And while I'm on this theme, I find the furore about the election of Ed Miliband as the Labour leader being the work of Communists aka trade unionists rather bad form. My dad was a trade unionists and someone less likely to be a Communist you could never meet. Not for a man with a mortgage, a car and who used to make sure he took his family on holiday every year. No, Dad didn't believe much in Marxism, what he believed in was fairness. A fair days pay for a fair days work and your employer giving you fair conditions in which to work in. When people say "Oh, it's health and safety gone mad, that is" let me tell you, it wasn't ever thus. You could just ask my dad who watched his finger ends get sliced off in a swinging tailgate of a trailer, or a colleague of his who was killed when a lorry he was attending to rolled on top of him and killed him. I've seen my dad take a camera to work to take pictures of dangerous machinery to stop accidents happening. That to him was what trade unions were about, people together to shout louder than one man on his own. I suppose he was what the TUC would have called a 'moderate'. He hated Arthur Scargill for not holding a ballot for the '84 miner's strike as it completely destroyed the ethos on which trade unions are built: one man, one vote. I've just looked at the National Office of Statistics website which says that about a quarter of the UK working population are members of a union. I'd fancy that the vast majority of those people aren't a bunch of mini Lenins planning to storm the gates of Buckingham Palace, but are just ordinary working people who want to be treated fairly. Power to the people indeed.
8 comments:
The French are a nation of hysterics. At least it makes it interesting.
We on the other hand are a nation of complainers, but wouldn't dare make a fuss about anything in public. (Though that's changing)
I wonder if we will see a rise or fall in union membership after the spending announcements tomorrow.
Despite some very persistant representatives I have not joined since coming to work for the council. That's partly because those who have shouted loudest about it have also always been the ones I've least wanted to associate with on any level - often using it purely as a way to get extra time away from the desk rather than for the benefit of us all. But also because they seem so weak and not actually able to influence decisions.
I wonder if there will be a mas recruitment campaign when jobs really are under threat.
Well that's the problem with unions, isn't it? They have a tendency to attract the sort of people who could clear a room within a few minutes.
I'll definitely consider joining the GMB if my company decides not to give us a pay rise this year. At the minute it's all done via a works committee (of which I represent my department) but it's basically a talking shop where the company tickles our tummies.
It's heartening to know after yesterday that there's always a job stacking shelves in Asda or greeting customers in Next for all those thousands of public sector workers who will get made redundant though, isn't it?
I can't wait to get my bright green baseball cap...
I was in France at the weekend, and while in Amiens I watched a massive Trade Union demonstration go by. What was brilliant about it was that it was 100% ordinary people; working types with their kids, parents, dogs, partners, friends. Not a single white-dreadlocked crustie poseur 'Anarchist' among them. They actually looked like people whose lives will genuinely be affected by the French government cuts.
Give me a bit of French mass outrage rather than British passive-aggessive moaning any day.
When I had my wages cut last year, the Trade Union who I'm a member of didn't do very much. They claimed to have negotiated a better 'buy-out' deal but I reckon that it was already in the pipeline for if there was reaction.
To me it didn't matter whether we won or not, it was more the fact that they didn't even want to fight it - something which each Trade Union should do for its members if need be.
Alot of my colleagues are now considering cancelling their membership as they've not had value for money from them.
A bit late in the day, but just in case you come back and take a peek, Lee:
I think there are just the three unions active at your place of work and the only one I truly know anything about is Unison (but I think what I'm about to say should apply to all three). As members you and your colleagues have the right to raise a vote of no confidence in your elected comittee and see if that improves things (shot across the bow or actual un-seating), or you can make a complaint to your regional office who should investigate. This especially applies if you have evidence that your elected negotiators have acted contrary to the mandate of the Branch Members. Just a thought.
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