Workers Union is it worth it?

dickydonkin

The Union is only as good as your local representative IMO.

I have seen some awful 'Shop Stewards' who were never elected and were doing the job by virtue of being unopposed.

I have also seen where a director (yes director) has paid a members back subscriptions to enable that person to be eligible to become a shop steward - you don't have to guess why.

If your workplace has a good shop steward and there are regular meetings etc. then go for it - if not, pay an additional premium on your home insurance that will cover employment disputes.

teajug

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

The sense of power which comes from writing to an employer who's trying to do something you're not happy about and saying "I shall have to take advice from my union": as they say in the advert, "priceless".

And I say that even knowing that my employer would probably have backed down anyway.

I have been in 3 unions during my working life and I wish I never joined any of them. Contacted a union about serious issues at work when I was in employment but got no reply back had to deal with it myself.

Also even the secretary of that union would not reply to me, this was not a rep it was from the main office. I was told by them that they would not give any legal help unless the case was 70% winnable they would not recommend their legal solicitors.

Any NWNF solicitors would do a good job on that percentage. Save your money unions are simply NOT WORTH IT. Got legal fee covered in my household insurance and that was the best investment I made. No hassle of cashing unions that could not care less about your case.

Even what unions advertised their discounts even they are useless, as the ones that you needed they want extra payment for it, such as their tax accounts if they get back so much for you then you pay them 60% of it for doing, so I ended up going into my tax office and did it myself for free.....:eek:

Horace

I wouldnt bother. I was a branch secretary of Unison for a while and when I needed help they were nowhere to be seen. They are very quick to call people out on strike too but the poor strikers don't get paid but the placard wavers from the Union office are all paid for by the union so they don't lose out. I joined a different union and they were equally as scammy as Unison and even tried to con me into signing a COT3 form just to approve the wording, which meant that I would have settled for less money than I got for taking on my employer with the help of a solicitor on a No Win No Fee basis.

Avoid them like the plague. If you should ever have to attend a disciplinary meeting then you can take a work colleague in with you - that colleague does not have to be a union rep.