Help for non union members

sadia85

Is there any work place Union which can advice or give some legal hep to non members or even they are willing to join.

Or can they help with some cost.

Cheers

sangie595

Very few will - you can ask, but unions don't give advice to new members on existing problems, and not a hope of legal advice. Too late to buy insurance after the fire has started.

pathtofreedom

You can try the acas helpline

jobbingmusician

Some household insurance policies include legal advice.

Otherwise - this forum is here as a sounding board!

KayJay

From the moment you join our branch you will receive advice. What we cannot do is represent you legally because of the service level agreement between the union and the solicitors.
The exception to this is if the problem you have is actually highlighting a wider issue with the employer. I would then act on behalf of all members, irrespective of whether they were new or not. It is personal issues that carry the waiting time.

Southend1

My own union is very strict on 4 week wait period and no assistance on issues that arose prior to joining. Try household insurance or acas for now and join an appropriate Union so you're covered next time something crops up.

Starlet

sadia85 wrote: »

Is there any work place Union which can advice or give some legal hep to non members or even they are willing to join.

Or can they help with some cost.

Cheers

I dont know if this will help your situation, but thought that I would say it anyway: :A

I dont know its correct 'technical' name, but almost all companies should have some kind of helpline which employees can telephone, and the main purpose of the helpline is for the employees' wellbeing.
(Almost all of the companies I've ever worked for have had such a thing, so I am assuming that this is quite a popular thing). I think it should be called something like "Employee Assistance Programme"

Takeaway_Addict

Starlet wrote: »

I dont know if this will help your situation, but thought that I would say it anyway: :A

I dont know its correct 'technical' name, but almost all companies should have some kind of helpline which employees can telephone, and the main purpose of the helpline is for the employees' wellbeing.
(Almost all of the companies I've ever worked for have had such a thing, so I am assuming that this is quite a popular thing). I think it should be called something like "Employee Assistance Programme"

The % of companies that will have this will be low. Its an added expense that most won't bother with.

C_Mababejive

Trades Union legal help is usually restricted to liability cases where there is a high chance of a win for the solicitors. The solicitors will be standalone legal businesses and unions merely refer their members on to them. They make a judgement as to whether the case will fly and the TU agrees to underwrite legal costs.

If the case doesnt have a very good chance of winning,they probably wont be interested.

Many people think the TU and its legal wing are there to support and fight for workers rights when in fact they are nothing much more than the ambulance chasing solicitors who advertise on TV.

OP could get legal advice from home insurers if covered or a free half hour from many high street solicitors..

stugib

Starlet wrote: »

I think it should be called something like "Employee Assistance Programme"

IME these schemes exclude legal advice against your employer, would be a conflict of interest after all.

stevemLS

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Trades Union legal help is usually restricted to liability cases where there is a high chance of a win for the solicitors. The solicitors will be standalone legal businesses and unions merely refer their members on to them. They make a judgement as to whether the case will fly and the TU agrees to underwrite legal costs.

If the case doesnt have a very good chance of winning,they probably wont be interested.

Many people think the TU and its legal wing are there to support and fight for workers rights when in fact they are nothing much more than the ambulance chasing solicitors who advertise on TV.

OP could get legal advice from home insurers if covered or a free half hour from many high street solicitors..

That is not my experience.

As a (former) union rep I referred at least two cases to the union's solicitors that were not liability issues.

I don't know why any union, though, would provide support to non-members. That is the whole point of membership. We had a very strict rule that we were not allowed to advise or represent within the first four weeks of membership and external legal advice could not be accessed for the first 3 months.