When overtime becomes normal working hours

sangie595 wrote: »

I don't have time to make all the necessary corrections to this, but please advise your union branch that they need to consult a full time official to correct this over simplified version before somebody makes a fatal mistake in the advice they give. There are a number of contextual errors and omissions.

Looked like a good summary to me. What sort of "fatal" mistake were you thinking of? Have people died as a result of getting incorrect holiday pay?

zagfles wrote: »

Our union has always helped new joiners straight away even with existing issues. They won't legally represent new members for existing issues, but the reps are willing to help new members with existing issues straight away. They use this sort of thing as a recruiting tool (although I've argued that it can be counterproductive - people will leave joining till they have an issue).

Fair enough. But training reps is expensive and time consuming, as is building a strong effective branch. The majority of members who pay their subs, come to meetings, get involved in the branch, will probably never need individual representation and give far more to the branch than they take. People who only join when they are in trouble and expect representation, support, advice, are in my experience a drain on branch resources, and aren't usually understanding of the principles of trade unionism, collective action, solidarity.
Personally I judge each case on its own merits but i'm the sort of Trade Unionist who constantly promotes the union and always advises people to join, so when people come to me in trouble, wanting help, but I know that they're not in the union, or have crossed our picketlines, I'm glad that i have the 4 week rule to fall back on. I will always advise people, but when casework and representation takes so much time and effort, I will always prioritise those who I know would do the same for me.
No offence to anyone but it is really important to be in an Trade Union. Nobody ever expects to end up in trouble at work or need Trade Union support but often bad things happen to good people and at times like that having a strong union branch behind you or a well-trained committed rep willing to support you, is priceless.