Any union reps available please?

[NuckingFightmare]

Hi, my union hasn't got back to me .
Would any union reps please be able to accompany me On a team's meeting tomorrow morning?
It's for an appeal against a disciplinary decision.

You will only be allowed a rep from your own union (or a colleague from work) - you can't just have a random rep from an unrecognised union at a meeting. Have you contacted the HQ of your own union by phone?

As above.

Also, why haven't you requested that the appeal is postponed, seeing as your union haven't been in contact?

I'm with the workers union and they are only contactable via their website. I've left messages but nobody has called me.
Do I need to show proof that I'm a member of a certain union for my employer to allow them?

If you can’t get a TU rep take a trusted colleague who is good at taking notes but who won’t gossip. The most important thing is they take comprehensive notes so you can ensure the written notes of the meeting are accurate.

Generally your employer will have a recognition agreement with the union for your sector - for example, my union is a civil service union and there are two other similar unions, all three are recognised by my employer which means the reps are involved in negotiations with the management, and we have workplace reps who are staff members with paid time off to support other members of the Union.

So the first question is, is the union you are a member of, one that your employer has an agreement with? If so, you won't need to show proof of membership to the employer, just say that you are a member and are seeking representation - PP was right in suggesting you ask for a postponement of the meeting until you hear from your union (usually you can postpone for up to 5 days). Do you have any workplace reps? If so contact them directly as well as continuing to chase by email. Have you explained the urgency of your query in your messages so far?

One thing though, if you have only just joined the union since this problem occurred, they may not represent you as generally they would concentrate on existing members who have been paying subs for some time. My union technically expects members to serve a 3 month period before getting support but its up to individual reps if they want to take cases on If they have capacity.

Just tell your employer that you need to postpone as your rep has not returned your calls.

I've no idea if my union has an agreement, my employer has never mentioned this.
I have stated the urgency to the WU in my messages. I'm really disappointed they haven't got back to me.
Thank you all for your comments.

@VienneseWhirligig

You will only be allowed a rep from your own union (or a colleague from work) - you can't just have a random rep from an unrecognised union at a meeting. Have you contacted the HQ of your own union by phone?

Not correct at all. There is no requirement for your employer to recognise the union, or even for you to be a member (although obviously most unions wouldn’t represent someone who isn’t).

To accompany you to a hearing, someone needs to be either a colleague or a trade union official.

@flowery if that's true it gives me hope.
Anyone who chipped in before feel like accompanying me at 10am? 🙏🏼

@flowery that really isn't helpful. If you are a member of, for example, Unison, you can't rock up with a rep from FDA. Most unions would be very unwilling to support this, I wouldn't represent someone from another union as I don't know the intricacies of the employer's T&C. I also didn't say there had to be a recognition agreement, but where there is one (and we don't know if this is the case here or not) there would be more flexibility for working with the staff member to postpone. I genuinely don't think advertising for rep support on MN is the best way to get help, but I'm only a union rep, what would I know?

Sorry if correcting people on a point of law “isn’t helpful”.

Whether the OP could persuade a different union rep to represent her is a different question, but it is completely false to state that she won’t be “allowed” a different rep. Any employer who tried to block her being accompanied because her companion was from the “wrong” union would be acting unlawfully.

Flowery is correct here.

OP I hope it has gone OK.

It might be a legal point but honestly getting someone's hopes up that she can procure support from MN instead of pursuing her own union and arranging a postponement is irresponsible. If and when her own union get back in touch with her if she had by some chance persuaded someone to attend, they wouldn't be likely to accept ongoing support and it would become messy. Otherwise why would anyone pay union subs if they could just advertise for a random on the Internet?

Can ACAS offer you any help at all. If you are a member of a professional body they can advise you.

If it's the W U in Coventry their Google page lists their phone number as 02477 981194.

”
It might be a legal point but honestly getting someone's hopes up that she can procure support from MN instead of pursuing her own union and arranging a postponement is irresponsible”

Sorry, but I’m not going to leave completely incorrect advice unchallenged just because the correct information might get someone’s hopes up. Now that would be irresponsible.

Update.
My union rang me this morning and told me that they don't attend appeal hearings. I then had a choice of finding a colleague in half an hour, postponing or biting the bullet.
As my anxiety has been sky high over this, I chose to carry on alone.
It went quite well I think, I'd prepared a statement over the last week, so did some breathing exercises, stayed calm and read it.
They were lovely to me and said that while they needed to look into some concerns I raised, they would not be escalating the original decision.
So, in short, I still have a job

You must be relieved that it's been sorted out, time to join a different union I think as you need people who actually help and support their members and fight for their rights.

Ha definitely time to find a new union!

They don’t attend appeals?! One wonder what is the point of paying for a union if you have to attend a formal hearing at which your job may be at stake all by yourself...!