to say if you work, please join a union

[frankie80]

I have been off work for a year due to bullying, discrimination etc that caused me to have a breakdown and feel suicidal.

I went to my workplace rep who was nice and sympathetic but quickly realised she was out of her depth who passed me to the regional equality rep who has been absolutely amazing.

Thanks to my union, I have had:

1. my grievance and appeal letters written for me and damn, they are good. my work have struggled to wriggle out of what they have done

2, representation at all formal meetings from senior union officials 3, full pay for 12 months negotiated by my union 4, no annual leave taken off me even when I took (pre booked) holidays so I have had 40 days carried over into this year on top of this years entitlement 5, no bullshit. My union have been 100% honest about my case, whats strong, what's not strong 6, downgrading a disciplinary to a first written warning when it was looking like dismissal and pointing out to my employer that I am now adding victimisation to my case 7, introducing me to people who have had similar experiences for support network 8, got my employer to pay for specialised counselling (not the employee assistance programme) 9, got policy changes agreed in my workplace 10, got reasonable adjustments in place for me, including ones I hadn't considered 11, put an employment tribunal claim in for me 12, negotiated a positive reference for when I ever decide to leave 13, negotiated additional responsibilities etc for me at work in light of not being promoted due to my protected characteristics 14, putting me through union representative training so I can help colleagues 15, pushed for my line managers to be disciplined, if not fired, ensured their behaviour was not swept under the carpet 16, just sat and listened to me, let me cry and cry 17, answered emails and text messages at weekends and evenings. 18, sent me a very nice email saying how qualified, experienced and capable I am, not to mention strong and resilient and that they weren't just saying that because it was their job but that they were genuinely impressed with me.

I know so many people who are not in unions who got shafted by my employer. I was in a union since the age of 16 when I worked part time in a shop, now I'm full time in the public sector. My parents always insisted I join one and I thank them for that. I've only needed my union twice in my career but this occasion has been the biggie.

So although I've been a member for 17 years, I knew that didn't mean I was paying for nothing. You never know when union membership might be needed.

My union is Unison and I am so grateful to them because I really do not know how I would have coped this year without them. I do not have legal cover or anything like that I could have used instead. I did try going to HR at first but they were utterly incompetent and downright nasty - another thing that will feature in the tribunal claim. I am HR qualified btw so I'm not the typical HR hating employee.

So if you are in employment, please join a union, you don't know when you might need one. Yes there are workplace reps who are not very good (I've had some myself!) but always push for the regional rep if you aren't happy. I'd always rather be in a union than out of one.

Also don't make the assumption that if you are in a union then everything will go your way. If you steal something they are not going to pat you on the head, give you false hope and stop you from getting fired. They will, however, advise you of your options.

Anyway, if you join a union, make it Unison. They aren't just for the public sector.

Oh and the reps are continually at meetings or travelling to meetings and no one ever knows what it is for.

Meanwhile we pick up their work.

I agree with you in theory but they have been useless for my DH and have not done anything for me.

no annual leave taken off me even when I took (pre booked) holidays so I have had 40 days carried over into this year on top of this years entitlement

This just sounds like exploitation of the employer to me

Employees absolutely should be supported and protected - but that doesn't equal screw over the employer for everything you can take them for.

Is direct selling permitted on MN?

Plus a years full pay when the public sector is on its knees? come on surely you must see this is taking the piss a bit. If it was such a large organisation why not have them move you?

I'm in a union (Unison). 3rd sector, we get paid £10k more than non-unionised staff doing an equivalent job to us in other charities. This is not a coincidence.

This month alone, I’ve seen four separate cases that fell down due to mismanagement by the union.

I represent employers at tribunal. By far the worst managed and most frivolous and vexatious cases have been those supported by the union. I was employer side of 78 claims brought by the RMT, their lawyers were a joke. We won every claim. The judge lambasted them for the ridiculous claims they brought.

They clearly thought we would just settle but my boss at the time never settled a single case. The union played it all wrong, they'd been out on strike over it and everything, they had promised those poor low paid workers the earth. They got nothing (though the union did pay them double pay on strike days, so there's that).

It’s sad when people say unions have done nothing for them
except for paid holidays, maternity rights, paid sick leave, bringing an end to child labour, fighting for equal pay, better health and safety regulation, fighting workplace discrimination

We didn’t always have these rights and they weren’t jyst handed out without negotiation.

They were handed to both members and non member though

In general terms I agree with you ivy, but I have few of those things in my job. The reality is that unions do little for zero hour and short contract workers.

@JudgeJudee I've been on MN under various usernames for about 12 years now. I'm certainly not spamming.

Yes I vote Tory. I used to vote Labour but Corbyn took the party too far left and I am more centrist.

I also will never vote for anti-Semites due to my ancestry.

Yes I've had full pay for a year because my employer are the ones in the wrong and the senior rep pointed out Meikle v Nottingham council.

Also the annual leave issue is a legal thing, not my employer making an exception - you are allowed to carry over any annual leave accumulated for up to 18 months I think.

I intend to leave this organisation as soon as I can find something else, and try to get another public sector job, but I want to leave on my terms with my head held high, knowing that they have not gotten away with how they treated me.

My regional rep admits some of his colleagues aren't very good so I guess I got lucky with him but I'd still rather be in a union than out of one.

Yes if you've been employed 2+ years as you can't argue unfair dismissal before then. If that happens, CAB and ACAS have free resources. Discrimination cases can get legal aid or no win no fee i believe.

Tory and unionist eh?! 🤔

The trouble is ivykaty44 by saying that you’re completely invalidating the experiences of people who have been badly let down by Unions.

Until the unions take stock and realise that there are serious issues with how they operate nowadays there will continue to be a rot from inside and people will keep leaving (or never join in the first place).

Is it not the case that unions have little power to help people on zero hours contracts - the contracts being designed in such a way as to afford as few rights as possible to workers.

I’ve been with GMB for years . They are excellent. Unison didn’t turn up for meetings but the GMB rep was at every single one

I understand your point ivy and historically they may have done a fabulous job.

Just in my experience they are failing now.

And it doesn’t help my view when people are accepted to join only when they are in need (or cause trouble in the case of my bully who joined after 20 years slagging off the unions) when most of us have paid our dues for years.

They let me down. And others. And for supposedly one of the more powerful unions in the country, I was really disappointed in how I was represented.

I was in Unison and when I needed help they were utterly useless. Plus I’d rather shave my eyeballs than give money to Corbyn’s Labour Party.

GMB are abysmal.

They have their own ulterior motives that I can't get into here

Unison were also incredibly helpful when I needed them, worth every penny. Sorry you have had such a tough time, OP.

thanks @StarburstSurprise

I will be back at work in about a month and really nervous about facing managers. Not sure what to say to them, especially if they start making excuses or twisting it back on me. it will be hard not to lose my temper which will be what they want.

I'm not sure what sectors GMB cover? Are they transport?

Mixed feelings here. On balance i do think everyone should join a union even if they can be shit. Otherwise you should not expect to benefit from improvements that the unions secure for all of us.

I was part of a collective grievance a few years ago and the union rep was useless. But what did annoy me big time was when we achieved something that lots of us benefitted from, colleagues that refused to join us then gleefully accepted the result without so much as a thank you.

I understand how anxious you must feel about your return to work, OP, I worked myself up about it that just before I left the house I fainted. However, managed to pull myself together and went in. A year after my bullying manager was 'asked to resign' as she had upset so many people. 8 years later I am still there and genuinely love my job. Wish you all the best.

Ulterior motives such as what @MyuMe ? Bit remiss to make a statement like that with no explanation.

@stouffer you can choose whether or not to pay for the political contribution, so that's not a reason not to join.

So with all the experiences of bad union reps, why haven’t those complaining stepped up to do the job?

Yep, this with knobs on.

I'm not in the UK but I'm in a union similar, i think to the GMB. (or maybe Unison - that's affiliated to many unions across Europe and it's just occurred to me to wonder if Brexit will affect that).

A few years ago the company i worked for relocated and made a take-it-or-leave it offer to the 60 staff. none of them in a union. So i got together with my rep who gave me some good pointers and tips how to challenge this and try to work out a proper redundancy package.

Long story short, with the help of 3 other senior colleagues we got a really good package and yet i still had people telling me how shit unions are. But none of them wanted to give back their redundancy money.

HR is there for the company. They might do some happy-clappy keep employees relatively happy stuff - but mostly it is the absolute minimum compared to the companies who are voted best employer. Companies who are voted as the best employers, btw, have higher retention rates (and therefore hang on to expertise and have lower recruiting costs among other benefits). But if the company want to shaft the employees - the HR are the ones who do it.

If your rep is shit - vote for a better one next time (or stand yourself). Or go to the regional manager, or higher.