flamboyant Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 A very disturbing rumour came to my attention this evening about Unison the Public Sector Union who have a branch at Hereford Council. I won't disclose it at the moment until I have checked out the facts but I was curious if anyone else out there had ever paid Union fees on the understanding that they could rely on their Union when they had a work related issues but were refused representation when they needed it? Are Unions really in bed with the Employer? Is your money wasted and should you hold onto your monthly fees and go it alone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WirralPC Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Sadly you're right. It happened to me in 2003 before I was forced to resign, and I know a couple of dozen people, friends or people I've helped, who've been through similar. Almost invariably the name 'Unison' comes up. People who've been dumped when their case becomes 'too difficult' or 'too expensive' are soon disgusted to see when they have plenty of time on their hands, that their former union has a seemingly bottomless budget to invest in daytime TV ads for more gullible people to join up and be hoodwinked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby47 Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Like many in society nowadays, they've lost sight of their purpose, they don't do their job properly and they've been cursed with this desperate need to be liked. Yes, they want desperately to be liked by everyone and unfortunately for those they are supposed to represent, this includes the group they are supposed to be up against the bloody management. It's the way of things sadly. Many of these Union people from Unison haven't got a sharp tooth in their jaws and are ever so keen not to pick up enemies from the hierarchy who might one day remember their weakness and incompetence and hand them a life line and a job if ever they feel the need to bathe themselves in Common Purpose, climb aboard the beast of burden and become a suit beneath the haven of public service and Plough Lane. All the tools that were once required to be a Shop Stupid are now no longer required. They are all now skilled in the art of cozying up, behaving pragmatically and displaying gushing buckets of compromise and 'let's all be friends, make friends and never ever not be friends'. This is the way it is and from what I know from my sources within Plough Lane my description of them is fairly accurate. There was a time when the Shop Steward was a horrid man. A dreadful sort who you stayed well away from in the battle cruiser because you didn't want to fall out of favour with him because you'd presented a proposition that he didn't agree with and he would moan and nag you all night long as you supped your pint vowing never again to ever disagree with him and place yourself in that terrible position. How things have changed. They exchange friendly emails, Christmas cards, and warm pleasantries like, 'let's touch base sometime over a coffee' completely forgetting that you are up to your knees in shi.te, your job is hanging by a thread and there's a bunch of psychopathic suits salivating upstairs desperately wanting to see your corpse laid outside with your P45 stuck inside your back pocket. Faith in Unison? Not one tiny bit and anyone who thinks otherwise is a stinker, a rotter and no ally of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WirralPC Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Nailed it again Bobby. They also play golf together and exchange notes on 'problem people' at the 19th hole. This was my demise from 2003, starring Unison, 5 months of my suspension, 5 months of inaction from one party, 5 months of collusion from another, a boss who was later suspended along with Bill Norman, and a dossier with the pages stuck together........................................... https://wirralinittogether.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/how-wirral-council-disposed-of-me-in-2003/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dippyhippy Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Hmmm. I know of several folks who have left the local Unison and gone over to GMB. It's a real worry when those who really should be in the little guys' corner, are actually hand in glove with employers. It does nothing to instil confidence that they have members best interests at heart. I know I have said before that it seem to me that in a place the size of Hereford, where everybody seems to know everybody else, folks are too worried about causing offence, or upsetting the apple cart. Union reps are supposed to be strong, honest individuals - capable of holding their own - not cow-towing, in order to maintain the status quo. If they can't /won't do this - they aren't representing the people who pay their subscriptions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamboyant Posted February 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Completely agree Dippy, it is horrifying to think that people stump up their monthly subscriptions in good faith, only to be let down by the Union when they need support! There can be absolutely no justification for not supporting a paid up member of any Union. When challenging Union officials, members find themselves hitting a brick wall and the character assassination begins to justify failure to support. One of the main issues is that Union members consist of Senior Managers as well as staff further down the food chain. This invariably leads to a conflict of interest, when faced with a complaint against a Senior Manager in the Union. It's more important in the current climate to stay in the good books of the Senior Manager than support a lower level member of staff. I have heard stories of Union officials refusing support because the complaint was against a manager also in the Union. When you're paying for a service you absolutely should get what you pay for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dippyhippy Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 It was a different story in Herefordshire, 15 or so years ago. A formidable duo of Janet Atkinson and Eddie Clarke were at the helm...if you had cut either of them in half, like a stick of seaside rock, they would have had "Union" written all the way through them! They were brilliant! How times change. And not for the better in many instances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamboyant Posted February 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Agree 100% a totally formidable team. It is sad that their legacy left with them! Janet Atkinson was a force to be reckoned with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dippyhippy Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 I have many fond memories of Janet going into battle for a member. She was without doubt, absolutely irreplaceable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMole Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 I am part of a Union and I am seriously considering cancelling my subscription! I really don't believe they represent my views in the slightest. I certainly have no doubt that they are 'in bed' with the employer. The branch rep just used it as a means to feather his own nest and ensure his job was as easy as it could be. The newsletter goes straight in the bin unopened. Think I'd be better off cancelling my subscription and saving it towards something nice :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenknight Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 I am part of a Union and I am seriously considering cancelling my subscription! I really don't believe they represent my views in the slightest. I certainly have no doubt that they are 'in bed' with the employer. The branch rep just used it as a means to feather his own nest and ensure his job was as easy as it could be. The newsletter goes straight in the bin unopened. Think I'd be better off cancelling my subscription and saving it towards something nice :) As things stand there are people on this site that could offer advice which costs nothing and commits you to nothing and in bed with no-one ( actually I cannot confirm or deny the last part) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dippyhippy Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 Good Grief Green Knight! What are you suggesting!!!????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edna Welthorpe (Mrs) Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 It was a different story in Herefordshire, 15 or so years ago. A formidable duo of Janet Atkinson and Eddie Clarke were at the helm...if you had cut either of them in half, like a stick of seaside rock, they would have had "Union" written all the way through them! They were brilliant! How times change. And not for the better in many instances. Were these the two in charge when job evaluation took place? Whoever that was let the bosses have a massive rise and then stabbed the foot soldiers in the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamboyant Posted February 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 Were these the two in charge when job evaluation took place? Whoever that was let the bosses have a massive rise and then stabbed the foot soldiers in the back. Which particular job evaluation do you mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edna Welthorpe (Mrs) Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 Which particular job evaluation do you mean? The one at about the turn of the century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamboyant Posted February 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 The one at about the turn of the century. Agh ... A different one to the one that sprang to my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WirralPC Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 When we went through a "job evaluation" process known as Single Status at Cheshire County Council around 2007, senior managers were rewarded proportionately for the number of saps they could "facilitate" through the process when they made "independent" assessments and earmarked them for a "change" in salary. key: job evaluation = witch hunt facilitate = railroad (verb) independent = biased and stinks to high heaven change = swingeing cut ...anyway, several of these senior managers were members of Unison and because Unison had cosied up with management in an attempt to drive the thing through, these Unison card-holding managers were perfectly positioned to receive a nod and a wink for bumper cash payments according to how many of their junior colleagues (often fellow members of Unison) that they could target. I was one of those unwitting fools who was evaluated, then recommended for a £4,000 cut in my salary, but was not going to lie down, roll over and let them walk all over me. To make this bitter pill even harder to swallow, I'd missed the safety threshold by one single point. There was a happy ending though, because a group of us on similar pay scales came together, got our brains into gear and put forward a successful appeal. Not everybody was so fortunate however. Some people had to endure pay cuts of between £4,000 to £6,000 per annum. The really sick aspect to this was the fact that several of the Unison managers coined in many thousands of pounds, later applied for the first round of voluntary redundancy and were granted it. And to rub it in just a little further, quite a few came up trumps with new jobs in adjacent councils often ones which were closer to home. One man's suffering is another man's joy. Good old Unison ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamboyant Posted February 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 I am part of a Union and I am seriously considering cancelling my subscription! I really don't believe they represent my views in the slightest. I certainly have no doubt that they are 'in bed' with the employer. The branch rep just used it as a means to feather his own nest and ensure his job was as easy as it could be. The newsletter goes straight in the bin unopened. Think I'd be better off cancelling my subscription and saving it towards something nice :) Mole that is very sound advice! Greenknight you have a point, there is probably more people on this site qualified to assist someone in trouble and the advice is free! Not sure what the Union subs are now a days but I know I wasted a lot of money over the years! From what I've heard people in a Hereford Council are doing the same! The latest gossip if true is a shocker to say the least! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Lloyd Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 Yes there was a comment on one of HT articles hinting that there could be an expose and definitely before the election. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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