To be cross with colleagues who have decided to go to work on strike day?

[natation]

I am a UK civil servant who has witnessed rapid deterioration of working conditions, whose department has been many times in the news recently for failing to fulfil its security obligations (mainly down to the 25% target to sack staff). It appears the south east branches have shown pretty solid support for the public sector strike, except where we are. I find it unexplainable why every single union member decided to work this morning!!! AIBU to be really cross with them? I feel quite betrayed.

Smallwhitecat well said!

rocksandhardplaces what even if that means your family eating turkey ham instead of real turkey this year

YABU

It is entirely up to them. I am a teacher and the school I work at is closed today (secondary) - I am striking (unsurprisingly, that actually means working for 7 hrs at home today instead so far - this is my first break!) but I know many of my colleagues are not (and will spent the day doing exactly the same as me - working - but at school getting paid). They are, in general, the younger members of staff who can less afford to lose a days pay and they know already that enough staff will strike to have the effect of closing the school so I really don't judge them at all.

well, there are plenty of people on here who will make the point that the government didn't get in by a majority.

and the difference between te government and a trade union is that what the unions decide isn't the law, thankfully, and its members do actually have free will over whether they do/don't go on strike.

The fact is that a majority of members didn't vote in favour of strike action.

But it wasn't a majority - wasn't it a pretty dismal number who voted? And apart from the principle, it's a rotten time of the year to give up a day's money - should support for your colleagues come before support for your family?

The truth is that we're all grumpy and miserable and tired and over-worked and underpaid at the moment - but is there an option?

YANBU I can't really understand why these people are in Unions

People chose not to vote. If you choose not to vote, you are saying that you don't care what others choose, you are choosing to let others make a decision.

Smallwhitecat, you are right. A union is not the same as a government. If someone doesn't agree with the outcome of a vote on strike action, they can choose to leave the union. I am simply saying you shouldn't call yourself a member of an organisation if you can't be bothered to vote on or take part in action. You certainly shouldn't expect representation from that union when things go wrong for you in work if you are not willing to take part in actions that the majority of people who bothered to vote chose as a way forward.

If members don't stand together as a union, then they are weakened when it comes to all aspects of their work. It's just hypocrisy to call yourself a member of a union when you are only in it for your own ends, plain and simple.

and how much are these union chiefs getting paid? ?

"I disagree. If you pay your dues you are entitled to avail yourself of the services the Union offers. Doesn't mean you have to go along with every dumb-arse
thing they decide to do." amen.

Luckily my wife isn't working anymore so she's at home with dd, dd's school being closed due to the strike.
If DW was working, we'd be paying an extra day's childcare for dd, so that the poor public sector complainers can strike over a decision that will not be changed whether they strike or not.
I'm private sector, so can't strike even if I wanted to. I have to be grateful for still being in a job, while payrises are stopped, pay is cut, staff who leave aren't replaced, training budgets disappear and our pensions are also affected.
But it's all the private sector's fault isn't it? Bollocks.

So you are going to stay in a union that you hate, publically pillory and won't take action on? I don't really get it.

It affects the bargaining power of a union if its members don't appear to support its actions. It's only clout is that it can rally workers to take joint action. Otherwise, it has no power. That is a bit different to other organisations, as it actually compromises the whole if individual members are not committed.

If you aren't in one, I'm not really sure why you feel so strongly about it .

Extraneous apostrophe there

YABU.

Do you know if they can afford to take a day off?

Can they afford childcare or even find childcare?

Do they understand?

Do they care?

It's your decision to strike as much as it is their decision not to.

The people being unreasonable were the strikers who went on strike but went christmas shopping etc, if your going to strike get to a rally or to the picket line and make the action count for something

As others have said, if these non striking people were in a union then YANBU. What on earth is the point of being in a union if you are not going to unite with them at times like these? A union will stand up for you in difficult times (eg. tribunals, allegations as a teacher etc). so any union member really should be striking. Its a two way thing. If you dont agree with the strikes then leave and join another union.

Luckily as a teacher I do nt have this dilemma as it is my union striking this time but I am on maternity leave.

YABU.

YANBU. They're union members, that's not how a union works.

YABU

Nobody should be bullied into striking.

I'm not in a union (for exactly this reason) but many of my colleagues are and our schools ran totally as normal today, nobody away at all.

If people had gone on strike it would have been carnage. We've had our school production this morning and many sports matches this afternoon plus a couple of important meetings. A school staff is a team, we can't just have people deciding not to work, it lets the rest of us and all of the children down.

I went into work today. I am not in the union. While I agree with the unions' concerns, I do not agree with striking. I am contracted to work and if I am fit and able to work then I go to work.
However when I started working in the public sector one of the things my employed offered me (and I accepted) was my pension. What gives them them the right to meddle with it?
I am less than 10 years from potentially collecting my work pension (not my state pension - that is different), many are even closer than me. I now have to pay more (almost double) to get a pension far short of what I was expecting. And because I have to pay more I don't even have the funds to put a bit extra aside to compensate.