you.