Unions for IT people

Dakta

Hi everyone, hope you're good

Just a quick  question, does anyone know of a reputable and well regarded Union for people who work in the IT professional industry?

I've looked at Prospect, and GMB however both get very heavily slated in reviews - but I can't seem to find many others that cater for the IT services industry.

A colleague recommended Unison, but looking at their site they seem public sector oriented, which I'm not.

Don't necessarily want answers on a plate but any suggestions would be welcome as IT seems quite under-represented. 

regards

Emmia

What do you want the union membership for ? Does your employer recognise any particular union? If they do, I'd join that one.

I'm a Civil Servant who is currently a member of FDA but for most of my career I've not been a member of any union, mainly because PCS was pretty much the only option and I've never agreed with /could stomach their politics.

How good a union is (or isn't) when you need them largely depends on the representative they might offer when asked/needed.  I joined FDA because the local reps are people I know,  respect and I think would do a good job if I needed them to, which I hope I don't.

However, having done a few grievance investigations I'm well aware that you never know when you might want to raise a grievance yourself or have one raised against you - which is partly why I joined, representation is not available to the newly joined (after an issue is raised) or non-members.

I didn't/wouldn't join PCS (another option for me) because the local reps are utterly useless/ poor representatives who I would not take to a meeting under any circumstances.

Wyndham

Union membership can be by profession, but also by industry. I'm in IT as well, but in the University sector, so the right one for me to join was UCU. They and Unison were also the only ones recognised by my employer, which makes a difference when it comes to collective bargaining.

I'm not aware of a specific union for the IT industry.

Dakta

Thanks both, sorry i might have missed the details

I have been subject tsome bad treatment in the past, including disability discrimination.

I have settled things and things are now ticking over, but i really regret not being in a union for their legal support so id like to be in one just in case.

I did look at our intranet to see if we had a recognised union but couldn't find any reference 😶

Zinger549

I work in IT sector and was in Unite and some of my colleagues were in Unison. Found them to be very helpful.

Savvy_Sue

See if the Union Finder tool helps. https://www.tuc.org.uk/join-a-union

As suggested, you can go by profession, or industry / type of work. 

ircE

Dakta said:
I've looked at Prospect, and GMB however both get very heavily slated in reviews - but I can't seem to find many others that cater for the IT services industry.

I'm curious as to where you're finding these reviews?

As Savvy Sue mentioned above, the TUC's union finder website will allow you to find relevant unions. Note that the general unions (including Unison) allow anyone from any industry/sector/profession to join, and there's nothing to stop you from joining multiple unions to see which one might be best for you.

Dakta

It;s a fair question - I just pumped in the unions on google and looked on the typical sites like trustpilot etc

I'm aware it's likely to dreg up those with axes to grind, but there seemed an overwhelmingly negative consensus.

I'm surprised you can join two unions at once, I would have thought there might be a conflict of interest especially if you needed advice

I spoke to the webchat at Unison but they weren't that helpful and when I asked for clarification on whether I'd be eligible to be a member they just copied and pasted what I already knew, so I asked for further clarification and they said if I wasn't eligible my application would be rejected. It wasn't as helpful as it could've been, but webchats never are that good so i threw an application in at the end of last week.

So I've signed up with them...I think. I think is the operative word as I've gone through the process, set up the first payment and direct debits and the site says thanks you're now a member. I can't login or anything as you need a membership number and I've received nothing to my email, if I don't hear anything by tomorrow I'm going to have to chase it up.

So, whilst I think being in a union will always be better than not - I'm not 'overly' impressed so far. 

Savvy_Sue

Dakta said:

It;s a fair question - I just pumped in the unions on google and looked on the typical sites like trustpilot etc

I'm aware it's likely to dreg up those with axes to grind, but there seemed an overwhelmingly negative consensus.

I'm surprised you can join two unions at once, I would have thought there might be a conflict of interest especially if you needed advice

I spoke to the webchat at Unison but they weren't that helpful and when I asked for clarification on whether I'd be eligible to be a member they just copied and pasted what I already knew, so I asked for further clarification and they said if I wasn't eligible my application would be rejected. It wasn't as helpful as it could've been, but webchats never are that good so i threw an application in at the end of last week.

So I've signed up with them...I think. I think is the operative word as I've gone through the process, set up the first payment and direct debits and the site says thanks you're now a member. I can't login or anything as you need a membership number and I've received nothing to my email, if I don't hear anything by tomorrow I'm going to have to chase it up.

So, whilst I think being in a union will always be better than not - I'm not 'overly' impressed so far. 

I think that's the key thing. I will never forget when my last employer made a re-grading suggestion which I profoundly disagreed with, and when I wrote my letter of disagreement I was able to finish with something along the lines of "if you persist in doing this to me I shall have to take advice from my union." I don't think they knew I was in a union - not many of us were - and I do think that made them think even harder about what I'd said. The re-grading suggestion was off the table within a few months: I was off sick at the time, and they were about to appoint a new manager for my team. They started while I was still off sick, and all they heard until I was back was "oh, Savvy_Sue will know about that." This despite the fact that ALL my processes were documented, but people found it easier to ask me ... 

Dakta

I totally agree on that, and to be fair to Unison my criticism may have bene premature as they did process my application yesterday, so in that sense we've progress though I'm surprised you didn't get some kind of welcome email after registering just so you know the process is in the motions.

I've had a very rough year at work, though those issues were supposed to be resolved at Christmas, I have a new role (better) and manager etc, but I've generally been left unsupported and I'm struggling to be a self starter (due to my health, unknown new role, lack of access etc), I'm getting some kickback from requests for support despite occ health, so whilst I do actually really get on with leadership at a social level (they're just busy, not malicious) given my health, lack of training and so forth and my need to be functional to maintain my health, I think being in a union might be a good idea as I guess the waters still potentially choppy. 

Emmia

Dakta said:

I totally agree on that, and to be fair to Unison my criticism may have bene premature as they did process my application yesterday, so in that sense we've progress though I'm surprised you didn't get some kind of welcome email after registering just so you know the process is in the motions.

I've had a very rough year at work, though those issues were supposed to be resolved at Christmas, I have a new role (better) and manager etc, but I've generally been left unsupported and I'm struggling to be a self starter (due to my health, unknown new role, lack of access etc), I'm getting some kickback from requests for support despite occ health, so whilst I do actually really get on with leadership at a social level (they're just busy, not malicious) given my health, lack of training and so forth and my need to be functional to maintain my health, I think being in a union might be a good idea as I guess the waters still potentially choppy. 

Being in a union doesn't solve any of those issues - if you're unsure then you need to talk to your manager about getting you up to speed / the role adjusted if possible to what you can do.