Employer against Union being recognised- Help please.

bob_dob

Hi,
A lot of fellow employees met with a GMB union official 8 weeks ago and he determined that there was over 50% of the shop floor employees who had joined GMB so he would apply for the union to be officially recognised by our employer.

Yesterday each employee was issued with a random (numbered) slip asking if we are interested in allowing the union in and stating that joining costs around £11 per month (even though joining the union and whether we want them allowed in are two seperate issues and do not have to go together) and we were to circle either 'yes' or 'no' and post it in a ballot box.

Now two things I should point out:
1. One team leader upon handing them out was trying to persuade people from joining.
2. The slips were given to the office staff too.

When our union rep asked the shop floor manager why they handing out slips, he said it was simply to gauge feeling from the employees.

I was under the impression that so long as we had over 50% of the shop floor workforce joined up to a union then such a ballot would be irrelevant?

anamenottaken

How many employees are there?

bob_dob

About 85 on the shop floor and maybe 40 in the offices. However, the GMB official told us that the office staff would be classed as a seperate entity so the +50% who have now joined the union are just shop floor?


?

Takeaway_Addict

bob_dob wrote: »

About 85 on the shop floor and maybe 40 in the offices. However, the GMB official told us that the office staff would be classed as a seperate entity so the +50% who have now joined the union are just shop floor?


?

Why would they? Unless they are under a different company I would expect them to be added in. Is the rep manipulating the figures or something due to lack of support in the office?

antrobus

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

Why would they? Unless they are under a different company I would expect them to be added in. Is the rep manipulating the figures or something due to lack of support in the office?

Because it's a distinct "bargaining unit". Possibly.

See this summary of the law - http://www.thompsons.law.co.uk/ltext/statutory-right-to-union-recognition.htm

As the source says, the statutory right to union recognition, contained in the Employment Act 1999 "is the most controversial provision of the legislation, taking up 59 pages of the 123 page Act". I ain't reading 'em.:)

There is a statutory process to follow. The GMB ought to know how to handle it.

anamenottaken

bob_dob wrote: »

About 85 on the shop floor and maybe 40 in the offices. However, the GMB official told us that the office staff would be classed as a seperate entity so the +50% who have now joined the union are just shop floor?


?

I asked to be sure that there were at least 21 staff because there need to be that many in order to request statutory recognition.

I assume that the Union has contacted the employer to request to be recognised. The employer can voluntarily agree to this and maybe they do really simply want to check out the workforce.

I can see that the Union might look on the shopfloor workers as one bargaining unit and the office staff as another.

As I understand it the over 50% requirement would be for the number of workers to be likely to vote in support if a formal recognition ballot were conducted. There only need to be 10% of the workforce actually in the Union in order to proceed with this. The non-unionised staff might actually vote for recognition (getting some benefits without paying subs perhaps).

bob_dob

Thank you for that.

To be honest, the rep we have on the shop floor was advised by the GMB official that the shop floor workforce would be treated as seperate from the office staff. He also repeated this in the joint meeting we had. I'm sure as sure can be that we are both (shop floor and office staff) under the same employer. I dont see why the GMB official or the rep would exaggerate numbers if it is obvious that they/we would then fail? Especially because I believe that if the attempt to be recognised fails then there is a two year wait before they can apply again?

bob_dob

Thank you all.

I just found it very hard to believe that they honestly just wanted a 'feel' of how the employees felt. Their history would suggest that they don't do anything if it's not in their interest.

Takeaway_Addict

bob_dob wrote: »

Thank you for that.

To be honest, the rep we have on the shop floor was advised by the GMB official that the shop floor workforce would be treated as seperate from the office staff. He also repeated this in the joint meeting we had. I'm sure as sure can be that we are both (shop floor and office staff) under the same employer. I dont see why the GMB official or the rep would exaggerate numbers if it is obvious that they/we would then fail? Especially because I believe that if the attempt to be recognised fails then there is a two year wait before they can apply again?

I am sure someone will explain but I find it hard to see how they choose which sections of a company they can target and which ones they can exclude for calculations

Takeaway_Addict

bob_dob wrote: »

Thank you all.

I just found it very hard to believe that they honestly just wanted a 'feel' of how the employees felt. Their history would suggest that they don't do anything if it's not in their interest.

All companies do what is best for them surely?

anamenottaken

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

I am sure someone will explain but I find it hard to see how they choose which sections of a company they can target and which ones they can exclude.

I think it is about what constitutes a "bargaining unit". It might also be appropriate for different unions to represent different sections of the workforce.

Certainly it seems the OP is concerned that shopfloor and office workers may have differing views on representation.