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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Would I be a scab

245 replies

Badlands1 · 28/06/2023 10:00

NC
My union have voted to strike. I have voted not to - am I scab if I work? I don't disagree with the unions requests but I am not happy with the effects the strike will have.

OP posts:
LoisPrice · 28/06/2023 14:12

MsPavlichenko · 28/06/2023 13:15

Weekends, annual leave, public holidays won by unions. Maternity and paternity leave and pay. Salary, sick pay, holiday pay, pensions. Unions got you that. Yea breaks/lunches etc. Unions. I could go on.

You may not have had call to use their services at an individual level but you have benefitted from the collective struggle unions have made and are making. I assume you’ll take any salary increase they negotiate after you stop paying dues?

All those saying that you don't have to act as a collective and strike - will you give up all the benefits that the unions collectively got you?

Happy to forgo 4 weeks holiday and reduce it to two weeks, forgo parental leave, bank holidays, maternity and paternity rights and pay? Work weekends for the same money you get now etc

Seebit · 28/06/2023 14:15

Personally I think if the Union votes to strike and you are part of that union then you should follow the majority.

Scirocco · 28/06/2023 14:18

If you want to be one of the clinicians for cover arrangements, just do that. No need to get worked up about it.

CatchYouOnTheFlippetyFlop · 28/06/2023 14:18

I personally don't agree with striking, it gets nobody anywhere

Are you for real? 😂

If it wasn't for people striking, many of us would not have half the terms and conditions we have in our jobs today, or are fighting for in the future.

Honestly, educate yourself. That is a massive insult to people who strike.

Maybe have a look at the Matchgirl strike of 1888, for starters.

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 28/06/2023 14:19

I don't get to strike if the rest of union voted not to. So why should someone not strike when the rest of the union voted to?

YABU and you should strike. The whole point is to demonstrate the impact of you not working.

PurpleChrayne · 28/06/2023 14:19

Nowt lower than a scab.

🤢

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 28/06/2023 14:22

That some people would abuse a strikebreaker is not a reason not to strike.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

User163876621 · 28/06/2023 14:22

It all sounds very rough and a bit uncouth.

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 28/06/2023 14:25

User163876621 · 28/06/2023 14:22

It all sounds very rough and a bit uncouth.

Have you perhaps posted on the wrong thread? Your comment looks like a non sequitur in this context.

Fluffyhoglets · 28/06/2023 14:26

I've left my union rather than strike if that's what they vote to do.
My work isn't important like DRs though and the only person who suffers if I strike is me.
I dont know the outcome of our ballot yet but I believe if I'm a union member and they vote to strike then I should support the strike and Ihave done so in the past. So I've left the union for the time being

Boomboom22 · 28/06/2023 14:27

LoisPrice · 28/06/2023 11:38

Being a union member doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything the union does, any more than voting for a particular political party has to mean you agree with every part of their manifesto.

it would be like the majority voting for the Green Party but the Labour Party disregarding it and putting themselves in power. If you agree to go with the majority and then back down when you don’t get your way, what does that make you? Why take part in any of it? Why vote? Why be a member?

Most teachers I don't know about Dr but unions are foe your own protection against false or even true allegations. They are not joined because people want a collective force but as insurance essentially. All teachers are told this is the one reason to be in a union, the other stuff is secondary. So to tell people to leave the union if they don't agree with some if the very weird views of all leftie extremist unions is a bit rich. No safeguarding lead would be in any teaching union if we thought like that.

LoisPrice · 28/06/2023 14:32

Most teachers I don't know about Dr but unions are foe your own protection against false or even true allegations. They are not joined because people want a collective force but as insurance essentially. All teachers are told this is the one reason to be in a union, the other stuff is secondary. So to tell people to leave the union if they don't agree with some if the very weird views of all leftie extremist unions is a bit rich. No safeguarding lead would be in any teaching union if we thought like that.

Oh I see you want them to have the protection but give fuck all back in return - I see where you're coming from now.

The clue was in the name, if not happy about the way a union works they should start there own body

RosesAndHellebores · 28/06/2023 14:34

If you don't strike you are behaving honourably and with decency towards your key stakeholders/patients. The people who, like you, pay tax to receive NHS Services.

I am rather tired of the annual allowance/pension tax argument. Dr's are not the only people affected by this but they have bleated the loudest and complained to their customers. Dreadful behaviour.

You voted against the strike. Therefore don't strike. You could, however, decline your pay for that day whilst working or donate it to your union.

Mari9999 · 28/06/2023 14:38

@Badlands1
Do what you think best and assume that your colleagues, like you, are doing what they think best. There is no superior position in this situation.

SerafinasGoose · 28/06/2023 14:40

Malarandras · 28/06/2023 13:27

This isn’t the 1970s and childish name calling achieves nothing. Being a member of a union does not, regardless of what anyone else may think, oblige you to strike. I would say that if you disagree with the union you should leave. That’s what I did. Mine was abysmally run, did not communicate with members and went off and did whatever it liked regardless of what members thought.

So does mine. I have other gripes with them too. I've long considered leaving, but a precarious situation in relation to my workplace specifically means that leaving at present would be really ill-advised. Union members are better-protected than those staff who are not, and this union is the strongest we've got.

My local branch are fantastic and right on the ball - unlike the General Secretary who has IMO seriously mismanaged the current dispute - and are another reason I'm still there.

I won't be voting 'YES' in any further ballots for action - I didn't in the last - as from my current position it's akin to shooting myself in the foot. But having taken the decision to remain in the union, I view that as also being a decision to back the majority view.

It's becoming increasingly difficult, I've lost a country fortune, and the MAB in particular has been very unpleasant and divisive. There are reasons as to why the General Secretary has painted herself into a corner with that one. Seriously, she's inept. But union means union.

These dilemmas are always difficult, nuanced, and require weighing up the lesser of the evils available. No one nowadays should be treated unprofessionally and certainly not called a 'scab'. But there's nothing you can do about losing the trust of your colleagues, and once that's gone it can be very difficult to get it back.

LaReinaDelMar · 28/06/2023 14:49

Mari9999 · 28/06/2023 14:38

@Badlands1
Do what you think best and assume that your colleagues, like you, are doing what they think best. There is no superior position in this situation.

There is if OP would accept what they are striking for, whilst not being will to strike herself.

So say they want better pay and get it, if she doesn't strike, she should turn the payrise down.

Cherrysoup · 28/06/2023 14:50

I’m my union’s rep at work and you have to do with what sits with you as morally correct/right for you. These people saying you’re a scab (you asked for it!) are ridiculous. Financially, it has an impact, so if it’s going to affect you, then go to work. You voted against striking, if it’s school, then consider swapping to a less militant union eg the NAS/UWT. I certainly haven’t told my members they’re ‘scabs.’

Burning braziers and donkey jackets, Yosser Hughes for those of a certain age! Given it’ll be the 6th and 7th day of strikes if you’re in education, I frankly can’t blame you.

GrinAndVomit · 28/06/2023 14:52

Is there an alternative to being in a union? Some sort of insurance policy which you pay into and they would provide legal advice and representation but you wouldn’t be obligated to participate in strikes that you disagree with?

Ultimately, unions work on “strength in numbers” but if you’re explicitly told to leave if you have differing views on one particular strike, well that’s going to affect numbers and that will affect strength.

It seems a bit shortsighted to have an all or nothing policy.

GrinAndVomit · 28/06/2023 14:53

LaReinaDelMar · 28/06/2023 14:49

There is if OP would accept what they are striking for, whilst not being will to strike herself.

So say they want better pay and get it, if she doesn't strike, she should turn the payrise down.

What about staff in different unions who aren’t striking?

GrinAndVomit · 28/06/2023 14:55

PurpleChrayne · 28/06/2023 14:19

Nowt lower than a scab.

🤢

Child molesters?
Rapists?
Murderers?
Sex and people traffickers?
Domestic abusers?

RoseAndRose · 28/06/2023 14:56

Boomboom22 · 28/06/2023 14:27

Most teachers I don't know about Dr but unions are foe your own protection against false or even true allegations. They are not joined because people want a collective force but as insurance essentially. All teachers are told this is the one reason to be in a union, the other stuff is secondary. So to tell people to leave the union if they don't agree with some if the very weird views of all leftie extremist unions is a bit rich. No safeguarding lead would be in any teaching union if we thought like that.

If that's the case, then you can join a teaching union which does not strike or has non-binding strikes

So yes you can leave a union that does have binding strikes and swop

And binding strike action is not "weird", it's core

Aitchoo · 28/06/2023 14:56

The name calling is surprising. Ive been a union member my whole career (25yrs), and have never heard anything like that being used / said.

I dont understand why you would want to go against the vote though. Its the very thing that SB is counting on. The longer he holds out, the more people there will be like you who vote against striking, and cross the picket line so eventually the union wont have enough votes to hold a strike. Any potential negotiations will then be scrapped, and it will encourage the current government to continue with their opinion that unions should be disbanded, etc....the bigger picture is not a good look.

I also assume you want to benefit from the unions power, or would you decline any good that came from these strikes?

Also, as a general comment....we need to remember we are lucky to have unions in the UK, and that they do serve us well. I look across the pond to the USA, and see people being demonised because they are trying to unionise in their workplace. Workers rights are easily lost and extremely hard to regain.

YappyCamper · 28/06/2023 14:58

LittleLegsKeepGoing · 28/06/2023 11:31

I left my union when there was a vote to strike that carried but I didn't agree with. I couldn't square my membership with going against the collective vote so cancelled my membership.

You can only do what's right for you, but that's how I handled a similar situation.

I did the same just recently. Didn't like the pressure put on staff by union reps, didn't agree with reasons for striking (more complex than just pay), and I find my union ultimately ineffective so don't want to continue to pay to support them.

Deathbyfluffy · 28/06/2023 14:58

Artycrafts · 28/06/2023 11:18

Good for you OP, for not being one of the sheep.

Yes, how terrible that some people want to stand up for better pay and working conditions.
How dare they!

chupachucks · 28/06/2023 15:00

PurpleChrayne · 28/06/2023 14:19

Nowt lower than a scab.

🤢

How pathetic, I will work if I want to work and not if If I feel I don't. Like to bully co-workers much?