My manager has denounced non-strikers but I truly can’t afford it

[Strik]

In the office today the topic of upcoming strikes came up (public sector). My manager is as left-wing as they come and was not shy in sharing her contempt for people who don’t choose to strike. I’m really worried because I can’t afford to go on strike and she’s (obviously) going to find out that I’m not striking. I’m worried it’s going to damage our relationship. Has anyone been in this situation before?

Yes I always consider leaving my union. Now I know that people in them vote deliberately for strikes they never intend to go on, that makes me all the more annoyed.

I am suspicious though that the op is a plant. I've never met anyone in rl who admitted making other people go on strike to win themselves a pay rise at no expense to themselves. What a way to undermine people.

I'm in a union and voted no to striking. I simply cannot afford the time off. £50 won't help at all!

You do realise that no-one can afford to strike, it's not just you.
You joined the union, voted for strike action then decided that you, personally, can't afford it.
No-one can!
You can't be in a union, vote from for strike action then say you're doing it to give everyone else the opportunity to strike.
Whatever goals your union achieves by strike action you will reap the benefits of: pay, T&Cs etc.
Why would that be fair?
Being in a union makes you a collective, a group of people standing together.
If you don't strike and go into work you'll be a scab.
I wouldn't just worry about what your manager says, I'd be worried about your colleagues too, chances are you'll be persona non grata at work.
I'm in a union, can't strike due to my grade and safety reasons but there's absolutely no way I would cross a picket line.
You need to stand firm and support your colleagues.
Have a serious think about what you're doing.

So you’re happy to not accept the pay rises and improved conditions the union negotiated?

Just change the subject or keep quiet or leave the room?

Are you in the union? Will you benefit from gains etc won by the union?

I am in a union. I voted yes to strikes.

@Strik you voted yes to strikes. You’ll take the pay rise those strikes bring. I went on strike a couple of years ago. The strike was unpopular with the public, because my work group was seen as privileged by the public. My employer punished the strikers very harshly, but I would go on strike again if my fellow union members voted for it. If you do not want to go on strike, and do not intend to, you must vote no. You are not enabling others to strike. Many of my fellow strikers could not afford it but did so anyway because the union had voted.

I grew up in a background of family/community involvement strikes, protests and workers rights' and even I am not aware of all the ins and outs of how strikes work, as I've not been in a job where it's come up for me (am self-employed).

However, younger people know less about these things because the world has moved to the right, what was normal is now considered 'leftist' and what was disturbingly far right wing in my youth is now considered bland centrist (or the Labour Party).

The OP voted for the strike to show her support for its cause and would strike if she were not afraid of being unable to cope financially. Those saying 'we all suffer financially' don't know her particular position: some people could end up homeless with children if they get into any more arrears or debt; others might just have a few weeks of one meal a day.

OP, I'd talk to the manager if it were me, explaining how much I want to support the strike, but how scared I am of the consequences for me personally. It's important she understands that not everyone is in a position where they feel able to.

Having said that, we owe the basic rights and freedoms we still have left to the many workers who starved on strikes or were imprisoned or even died in protests to give them to us. I grew up with being a strikebreaker or a scab as the worst sin anyone could commit (really difficult for me atm trying to come to terms with my DH, an academic, not striking).

I just wouldn't judge someone as it can be scary and there isn't often in workplaces the solidarity and sense of community support that, for example, a mining community might have fostered.

The £80 is missing lots of points. Firstly that is for the lowest paid nurses for the average paid nurse it's more like £100. Which over the year is £1200. Somin 10 years assuming futher increase in wages it's more like £15,000 or more. Those further increases are so much more likely than if there had been no strikes. Striking stops workers being walked over, giving them better wages, pensions, holidays, stops them worker for hours overtime with no pay etc. Public sector pay isn't always brilliant but the holiday, sick pay, maternal pay is far far better than most private sector for similar jobs. So those few days of pain do much more in the long run than £80. Without strikes we would be in a Dickensian world
still. Some say that's where the Tories are aiming for again.

That's silly. OP didn't realise or think it out. Which was ignorant of her, but not malicious.

That will teach me to read before posting.

Leave the union and refuse any gains they win.

Loss of a day's pay often isn't much as people think it will be, because you already lose a chunk in tax and NI (33.8%) and probably pension deductions.

And if you're getting UC, UC will make up a fair bit of the difference, because it's based on net pay.

Well now you know I hope you're going to support your colleagues and go on strike. There's a hardship fund for those who really need it. Doubtless you'll benefit from the positive changes brought by the strike...

By voting yes, you’ve helped put other people in the same situation as you; can’t afford to strike, can’t afford not to. I completely understand why you might not want to strike, but it was a pretty selfish vote. Let other people stand on the picket line while worrying about their electricity bill.

That's an odd reason to vote yes to strike action !

Some unions have a fund to help in these situations. Contact them and tell them you can't afford to strike. They may give you the money. You should strike really otherwise your pay and conditions will. It improve and you'll continue to struggle

I have sympathy for people on different sides of this debate (striking and not striking for a variety of reasons, also those suffering from strike disruption), but you really shouldn't have voted to strike if you didn't plan to strike OP.

We live in a free society to some extent, but those freedoms were fought and strikes were one of the freedoms gained and one of the means to freedoms.

We do not live in a free society if people can't afford to choose work they find fulfilling and sufficiently renumerative. Breaking a strike is potentially taking away others' right to choose a sufficient quality of life.

Well I'd be militant if I knew someone had voted to strike then didn't because that's a severe misunderstanding of what a union ballot is.

If I thought they had voted to strike and we were picketing and OP sailed past us to work - and then got the pay rise? Yeah. You ça it bullying if you like but I would only ever speak to her in relation to work and then only ever as much as I had to.

OP is right to want union benefits - but if you're not prepared to strike vote 'no'. It's hardly rocket science. As for not knowing you don't get paid if you strike? I wonder if OP ever reads or hears anything at all from outside her own bubble?

Someone’s been reading the right wing press too avidly, if you thought going on strike means loafing about at home while you get paid. I guess the Fail and its like have done a good number on you believing that. It is hardship but you’re shafted already anyway.

Having said that, if you really can’t join, then that’s the way it is. Just don’t turn your anger towards your colleagues or union rep or whoever else. If you want to be angry, I suggest this 13 year long Tory government, their right wing mouthpiece press, Liz Truss and a succession of other incompetents who fucked the economy. I have a longer list too.

I voted yes to strikes because that way it enabled people who want to/who can, go on strike.

That's right up there with me voting for Brexit, not because I wanted to leave the EU but because I wanted to enable it to happen for the people who did want to leave.

No annual leave will be approved on an announce strike day. Only leave booked before the strike was announced will be allowed.

@Dotjones great analogy 😂

How is not being paid an 'invisible rule'? You're refusing to do any work, why would they pay you? If I got paid every time I went on strike I would permanently be on strike because there would be no incentive for me to ever do another days work.

OP doesn't realise that doing this means others who voted NO to striking and really don't want to strike will go on strike because she and her silly vote contributed to a majority decision, and most people understand that being in a union means adhering to strike edicts even if you didn't vote for them. So she's pushed people who didn't vote to strike into striking, when she doesn't intend to do it herself. It's breathtakingly selfish and ignorant .

I think this thread illustrates the strength of feeling people have about strike breakers. The OP was worried about the impact strike breaking may have on her work relationships. It would be really naive to think colleagues would be generally be supportive and understanding.

It is still considered by many people a shitty thing to do. I am really sorry for OP, that you didn’t understand the impact of your vote and now you’re in this position.

Fuck the Tories.