I’m a union rep in the civil service dealing with casework - AMA

[HopelessHannah]

Hi - I’ve been working as a union caseworker for years, and just when you think nothing can shock you, something comes along that does.

If a member had been disciplined by the employer because they had gender critical beliefs would they receive support from your union?.

Yeah, why are unions treating women so appallingly? Why are unions so far down the Stonewall rabbit hole?

It’s like Harriet Taylor Mill never existed.

@BoeotianNightmareyes, but we would make sure they had a rep that was comfortable with helping them.

We're living in an era where a union rep has to be 'comfortable' with helping a feminist fight for their womens rights! What a time to be alive! 🙄😡

@ThatBlackCat I agree. But some of our reps are trans. There would be no point in asking one of them to do it.

Why not? Do they not support female colleagues? Do they not follow the law?

(p.s. I was a union rep myself for what is now the UCU)

Do you think there’s an awful lot of people who use their health as a reason to deliver very little, and they can’t be performance managed because no one wants a tribunal case. And then people genuinely treated badly, who work hard, but they don’t know how to play the system

@Makingadecisionyes, but the tolerance is much lower than it used to be and poor performers are being managed out at speed. Unfortunately a lot of poor performers have protected characteristics (not always health related), and I’ve seen a number managed out who probably could have just done with a bit more support to do their jobs. Equally, I’ve seen a large number of lead swingers who deserve to be managed out. Claiming mental health issues generally won’t protect you from dismissal these days.

Why do so many union reps give absolutely appalling advice?

My husband works in discipline and grievance in the public sector and the number of times he's cringed himself inside out because a union rep has given an individual shocking (and often legally incorrect) advice is really embarrassing.

I like to think that we do help those who work hard and who are treated badly. It helps a lot, at a disciplinary to have an experienced union rep. I’ve managed to get a significant number of misconduct cases either downgraded or overturned, when we can show that it is vindictive or the result of poor management or procedures not being put in place.

Do you think unions have any awareness that gender critical women are leaving them? I have left mine as they don’t support gender critical in the workplace however I don’t think the union understands this and probably just thinks “good riddance”!

@TheAutumnCrow there would be little point in having a union rep represent someone when their personal views were in conflict.

@JudgeBread a lot of them have no training and make it up as they go along. We have no legal training but we have lawyers that we can consult. And we won’t let anyone do casework who hasn’t done the training and hasn’t shadowed a more senior rep on a few cases.

@Rippedadventwindow no, I’m not aware of it. The only people who leave us are those that we can’t help - usually if they have joined us with an ongoing case. If people made this known, we would certainly look into it.

What would you have said to Sandie Peggie if she came to you at the beginning of her ordeal?

Makes sense.

The very first comment and you are asking exactly what I would ask. And so would lots of others based on the comments.
My question - if there are trans reps…. Are they fighting for the trans” rights” eg the right for men to use ladies loos, changing rooms. The right to get women sacked for having an opinion?

Are you in the employ of the union or of the civil service?
how many days training do you have?

Do you have direct access to lawyers? I am presuming Thompsons, or does it need to be vetted first?

What ratio of trans reps are there to your membership?

Does your union work put you in conflict with management? Have you found it affected your career progression?

Us. We're paying for them.

I certainly made it known to my union that that was the reason I left. Whether anyone looked at the email, I’ve no idea.

Are you involved in pay negotiations? Every year my department dispute the (always below inflation) pay award, every year the department basically ignore them. I was a TU rep in the 3rd sector before joining the CS and we had actual proper clout on what the pay settlement looked like.

Have you ever seen a successful pay dispute in the CS?

Nb. Most union case work isn't about any sort of campaigning, it's about ensuring employment law and employer policy is delivered in respect of the employee in question. I used to get loads of stuff raised that we'd file in the 'I see why you feel annoyed, but it's not a union matter'.

Roughly what is the balance you see between cases where the employee clearly has a strong case against the employer, those where they're obviously trying it on, and those where it could be argued both ways?