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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be in a union but not out on strike tomorrow?

248 replies

ILovePud · 12/10/2014 15:21

I'm an NHS clinician and my union has called a strike tomorrow. Strikes have not usually been well supported in my work place and I already had a clinic booked tomorrow. We all had to notify our management last week whether we would be striking and I said no. I felt uncomfortable with the idea of having to contact specific patients and cancel their appointments in a way that I wouldn't have done if it was a case of just omitting to book that clinic. I've become increasingly uncomfortable with this decision over the weekend as I've had some contact with colleagues and it seems that many of them will be striking and that there will be a picket line. I'll have to go in now and feel like I'm in a lose lose situation where I'm either letting down patients or letting down my colleagues. My colleagues are lovely people and none of them are going to have a go at me though there may be some more subtle guilt tripping. The strike's been called over the 1% pay rise offer rather than wider issues and whilst I think this is a crap offer compared with some of the other service issues in the local NHS at the moment this seems like small potatoes, for me at least. My reasons for being a union member have always been more about having access to support in the event of potential employment problems rather than collective bargaining, though obviously if they pay offer gets upped I'll feel the benefit of this along with everyone else and I do feel a bit bad about that. Am I being unreasonable to not be striking?

OP posts:
inabranstonpickle · 12/10/2014 21:18

Think things, not thin kings!

KatieKaye · 12/10/2014 21:19

Err - Evans - it's not all about you. That paragraph used "you" instead of "people". because it's shorter and snappier and easier to type. "You" is often used in this fashion.

yes, the opening sentence was directed at you personally, but not the whole post, which was about much broader issues of union membership, as would be blindingly obvious, not least because you've never said you belong to a union.

Why not READ the posts and don't lash out at people who happen to have a different point of view from you - and who also were out on strike in the 80s? it was pretty crap for loads of us.

ilovesooty · 12/10/2014 21:20

I think there were areas where the union could have offered me more support but by and large they were ok. My views on the responsibilities of union membership have been the same throughout my life though. If you want its support you strike when asked to, or leave. Your personal opinion if the vote doesn't go the way you want is irrelevant.

KatieKaye · 12/10/2014 21:20

thanks, sooty!

ilovesooty · 12/10/2014 21:23

The irony is, that certainly in teaching people join and pay their subs to be part of a union should they need support in the future

That wasn't my sole motivation. I joined because union membership matterd - still matters - to me.

I choose to be a member now: in a company which doesn't recognise unions.

BobPatandIgglePiggle · 12/10/2014 21:23

Yabu. Unless union members stand together then nothing will be protected.
I'll be striking tomorrow and will be furious if colleagues cover my work.

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 12/10/2014 21:23

Sooty - Katie's post to me: You chose to join a union - or not to join one. By joining a union you accept that in return for various form of assistance from the union you also agree to support lawful industrial action - which means strikes voted on and agreed by your fellow union members. Picking and choosing doesn't come into it - if you don't agree, then you are free to resign*

I think that was aimed specifically at me. It mentions "you" several times after my name.
I am quite justified in disagreeing Smile

inabranstonpickle · 12/10/2014 21:23

But it's "if you want its support" I take issue with. Making out the union are doing great incredible things and they're asking this one little thing from us is misleading. All the strikes have done is create a ruckus amongst disgruntled parents, lost people pay - and not achieved what they set out to achieve!

Meanwhile,teachers "leave" every year to "seek out further opportunities" ie threatened with capability.

inabranstonpickle · 12/10/2014 21:24

Sooty - some people, then :)

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 12/10/2014 21:24

Katie - I haven't "lashed out" at all. Confused

WooWooOwl · 12/10/2014 21:25

The union rep who came to my workplace sold her union by talking about the support they could give with employment issues and the insurance that members would get if a complaint was made against them. Literally nothing was said about strikes.

Unions are not all about striking and going with collective votes IMO. They are just as much about supporting individuals who have paid into the pot and then need help with work issues.

ilovesooty · 12/10/2014 21:26

I just feel that unions have changed hugely since the 80s and they aren't a political force now but a legal one and many people sign up with that understanding

Very possibly people do have that understanding - personally I think that's both sad and misguided.

Maiyakat · 12/10/2014 21:27

Agent - my union has never gone on strike, and I never thought it would (and it's not a proper strike at all, as weekend service is being maintained. That what annoys me the most - if it was a full withdrawal of service we may actually get results)

Sonja - thanks - it won't make one iota of difference though. Total waste of time.

ilovesooty · 12/10/2014 21:29

WooWoo she probably had to sell it like that. People want to know what's in it for them. They aren't keen in too many cases to hear what their collective responsibilities are.

creampie · 12/10/2014 21:30

It's only a 4 hour strike. Why on earth couldn't you have just moved the clinic to the afternoon and out something less important into the strike period?

WooWooOwl · 12/10/2014 21:31

Then they can't be surprised if people don't support their strikes!

KatieKaye · 12/10/2014 21:31

Oh, okay Hmm

Does anyone actually READ anyone else's posts and digest the contents? Am starting to wonder . . .

So that was just passive aggressive then, Evans? My mistake to take a personal commnet directed at me personally. Confused

But what a perfect example of you not actually reading the posts and digesting the contents. Grin

Danlsb · 12/10/2014 21:31

Well done you for putting your patients first - I am also an nhs worker and my particular profession always agreed not to strike as it is unfair to patients who may have waited 6 months and made arrangements to be able to attend an appointment. Especially if you are having to cancel at the last minute. How would you feel if you have been waiting months for an appointment for your child or a vulnerable parent? I'm sure you would not then be criticising someone for not striking. Why should you quit the union just because you don't want to strike?! A lot of the time the vote to strike is won by a very small number e.g 55% so should the other 45% leave the union if they don't strike? We pay to be a member so you are still providing support even if you don't strike. Going on strike is not always the answer look at France they go on strike all the time and rather than improving things they instead are destroying their economy. Whilst I agree that we are worth more than 1% if there's no money where will the extra come from? I for one think you are doing the right thing and when you see your patients tomorrow you will know you have done the right thing. Good luck

Janethegirl · 12/10/2014 21:32

Fortunately I don't work on a Monday, so I dont have to cross a picket line. My sympathies OP, as I am in a union and do support strike action, but in my role I would go in to work, as if I didn't it would leave the vulnerable suffering, and I can't condone that.

sanfairyanne · 12/10/2014 21:35

france has the best medical care in the world

creampie · 12/10/2014 21:38

In fact, the strike is only 7-11. If you're doing a clinic you probably don't even start til 9. You should have just moved it back 2 hours. It wouldn't have been difficult, and would have saved you all this worry.

sanfairyanne · 12/10/2014 22:01

if the strike is only 7-11, the op's stance sounds even more feeble

ShirleyYoureNotSerious · 12/10/2014 22:16

"Emergency and urgent care is being covered. So only routine stuff such as your clinic is being cancelled. Your clinic could have been rebooked."

I don't know what sort of clinician the OP is. I don't suppose you do either Viva but if it's, say, an outpatients' clinic which gives results of cancer biopsies how "routine" would you consider it to be if you were one of the women who'd already waited two weeks for her results? I hope you don't know and will never know that 24/7 sick feeling, insomniac, stomach churning wait.

"Routine" doesn't automatically = "not urgent" or "not wildly important".

I'd donate 1% of my salary every day for the rest of my working life if it prevented a person from having an extra days wait to know what their chances of living are.

LaydeeC · 12/10/2014 22:51

Danlsb - I think you have completely missed the point of what being a member of a union is all about. I am completely puzzled by your comment that a decision to strike is won by a small number. It is still a majority vote and that should mean that all members then strike.
No-one, absolutely no-one would choose to actively strike and lose money without good reason or put patient care at risk. So why should some members do that so that another member can benefit from any gains that are made.

I do actually think that if you are a member of a union and break a strike you should not receive support from that union.

There are no wildcat strikes anymore and there has been plenty of notice about this one. Could clinics not have been rescheduled?

TooMuchCantBreath · 12/10/2014 22:57

Creampie "just" putting a clinic back by a couple of hours would be very difficult if not impossible.