Are unions still worth paying into?

[AmexRuislip]

I have been a member of the Unite union for several years.
Have never used them, only joined as a couple option when my wife had difficulties with a certain bitch of a boss, and that's another story!!
Anyway digressing, is the whole union thing still worth paying £10 a month?
NSC sages please do advise

 

[wellquickwoody]

I have been a member of the Unite union for several years.
Have never used them, only joined as a couple option when my wife had difficulties with a certain bitch of a boss, and that's another story!!
Anyway digressing, is the whole union thing still worth paying £10 a month?
NSC sages please do advise

Unite are an utter waste of space. Useless when actually needed by their members, but very good at publicising their 'services' and representatives to keep the membership paying in, which in turn pays their over inflated wages, ad infinitum. Drain on their members and upon the public purse. IMHO of course

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Imagine a world without unions ....

 

[GT49er]

I have been a member of the Unite union for several years.
Have never used them, only joined as a couple option when my wife had difficulties with a certain bitch of a boss, and that's another story!!
Anyway digressing, is the whole union thing still worth paying £10 a month?
NSC sages please do advise

Probably not worth the money these days. For better or worse, a busted flush. Not a good thing, but that's reality.

 

[Eeyore]

Imagine a world without unions ....

Rather not. A company I worked for routinely flouted employment law and gave staff grief over matters they had no right to.

It was when we involved a Union that they were forced to simply obey the law and honour staff contracts.

 

[Beach Hut]

Very good thread I pay TSSA £23.92 a month and I have never really required their services.

So I have always seen them as an insurance policy in case something bad happened, well it has to a certain extent as my company want to cap our pensions on salary and to be honest TSSA seem indifferent.

Should I save this money or keep paying and I opted out to contributing to the labour party with the political levy around 20 odd years a go.

 

[GoldWithFalmer]

As a professional driver i cannot afford not too.

 

[Eeyore]

I have been a member of the Unite union for several years.
Have never used them, only joined as a couple option when my wife had difficulties with a certain bitch of a boss, and that's another story!!
Anyway digressing, is the whole union thing still worth paying £10 a month?
NSC sages please do advise

Yes.

It was union involvement at one of my work places that ensured employment law was upheld and contracts were honoured. The union was crucial in defending workers at times. A number of internal practices were changed as a result of their involvement.

 

[GT49er]

Twenty or so years of my working life were spent in the Civil Service. The Union was less useful than Kemy Agustien.

 

[Eeyore]

Very good thread I pay TSSA £23.92 a month and I have never really required their services.

So I have always seen them as an insurance policy in case something bad happened, well it has to a certain extent as my company want to cap our pensions on salary and to be honest TSSA seem indifferent.

Should I save this money or keep paying and I opted out to contributing to the labour party with the political levy around 20 odd years a go.

I was with the GMB when I was in work (my company went insolvent). They were pretty proactive. It cost about £13 a month.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Depends on the union i guess

A serious issue was raised with the union on several occasions, something which should have been their basic stuff that they should have been all over but they couldn't even find a rep to be able to meet up and discuss it with those affected (yet continued to advertise for new members to join)

 

[AmexRuislip]

Yes.

It was union involvement at one of my work places that ensured employment law was upheld and contracts were honoured. The Union was crucial in defending workers at times.

Cheers.
My wife used them when off sick, she was going to be made redundant, and her bitch of a boss decided it would be a good idea to ring up, whilst off sick, to basically harangue her with impending jobs.
After I had taken her sick notes in, I was involved in an argument with the woman about contacting my wife only by email and not by phone.
Cut a long story short, involved the union with one well written letter, job done.

 

[Gwylan]

I'm threatening legal action against a customer not paying invoices. My union (NUJ) will help facilitate this (I've sued someone before for non-payment and the union covered all solicitor's fee in full). It's definitely worth it

 

[Eeyore]

Cheers.
My wife used them when off sick, she was going to be made redundant, and her bitch of a boss decided it would be a good idea to ring up, whilst off sick, to basically harangue her with impending jobs.
After I had taken her sick notes in, I was involved in an argument with the woman about contacting my wife only by email and not by phone.
Cut a long story short, involved the union with one well written letter, job done.

Good. As it should be. Sometimes it is just the fear of a union that forces a company to....simply obey the law.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Yes, it's worth it for legal advice alone. You can have free wills written up, using Union lawyers. They're not just there for work disputes.

My mother had an industrial accident, found the accident book had been altered so the union fought her case for her, completely free of charge. It went to court, but ended up with her employers paying out.

 

[mona]

The teaching unions are hopeless. Sound off in the media, talk about industrial action but do little to help their members or the world of education.

 

[Binney on acid]

Sadly the answer to this question is, 'yes'. Thank god they don't run the country any more, but you'd be stuffed without their support.

 

[GreersElbow]

It's a fine balance, much like having some form of insurance. Yes, you could live without it and save, but in the event of breaking your phone the costs are much higher.

Much like the legal advice and support you could gain. Through your own wallet, fees can be eye watering.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I guess like all things there's good and bad. Take the railway Union for example, LU staff seem to be well represented and well looked after. I wonder how many other workers, eg anyone working for Mike Ashley, could do with their representation?

 

[Sorrel]

Unions are designed to protect their members and look after their interests. If you are in an industry with with a combative or aggressive management style they can be very useful at protecting individual workers and getting a better deal for you. If you're in an industry with more individualised pay or skill-set, then they will be less useful to you. But the point is that they may be able to help collectively when an individual may not succeed. It's a kind of insurance, in a way.

There is also, of course, the politicised aspect of some of their activity, but I'm not sure it's relevant to the question here.