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Original poster

Striker pay?

48 replies

query46 · 28/02/2018 12:23

My DH is a university lecturer. He is not in the union as he never got round to joining.

With the recent strikes, he rearranged his lectures and student contact hours so they took place during non-strike days.

He went into the uni on a strike day to do some urgent work but very early in the morning before the picket line had appeared

Please could someone advise me about whether he will get paid and if not being in the union affects things?

OP posts:

LisaSimpsonsbff · 28/02/2018 14:28

Is staff do get an email asking if they were striking, what would happen if no one replies?

If you refuse to tell them if you were working then they'd be justified in assuming you weren't.

flowery · 28/02/2018 14:44

If he wants to get paid he should contact his employer and confirm that he was not striking, and that it was purely a coincidence that he moved all his lectures and didn’t come into work.

katmarie · 28/02/2018 14:49

Just to say that rearranging his lectures to non strike days actually undermines the strike in a way. The point of striking is to make the organisation feel the absence of the people taking action, by causing disruption. By actively rearranging work in advance so that there's no 'pain' on strike day, it reduces the impact striking workers can have. If he wanted to strike he should have done so, otherwise he sould have gone into work as normal. As a PP mentioned, it seems like he's tried to have his cake and eat it.

Original poster

query46 · 28/02/2018 14:50

The student was in hospital but he had to escalate with staff. Picket line didn’t arrive til mid morning

OP posts:

ourkidmolly · 28/02/2018 15:11

I'm still confused. If he's not a union member then he shouldn't be striking should he? He definitely shouldn't have rearranged anything. That's putting him in a precarious position.

Original poster

query46 · 28/02/2018 15:19

Can only union members strike? (Dim question)

OP posts:

PlanNumber · 28/02/2018 15:23

Union members who strike have certain protections. i.e. you can't be dismissed for being absent as a union member during an official strike. Other employees simply have an unauthorised absence, which is entirely different.

ourkidmolly · 28/02/2018 15:26

Non union members can't be sacked for participating in a strike if a strike is legally organised. If he's going to strike, he might as well join the union and benefit from the associated protections etc.

BakedBeans47 · 28/02/2018 18:40

If you're not a union member then you're not at all protected from the consequences of the fact you've essentially just chosen not to turn up for work.•

You are as long as it’s a lawful strike.

SeniorRita · 28/02/2018 21:15

The reason employers ask is that people try to look like "good guys" to the union but don't actually confirm they are striking as they don't want to lose pay. They book holiday, have sudden caring emergencies, phone in with a 24hr bug, rearrange their work and don't need to be in.... It's not really how it works.

I suppose if he tells the employer he wasn't on strike he will gladly refuse any extra benefits the union manages to secure for staff?

ilovesooty · 28/02/2018 21:21

How can you "not get round" to joining a union?

HolyShet · 28/02/2018 22:35

Is staff do get an email asking if they were striking, what would happen if no one replies? At DHs work no reply = striking but who doesn't reply to emails from senior management.

what do you want from this, does your DH think he was on strike or not

Not to strike on this would seriously lack solidarity and be somewhat shortsighted, unless you're up for losing 60% of his pension

flowery · 01/03/2018 09:32

"what do you want from this, does your DH think he was on strike or not"

Yes, this. If your DH thinks he was on strike he obviously won't be expecting to get paid and won't be hiding from an email asking him whether he was or not.

If he doesn't think he was on strike, why rearrange his lectures, and why not proactively contact his employer to make it clear he wasn't striking, and should therefore get paid?

It really does sound as though he wants his striking, unpaid colleagues to think he was striking, but his employer to think he wasn't...

LisaSimpsonsbff · 01/03/2018 13:30

It really does sound as though he wants his striking, unpaid colleagues to think he was striking, but his employer to think he wasn't...

Absolutely. I decided not to strike, after a lot of agonising, and accepted that this would mean I'd have to cross a picket line and that many of my colleagues would judge me for my lack of solidarity. It pisses me off quite a lot that your husband thinks he can just weasel his way out of having to publicly admit he didn't strike - but I'm sure it would piss me off more if I had been on strike, and losing pay!

OhBuggerandArse · 01/03/2018 13:39

I take it that if the strike is successful he (and other non-joiners) will still expect to receive the benefits gained by the collective action of others?

I can't understand why colleagues are prepared to exploit their co-workers in this way, allowing others to bear the hardship and anxiety of being on strike but still thinking that they should be able to receive the benefits. Where do people think their pensions, pay and conditions came from in the first place? The benevolence of a selfless employer? If we aren't prepared to give solidarity and engage in collective action we have only ourselves to blame if we lose all the rights and entitlements that we've managed to hold on to.

And no, if you're not on strike you're not supporting the aims of the strike - you're actively working against it.

LisaSimpsonsbff · 01/03/2018 14:33

Well, as I said it was a really hard decision for me, but I'm on a temporary contract, pregnant, and would lose some of my maternity benefits as well as the direct pay if I went on strike. I'm currently pretty terrified that I'll never find another post after my current one at all, so I'm not really sure I will benefit from the pension much anyway, but in any case striking would have meant taking money out of our savings for lost pay at a time where we've never needed them more.

I absolutely respect the rights of others to strike, and I feel very, very guilty about the fact I'm not. I have resented, however, some of the people I've encountered who are in positions of much greater security and have no understanding of how much easier it is for them to make the decision to strike than someone in a much more precarious situation.

SeniorRita · 01/03/2018 19:11

LisaSimpsonsbff - most unions have a hardship fund and you can explain to them and they can pay you strike pay. One time, years ago, I was management side of a dispute with the RMT and they paid staff double pay when they were on strike.

I understand about the lost mat benefit though, if it falls in the weeks they use for you average pay that's really unfortunate.

BakedBeans47 · 01/03/2018 19:51

lisasimpson you shouldn’t feel bad at all. Being pregnant and the impact on mat pay is a very special set of circumstances. You would have been losing so much more than the days’ pay

BakedBeans47 · 01/03/2018 19:52

It really does sound as though he wants his striking, unpaid colleagues to think he was striking, but his employer to think he wasn't...

Yep!

titchy · 01/03/2018 20:00

He's a total idiot who has undermined those losing pay to save his pension( 14 days), not gone into work and he has the cheek to say he wants paying.

Morally he should declare he was on strike.

He would though have to specifically declare he was on strike so payroll deduct his salary. He won't though will he? And as universities give the salary deductions to the student hardship fund he has effectively deprived the most vulnerable students of some extra cash.

I hope he's proud of himself. Fucker.

Callamia · 01/03/2018 20:04

titchy - harsh, but fair.
How can he NOT know? There are billions of emails about how to behave during strike. Do you have to do all of his thinking for him?

Hefzi · 01/03/2018 20:11

I am in a different union to my colleagues for ethical reasons. However, when they strike, I still sacrifice my pay, even though legally I am required to work as normal, because as my (teaching) union isn't recognised by my institution, my colleagues' actions benefit me also.

Frankly, your husband has been squirrelly in the extreme.

titchy · 01/03/2018 20:33

When I'm losing £2k in salary yeah it feels like a massive kick in the teeth to be undermined like that. I'm perfectly happy for my colleagues to not strike, as long as they aren't pretending to be on strike and getting paid to be at home.

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