If you are senior are you a member of a union

[pinkiepiee]

I'm Director at a not for profit organisation.

I used to be a member of a union but I was a bit put off by the way they conducted themselves when I became a manager. I did have experience of good union reps I should say. But also saw them behave badly and give bad advice.

I think now that potentially I might need support if I have issues with our board or CEO / COO. Equally I could just use legal support if I needed it.

If you are senior are you a union member?

When did this "senior" (from the US) become common here ?

"Senior citizen" or "OAP" were the terms in my day (showing my age).

(I guess it's a slow news day chez Rossetti ...)

The one time I joined the union because they offered to support me with a serious issue I was done over by the rep.

I’m a HR Director and haven’t been a member of a union for 15 years or so. I think I’d have a decent handle on things if they came up.

Now working for a not for profit that doesn’t recognise TUs anyway.

DH works in industrial relations for a trade Union.

He’s represented senior staff before, usually with grievance accusations or upholding older, more generous ts&cs when the organisation seek to renegotiate them.

My DH is in a senior role for a global organisation. They have union recognition but only for operations staff. Managers and above are actively discouraged from joining the union and the union branch would (and have) refused to represent anyone at managerial level. The union has negotiated a massive 9% pay rise for operational staff only and those at managerial level who were union members got no pay rise. Even though the managers were the ones on site during the pandemic and many of the operational staff were working from home. DH is considering leaving but his role is quite niche and that might put potential employers off as they might think he can't do anything else (he can). As for me, I'm in the NFP sector now and my employer doesn't recognise a union although still a union member. My union helped me a lot in the past so I am loyal to them. I don't like how much it is every month though.

I'm a chief executive and part of the reason I am not in the union is that I am often the one causing people to call on the unions (restructuring etc not bullying!!) So it would feel a bit of a conflict to also be a member.

I am senior and also a member of a union. I thought it would generally be good to have someone in my corner if things go awry.