HELP - Should i join a Union before being made redandunt?

Rakesh.Chauhan_2

Just been informed that i may be made redandunt by this week ( 2 people from a team of 8 ). Is it worth me joining up with a Union before they do this? I feel its more of a "popularity" contest and the manager doesnt like me - My company also will not allow "Unite" ( the Union ) to come into the office because they had a disagrement 6months ago.

What should i do?

Jaffakake

I'd give a union a call and sound them out.
You are legally allowed to have a Trade Union representative with you in any consultation meetings and therefore they're not allowed to pick and choose the union, that's your job!
I found my Unite representative useful - as an objective person they were able to ask questions that I wouldn't have been brave enough to do if I'd been there on my own.

sexandthecity

Hi

You will usually find a TU rep will only represent you if you have been a member for about 12 weeks, this is so membership is established, unions need funding and they need membership fees before they will allow their reps to act.
However if you talked to the TU rep and joined before the meeting they would be able to accompany you and may advise you, but they would not be able to partake in the meeting and join in the discussions, unless their union allowed it. They may be able to give you hints on what to ask which you may not have thought of

I was a TU rep for 3 years for a large public sector union

You are free to take in a colleague or friend to the meeting, you will need to inform your employer first though.

If Unite is a recognised union within your organisation I dont think they can ban them from coming in, if their workers are members and as I say they are a recognised Trade union within their company. They cant decide which unions they like or dont like.

Personally having been made redundant a few months ago and my employers were quite good I went in alone and I didnt feel the need to have anyone there but had I felt uncomfortable I would have took someone in with me.

I wrote down a lot of what I wanted to ask and managed to negotiate keeping my laptop and mobile

Good luck

Horace

As oompaloompa has said with Unison and other unions you will need to be a fully paid up member for 3 months before they will represent you, however, if you speak to your local branch and maybe offer to pay them 3 months worth of subs in one cheque and backdate your membership then you should be able to get representation. I used to be a branch secretary for Unison and our branch would do this all the time.