Any whiff of redundancies? - join your union pronto

METAL_MICKEY

Just my view from fairly recent experience.

I had worked for the NHS for 28 years and had always been a member of UNISON on the proviso of "you just never know". To counter balance i used to regularly consider cancelling my membership on the basis that i was good employee who had never caused or been in any trouble, my bosses were reasonable and to boot my monthly union due was nearly £20 a month. Good job i resisted cancelling!

Over the last 7 years whilst still doing an NHS jobs our employment was TUPE transferred out to the private sector and then the spectre of redundancies appeared. The crunch hit when the most recent employer who had only been running the contract a year bought in a new manager from outside to essentially organise the redundancy process.

It turned out to be really awful process whereby the whole matrix selection process was an utter mess in conjunction with amateurish consultation meetings entrusted to managers with no HR experience let alone redundancy process.

The end result was that 15 of us were selected for redundancy amid a completely "bull !!!!" consultation process. Only with the help of UNISON were the 4 of us who were union members able to construct a decent case to submit to the Employment Tribunal. It was only the expert advice from the UNISON rep and solicitor that enabled us to focus on what really mattered and to don't get involved with the more emotive issues that may have been an injustice but you will struggle to argue at an ET hearing.

The end result was that in all 4 cases the employer backed off it reaching the ET and we all reached favourably agreements via a COT3 agreement.

My point is that if you find yourself in this horrible postition beware good intentioned but inaccurate advice from unqualified friends, family, colleagues and web forums. If you're not in the union get an employment solicitor to advise. And never go into a consultation meeting without a companion and preferably a union rep.

What was really galling was that many of our non union member colleagues who got the chop had great cases on the grounds of poor consultation but did not have the knowledge to fight intelligently.

marybelle01

Good advice, with one exception...

By the time you get a whiff of redundancies (or disciplinaries, or whatever) it is too late to join a union. Most unions won't even represent someone until they have been a member for six months, and they certainly won't spend the hard earned cash of their other members on tribunal support for someone who has just joined because they realised they needed to be in a union only when trouble hit.

So the advice ought to be, join a union now whether you think you may need them or not, because you never know when you will!

mynameistallulah

Alternatively you could educate yourself as to your rights. I appreciate that is not possible for everyone, but with all the money you have paid the union you could have financed yourself through a degree by now.

marybelle01

mynameistallulah wrote: »

Alternatively you could educate yourself as to your rights. I appreciate that is not possible for everyone, but with all the money you have paid the union you could have financed yourself through a degree by now.

True. But with all the money I have paid out on home and contents over the years I could have probably bought another house!

Knowing your rights and being able to argue a tribunal case against a well resourced employer and their lawyers are not the same thing, and even those who know their rights struggle - and lose - at tribunals.

So I think I'll carry on paying the house insurance because although it hasn't burned down yet that doesn't mean it won't. And I'll carry on paying the union dues, because I haven't landed in a tribunal yet either, but that doesn't mean I won't.

METAL_MICKEY

marybelle01 wrote: »

True. But with all the money I have paid out on home and contents over the years I could have probably bought another house!

Knowing your rights and being able to argue a tribunal case against a well resourced employer and their lawyers are not the same thing, and even those who know their rights struggle - and lose - at tribunals.

So I think I'll carry on paying the house insurance because although it hasn't burned down yet that doesn't mean it won't. And I'll carry on paying the union dues, because I haven't landed in a tribunal yet either, but that doesn't mean I won't.

Exactly! Obviously the previous posters somewhat 'smart !!!!' advice is that of someone who has never been through the stress of redundancy.

marybelle01

METAL_MICKEY wrote: »

Exactly! Obviously the previous posters somewhat 'smart !!!!' advice is that of someone who has never been through the stress of redundancy.

To be fair, I don't think tallulah was trying to be smart as her advice is usually pretty good - although I can't vouch for her! Or him possibly! In my book it isn't one or the other - the optimal situation is to know your rights and be in a union. But things aren't always as straight forward as "knowing your rights" and so you get them. They aren't even always as straight forward as your rights actually being clear. And for someone like me whose normal work involves some very complex issues in employment, I get my union in before I agree the contract even, to make sure I am protected. Even though I have had to learn to read my contracts thoroughly, it doesn't mean that I might not miss something.