Aibu to say I wish low paid workers all over uk would rediscover the power of union membership?

[Graphista]

Several threads and obvious current affairs issues have prompted this thread.

1 zero hours contracts

2 Employers demanding sick noted from Drs when it's not legally required and not necessary for the employee to visit the dr

3 Employers making workers register as self employed to dodge regulations and taxes

4 employers and consumers pushing for people to be working 24/7/365 in industries where this is not necessary

5 workers no longer paid extra for overtime, Sunday's, bank holidays

6 workers facing massively restrictive conditions eg leave bans for months at a time

7 discriminatory practices on the rise

8 bullying & punitive practices: eg zero hours workers if they turn down a shift not being offered shifts

workers who've displeased a boss being given the shitty tasks as punishment.

Workers being denied leave if asking soon after displeasing a boss

Workers being denied time off to go to medical and maternity appointments

Leave being cancelled last minute for no good reason

9 basically workers being treated as machines rather than people!

These are all the kind of issues that unions should and can deal with.

People seemed to have become resistant to union membership and unions have had a bad press for the last ooooh 40+ years can't imagine why the whole time we've basically had right wing governments who don't like unions

And to have forgotten that actually we've got a lot to be grateful to unions for. They're the organisations that fought to end child labour, to get equal opportunities enshrined in law, for employees health & safety (literally saving lives), maternity rights, parental rights, sexual harassment at work made illegal, shorter working days & test periods legislated for...

Yes sometimes strike action was taken but that's generally a last resort.

Employers are LOVING that you're not in a union, because especially with legal aid removed for employment disputes as a lone voice if your employer decides to treat you like shit there's very little you can do.

This govt are LOVING that you're not in a union because it makes it a damn sight harder to hold them to account for not protecting you and your rights too.

The current apathy in this country is shocking and it's not helping anyone. And if we accept the current poor treatment it's only going to get worse and then employment conditions for our children and grandchildren will be even worse. Do you really want that?

Viva la revolution.

However unions won’t work as most low paid jobs I’ve ever had don’t recognise unions.

Exactly as Cranky17 says, i work in private sector and none of the places Ive worked have recognised a Union, so al though i could join one they will have no power. If i have a workplace issue I would get as much or more support by just calling ACAS for free or obtaining legal advice from the anonymous employee assistance service provided by my employer.

Totally agree.. along with employers expecting workers to be actually grateful for their jobs .. so therefore expecting them to work bank holidays when not previously agreed and taking the absolute .P. Also esp as they make a lot of money on the backs of the workers they poorly pay .. however I may be slightly incensed by a 'poor me' boss I have encountered this evening and I may also be a union rep

Yes and help fund their fat cat leaders! They are just as bad as any other boss for taking the cream off the top

But they can also campaign to get recognition. It's illegal to prevent employees from joining a union and they can do more for you than acas.

I came out of a union a couple of years ago. They were shit! I was going through a grievance procedure and they were useless. Couldn’t even come to the meeting with me! I went on my own! Fees cancelled after that!

Onlyjoinedforthisthread - unions are answerable to their members of the leaders are being overpaid then members can challenge that within the union or move to another union or even start their own.

Totally agree.

We need to protest more, like the French.

Yanbu

Sadly Graphista although I totally and y utterly agree with you( and spend a lot of time as a rep campaigning for my public sector union and our members) I think we are now considered to be the Dinosaurs

Great idea. Power is only found in the masses
It’s a divide a conquer society. Blame the poor for being poor. Blame people for having zero hours contracts.

When the inions started they had no power.

But: the downfall of the unions was power within power. so as long as that doesn’t happen

Yanbu

Hear hear OP.

Most of our workers' rights, contrary to popular current opinion, were achieved through Trades Unions.

I agree too, but people don't seem to see it at the moment. I think that conditions will get worse and worse until people will finally revolt and start standing up for themselves, as a group rather than an individual. But probably not in my working lifetime.

I’ve worked for a (major) union, had to join another union under pressure ( in the closed shop and secondary recruitment campaign days ) and then called on that union for help with an employment issue and received sweet nothing in return for my considerable subs. Corruption, complacency and self serving is my experience of the way unions actually operate so no, I won’t be encouraging anyone to join.

A couple of years ago, at a family gathering I was saying to the younger generations in my family (i am in my 60's) that I was disappointed that youngsters nowadays do not belong to or seek out membership of trade unions, i was shouted down and told that it was an outdated notion.
i told them that some of them would live to regret that stance, and unfortunately i have been proved right in two cases ACAS could only help them so far.
I think that everyone should visit the museum at Tolpuddle, to appreciate why trade unions are so necessary, I can't believe how some employers are treating their staff, who are so desperate for jobs they accept very unfair treatment.

@PlatypusPie
But I think most people agree the concept of the old guard unions is dead.
We need fresh new unions.
They are seen as dinosaurs, but we do need something in their place. Not just a massive void

I was in a union in my last job. I never thought they were any good and it was a waste of money, but the old timers I worked with always convinced me to stay in the union. That was until there was a restructuring and mass redundancies, that’s when I realised how fab they actually are. They secured very good payouts for those who were made redundant and gave legal support to those who felt they’d been unfairly treated. Out of all of the staff who were eligible to be in the union everyone apart from one man were members (some levels of management weren’t allowed). This meant that they were taken very seriously.
My DH works in a profession where there is no official union. He and his colleagues are treated like sh*t. I’m always telling him someone should set up a union for his profession as a lot of the rubbish employers in his sector pull would stop or reduce a lot if there was a strong union presence.

Unions : The people who brought you the Weekends

Im part of a union through my work. Works for some things but not for others and often the Union Reps are too scared to rock the boat too.

Amen to that

Bit we do need something new. There are huge new problems in the work place. They aren’t as obvious as women get paid less for the same job
Or that no one has weekends
We need unions that are up to date with the current working world we are in.

Yanbu

The more people that join unions, the more that unions areforced to actually modernise and that employers are forced to respect their workers!!

The boss of a supermarket can’t do anything with his checkout staff.

And going on about the past doesn’t help. It alienates people from jointing unions.
In reality, oh they stopped 7 yr olds working down the mine means nothing today

USDAW are recognised by at least some retailers - Primark recognise them and are fairly OK at working with reps in-store. Lots of union reps who are in sales assistant roles.