Unions "what have they done for us??"

[Solomon1]

With another Trade Union bill going through Parliament, I think it's worth remembering just a few things that British trade unions have achieved - especially as these are largely ignored in the biased media coverage:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/09/15/trade-union-bill-9-things-theyve-done-that-have-change-work-for-us-all_n_8141778.html

 

I strongly believe

 

That EVERYONE should be unionised

 

If we've a reached a time when doctor's are striking

 

EVERYONE needs to be flippin buddied up

 

Or the Corporates will take over!!!

[Jonny5]

Trade Unions are workers unions. Everyone who works has plenty to thank them for what they've done historically. We still need them as employers will always want to erode workers rights and increase their profits.

 

My worry is that over the last 30 or so years Unions have become greedy with their leaders increasingly becoming the fat cats that they are supposed to be fundamentally opposed to. Who watches the Watchmen?

[I1L2T3]

They are definitely needed more than ever but they have to move out of the past and away from confrontation for the sake of it.

 

The same is true of many employers (including the state) of course as it takes two to have a scrap.

 

Both sides need to up their game and learn how to cooperate

[unbeliever]

I don't like unions. I mean I really don't like them. But I would never ban them.

 

I take issue with their protected legal status. I would like them disestablished. That way, they can take industrial action whenever they want, but there's nothing to stop the employers firing them for doing so. There would be a natural balance of power.

This is how it was with unions before I think the '70s, when they achieved the most.

 

Part of the reason they've become corrupt is that they have nothing to fear. The worst thing that can happen if they do a bad job is that their members don't gain anything.

[Eater Sundae]

What a silly ,stupid ill informed comment this is.

 

Without unions and trade unionists the working people of this Country would still be tipping their caps to the Land owners, factory bosses and land lords that have for centuries ground them into early graves while at the same time those leaches lived of the fat of the land.

 

Margret Thatcher turned her police force [yes the Tory police force at that time ]on to the miners in 1984 and the establishment ably backed by the B.B.C. and the Tory rags [Times ,Sun,Daily Mail etc] blackened the Unions name by distorting news and headlines on a daily basis.

 

The same thing continues to this day ably backed by channel 5 ,Jeremy Kyle and the same Tory newspapers that portray the unemployed as feckless lazy wasters who should go back a hundred years and once again start bowing down to the privately educated posh boys [from both parties ] who now run this Country.

 

Which union do those unemployed belong to?

[Berberis]

The cheapest union is around £7 per month, do millions of people pay for something that has no value?

Didnt David Cameron say that he was going to form a union?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34407971

 

---------- Post added 01-12-2015 at 20:23 ----------

 

Trade unions

 

Halfon is a member of the Prospect trade union[17] and a campaigner for Conservative supporters to become more involved in trade unions.[18][19] In 2012, he published a pamphlet through the thinktank Demos called Stop the Union Bashing: Why Conservatives Should Embrace the Trade Union Movement, which relayed the history of trade unionism in the Conservative Party, and called for these links to be revived.[20]

 

That doesn't answer the question though. I know there are lots of people who were members. I was a member of the AEEU for a time, but what relevance are they today? The list of achievements is well out of date and in the most part where gained by previous generations efforts.

[El Cid]

That doesn't answer the question though. I know there are lots of people who were members. I was a member of the AEEU for a time, but what relevance are they today? The list of achievements is well out of date and in the most part where gained by previous generations efforts.

 

Unions were just ordinary people, so if ordinary people are now saying there is nothing to fight for, they have been il-informed or brain washed.

I hope the doctors get a good outcome, the fact that the public sector achieve very little by strike is because page is set by Government, and unions lack authority, despite the Tories being elected by a very small section of the population.

Capitalism seems to be top dog, but surely unions should be stronger when one country is competing against another.

[max]

That doesn't answer the question though. I know there are lots of people who were members. I was a member of the AEEU for a time, but what relevance are they today? The list of achievements is well out of date and in the most part where gained by previous generations efforts.

 

I too was in the AEEU and one of the people whose cause I took up was a disabled technical support operative. His manager was slowly but surely undermining him and attempting to force him to resign. Among the tactics he employed was to move the 'phone from the desk next to him to one on the other side. A small enough change maybe but the client was deaf on one side and so it took a little longer to identify that the 'phone was ringing. This affected the number of rings before the 'phone was answered which was one of the criteria against which performance was judged.

 

We suggested that the manager add a flashing light to enable the operative to become aware of incoming calls earlier. He did this but then moved the 'phone to another desk slightly behind the operative.

 

He also had all the chairs with casters removed so that the operative had to stand to reach the 'phone which was not helpful due to his having to use a stick.

 

Each incident was not worthy of taking out a grievance but we, the union, persuaded the manager's manager that there was sufficient evidence to take the company to tribunal and the situation was resolved without expensive and lengthy tribunal involvement.

 

Without the backing of the Union and their legal team we ensured that our member retained his job and that the company was not exposed to undue expense.

 

The idea that unions do not have a place in the modern workplace is laughable.

[Mister M]

I too was in the AEEU and one of the people whose cause I took up was a disabled technical support operative. His manager was slowly but surely undermining him and attempting to force him to resign. Among the tactics he employed was to move the 'phone from the desk next to him to one on the other side. A small enough change maybe but the client was deaf on one side and so it took a little longer to identify that the 'phone was ringing. This affected the number of rings before the 'phone was answered which was one of the criteria against which performance was judged.

 

We suggested that the manager add a flashing light to enable the operative to become aware of incoming calls earlier. He did this but then moved the 'phone to another desk slightly behind the operative.

 

He also had all the chairs with casters removed so that the operative had to stand to reach the 'phone which was not helpful due to his having to use a stick.

 

Each incident was not worthy of taking out a grievance but we, the union, persuaded the manager's manager that there was sufficient evidence to take the company to tribunal and the situation was resolved without expensive and lengthy tribunal involvement.

 

Without the backing of the Union and their legal team we ensured that our member retained his job and that the company was not exposed to undue expense.

 

The idea that unions do not have a place in the modern workplace is laughable.

 

Quoted for truth.

[woodmally]

While fiddling M.P's and House of Lords thieves [spongers] get away with slapped wrists.

Add to this that great socialist Tony Blaire who on a daily basis increases his millions by stabbing in the back the very people who voted for him.

Yes the thieving bus driver or drunk tube driver are a bloody disgrace but they are a drop in the Ocean when compared to the real fiddlers in our society.

 

Yes your right about MP's expenses. Both are equally as bad and both should be challenged.