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

[ILovePud]

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?

our appointments are usually cancelled due to staff holidays
its hardly an unusual occurence

I would do what you are doing OP - no hesitation.

For me the patients come first. We were asked to work to rule 3 years ago - I didn't because at the point I was supposed to have a break I was with someone upset and I left late because I was dealing with a safeguarding issue. For me it's duty of care question and my union's support would be meaningless if a patient suffered in anyway because of my decision to strike.

As a midwife you are very much advised to have indemnity insurance in fact I have continued mine non practicing and I get it through a union. I wouldn't be striking tomorrow if I was practising and I would be looking for a new union if I was required to. It's a free county and I am allowed to enter places without fear of abuse - striking is not a right to be nasty.

Can I just say that I am very sensitive about this as a child I was bullied and physically attacked by other children because my mum crossed a picket line to work. My head smacked off a wall and I was spat on - I was 8. The head had worked in a primary school in Wales during the coal strikes and he had to manage fights with weapons over the strike in school.

I find the attitudes towards the right to strike disgusting. If you have the right to strike you have the right not to and it should be peaceful protest.

OP I admire you.

I don't recall people saying that the right to strike went hand in hand with a right to be nasty or even worse violent. It's also rather offensive to suggest that those exercising the right to strike don't care about those they work to serve.

I'll not pass any picket line tomorrow.

Sooty

Words like scab & disrespectful have been used in relation to choosing not to strike. Workers are expected to scuttle past in shame and one poster even said she would not sent her child to school if her teacher was stabbing.

Working to rule is the most dangerous tactic ever employed by unions because it's impossible to say WHAT is needed to ensure the service is covered safely. Unpaid hours are not recorded effectively and we could end up with dangerous unknown gaps.

I do think anyone who disregards their union's call to strike should be ashamed. I make no apology for that. People who feel so strongly against strike action or working to rule have a right to their opinions but in my view should not expect to remain members of those unions or to be supported by them.

I would think that your patients will be very grateful OP. Striking in general has never sat too well with me, and I am entitled to that opinion. YANBU.

if it were my healthcare professional, i would be very disappointed in their attitude, not grateful
we know op does not work in emergency care as they are still working, with their uniin's blessing. if her job was that vital, an exemption would have been made.

I think you havesa point tiggytape about how times have changed. I would add something to that though. Since the Thatcher era people have largely lost any sense or understanding of collective responsibility and simply cannot see that there are occasions where decisions are made as a body and after that point you don't act as an individual and undermine your colleagues.

YABU. If you don't believe in striking, you shouldn't be in the Union. The idea of a Union is that you all stick together for the "greater good" - not just pick and choose what suits you. You'd be quick to call on their support if you ever needed it but not willing to give anything back.
It undermines your colleagues and the sector in general.
It really annoys me when people do this - and I'm saying this a person that isn't a member of a union.

It’s very sad to see how many people are selfish enough to think that their personal convenience trumps the greater good - Maggie must be dancing with joy to see how well she and her descendents have succeeded with their ‘Divide and Rule’ tactics...

OP, YABVU – the strike was not sprung on you, there has been plenty of time to rearrange appointments. If clinics can be cancelled and operations postponed on what seems to be a daily basis (I know two people in the last week who’ve sat in hospital all day waiting for operations –one major, one minor – and then been sent home because there were no beds available...) then your patients appointments could be rescheduled.

Please, at least donate your days pay to your Union’s strike fund (as suggested earlier)

your union might not want the money

mine would not take it.

If you have the right to strike you have the right not to

this is confusing the legal right to strike and the moral obligation of union members to abide by the democratic decision of their peers.

Rereading the OP, she writes that previous strikes have not been well-supported and it was only after she discovered most of her colleagues would be striking that she started to rethink her stance, because she was worried about the picket line and the possible guilt tripping by her colleagues. No mention of being worried about her betrayal of her co-workers.

The answer is simple - YABU as a union member to cross a picket line. You are letting down your colleagues and they will probably remember this for a long time. Either resign from the union or go out on strike.

How about your moral duty to your family.

I'm certain there are 1000's of very poorly paid workers who disagree with Unison's strike policies, but feel obliged to pay for legal help etc. because they need their jobs to support their families.

I suspect unlike teachers, many auxiliary staff don't have anywhere else to join.

Some might view a moral duty to one's family about teaching your children the value of standing up to be counted, of supporting your co-workers, about fighting for justice, taking a stand. Not taking the good parts of being a union member (the benefits) but rejecting the hard parts like going out on strike and losing your wage for that period of time.

because if everyone thought like that unions would cease to function. Your view is of something more akin to a friendly society, where you pay in a certain amount in return for certain benefits. A union campaigns to improve the rights of workers and without the ultimate sanction of strike action they have a very limited range of effective options. IME it is often the lowest paid staff who support strike action because of their low wages - that's how desperate they are for success they are prepared to sacrifice money they really cannot afford to lose.

Ultimately - if you don't want to go out on strike, either join a non-striking union or don't join a union at all.

I wouldn't join a union, but I'm a articulate graduate, married to a DH who can make sense of intellectual copyright law, with a DDad who took his employers to court for unfair dismissal and won.

That's not a fair comparison with a young nursing auxiliary deciding to join the union, because she feels very small and vulnerable in the vast NHS.

YABU, I wouldn't want to be in the position of going into work as a member of striking unions, it isn't about a short term problem, it's long term.

My partner works in the NHS and is a member of a union. But the union is also the professional body for the discipline, so what other non-striking union should they join exactly?

(And only just over half of those voting were in favour, and only about 40% of those eligible voted. So just over 20% of those who are eligible have voted to support the strike. Doesn't seem right to me.)

I have the legal right not to strike and morally I don't believe it's right to strike. Morally I would put my patients first.

Had I been balloted I would have voted No

I have to be in a union for the indemnity insurance even as a NON-Practising midwife... If I leave that union I lose the retrospective cover - it can not be transferred to another union.
It's not a 'choice' - I am now parent carer paying £13 a month to union who do not even take my opinion into account

Yet up thread i am considered to have a 'choice' about unions - I don't and I disagree with their decision to strike.

It does not make me morally wrong nor do I make any judgement on those who want to strike. All I ask is my choice to not support striking is not vilified

Many union members are also articulate graduates and some even have partners who are actually qualified in the law. Union members don't come in a "one size fits all" package.

Anyone can choose not to support their union in strike action. That is one matter. Crossing a picket line organised by your union is a totally different matter.

Having the legal right to join a union is different yet again, and separate from the personal choice/right of a union member not to support a democratic decision in favour of strike action. Noting that less than 20% of those eligible to vote voted against strike action, which casts a rather different light from the interpretation above. The fact remains there was a decision in favour of strike action.

And of course those who supported the strike have the right to their opinions about those union members who broke it.

OP you have my respect. I wouldn't bother worrying about what other's think. Do what you can live with.

I'm bloody glad there is no reason for me to join a union as I personally cant stand the mob mentality of it all.

Think you are BU OP.
Solidarity- without it, there's nothing.

What's being an 'articulate graduate' got to do with not joining a Union? How very patronising some of the remarks are on here.

It was a 4 hour strike. Hope it was worth it. You join a Union, your Union votes to strike and you opt out. So don't join the Union. What's the point?
Those who can't see that will never see it.

exactly bringbacksideburns ... and I say that as a masters owning union member