I did absolutely nothing about it because I realised a long time ago that the unions were only puppets of management and therefore see no point in paying the union money every month just to be stabbed in the back by the people who are supposedly there to protect your interests.
The more people realise that unions are outdated the better.

Well TNBT I've not really such bad experiences that I can express opinions similar to yours towards Trades Unions representatives with such venom (I'm not criticising you that's just how your post comes across). I certainly couldn't say that local representatives were out "to stab me or my colleagues in the back". In fact on the one or two occasions I've needed representation the union has done a better job of representing me than I coud have myself and I've been glad of it.

My attitude is that anybody who puts themselves forward for such a thankless task should be encouraged and supported. However, like in any role, the quality and commitment of the individual that takes on a TU representative role and the way the regional TU representatives and the organisation higher-up work together can make the difference, or not, over specific issues, e.g. outsourcing, redundancy, AfC, etc, and more general aspects, e.g. disputes, employment legislation, etc.

I think that if there are perceived problems between TU and members they need to be aired and discusssed. It's a thankless task but I think for TU representatives, like John Murphy reading your post, that it must be a big "kick in the teeth" and it's a generalisation that I can't agree with since all of the TU representatives I've met have been decent people trying to help. Perhaps we're forgetting what they're sometimes up against and, as John comments, whether we would fare any better without any TU support at all. I still disagree with John on this point: In most employment legislation and guidelines I've looked at (concerning changes in Terms & Conditions, TUPE, Pensions, etc) it's actually the responsibility of the employer, on many employment issues, to make ALL employees aware of changes that affect them - to make the first move, so to speak. If non TU member employees are not initially made aware of issues, possibly until it's too late to put up a case against it themselves, how can they be proactive and pursue them?

I've seen failures of management to consult with non-TU members on a couple of occasions, where non-TU members have been left out of proper consultation and not updated on negotiations that would affect them, since the management assume they're fullfilling their role by talking to the TU representatives. This leaves some "out of the loop" unless the TU is willing to bring them "in from the cold" to share information (as I've seen done in the past, FOC). This would be prevented if we had a "closed shop" but I'm not advocating this.

I think that on a lot of issues it's worthwhile being a TU member and giving support to those willing to take on the role. Unfortunately we all know how the system operates and if employers have the backing of divisive government, politicians and legislators, with specific objectives, then there's very little anybody can do whether they vote, protest or take some other action.

Hello Richard TNBT,
You seem to of had a bad experience at the hands of T.U. TNBT If you have I am sorry, however you are not going to improve things by hoping they will go away ,which almost certainly T.U. are not.

Consider the following If you had a bad day at work on Monday would you give up working?. Secondly never say never.

As to your response Richard,
If non TU member employees are not initially made aware of issues, possibly until it's too late to put up a case against it themselves, how can they be proactive and pursue them?

Rather makes my point about being in a T.U.

How are things in sunny North Manchester?

Regards
John

Hi John,

The problem I see with your argument is that you seem to be assuming that union membership confers more rights to consultation for union members than those afforded to non-members (now that would make your point valid). This is not (or shouldn't be) the case (in practice) since the law states that employers must consult with everybody, via some representative or other. Admittedly it's a fact that any information the unions get usually finds its way to non-members but we can't assume this happens in all cases.

Personally I don't think non-members have a right to complain about any particular union at all - they already have the right not to be a member, i.e. we don't run a closed shop. However a non-member does have the same emploment rights - albeit the case that unions will have fought for them over the years - such as the right not to join a union but still be consulted on employment issues affecting them. I thought the unions had fought long and hard for employment rights and equality in the workplace? I'm a trades union member, will always be one I think, and I'll continue to encourage others to become members as well.