Hi there. So I’ve been hearing about unions all my life, but never really understood how they operate. What is your opinion about them, are you part of any and would you recommend them? I found UNITED ROAND TRANSPORT UNION, but not really sure how it operates, from what I know many of the benefits we get nowadays, like sick pay, annual leave and WTD were achieved with the help of unions. Why are so many employers afraid of unions 
If there’s a union at your workplace then that’s the one to join because many of the ratifications and processes for recognition have already been done.
For me its no coincidence that the best paid jobs with the best terms I’ve had in my working career have been while working for unionised firms.
Some employers dont like unions. *Some* people dont like the police…
Extreme, but you get the idea.
In a big company they can (hopefully) negotiate with one union to keep a happy, productive, valued, workforce, and not need to continually recruit and train new staff.
If the workforce is (actually or perceived to be) low skilled, cheap, and easily replaced, then maybe they won`t care so much.
Some employers dont need a union to kick their arses, but unfortunately they are rare. Even in that case Id think of unions as insurance: I pay a premium for fire insurance on my house. I hope it is a waste of money!
Annual leave and the WTD had nothing to do with the unions.
Annual leave and the WTD had nothing to do with the unions.
Same as Toonsy, every top ranking job i’ve had has had a union negotiating the terms, every second rate job hasn’t.
As above best in the union that has recognition where you intend to work, i’ve been with TGWU now Unite forever, only needed them once when the situation was sorted fast, other than that i pay my dues voice my opinion when asked at meetings provide back up if required for the stewards and vote as and when required for wage offers etc, and enjoy the class leading terms that result…in return because i ain’t a fool i give 100% at work, everyone’s a winner.
You’ll find some anti union feeling on this forum from actual working class people (even if they think themsleves a bit above 
) which is sort of weird.
Conor:
Annual leave and the WTD had nothing to do with the unions.
Well, a number of sources state otherwise, GOV website, Wikipedia and a couple more, strange. Also this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icFkbb_cOYA&ab_channel=DoubleDownNews
Conor:
Annual leave and the WTD had nothing to do with the unions.
An extreme and simple statement.
Not one I agree with.
For many years I had holidays above the stautory minimums, thanks to union negotiation.
The more recent legal minimums were not enacted as pure goodwill. The unions didn`t strike for them, but we can bet they were speaking to various politicians and so influencing law makers.
(written same time as above)
I’ve done alright out of the Union over the years,never been in bother but decent pay rises,extra day’s holiday and got us a few grand back several years ago when they’d been diddling the average holiday pay.
People moan about paying the monthly cost but I wouldn’t not be in it,I get the impression the company would try walking all over us…
better to be in a union provided you have a good shop steward and not one who is out to line his own pockets , i worked for a major oil company for a long time and had a few shop stewards over the years , they were all excellent .
This is my limited experience.
I’ve had one unionised job (Oct 2014 - Jun 2016). For me, there were some positive experiences, and one very negative.
The positives: there always seemed to be some sort of wage dispute ongoing, and as a result I received a couple of decent pay rises in the relatively short time I was there, plus 12 months backpay for one of them. They also negotiated a very generous collective fuel bonus, paid 2 weeks before christmas. As far as I know (I still go in there to collect at times), they still don’t have driver facing cameras.
The negative: long story short, a major customer withdrew their custom, which affected production output by 1/3, so redundancies were made. To make it ‘fair’ the union reps devised a points based criteria, where each driver was scored for things such as length of service, what jobs they could do (i.e. forklift licence, shunter-tug experience, controller, etc). There seemed to be a golden inner circle of drivers on the old-old-old contract (triple time on bank holidays etc) whose nests were well feathered, and the criteria was skewed very much to suit them.
I lost my job.
In theory they are handy for legal stuff even if you don’t have a heavy union presence, but that depends on the shopsteward and the union generally.
Our place used to be council run so its got quite a lot of long timers and according to the majority of those I’ve talked to, the union (GMB) has been basically next to useless for individual problems. This included managers stealing money from several peoples wages over a long period, but nope, “can’t help”.
The current shopsteward is an arrogant, lying, self centred, egotistical waste of space who literally gets nothing done and is the slowest worker in the whole company, but constantly claims how much he’s done for people (all lies) and complains about management being incompetent (they mostly aren’t). He’s only interested if you’re one of those who worship him. You get the feeling I don’t like him? 
Oh don’t forget, you get a little money off Alton Towers tickets and similar, with a load of caveats.
Basically you pays your money and takes your chances, but generally personally I’d save my money, there’s plenty of jobs out there.
trevHCS:
there’s plenty of jobs out there.
Not in the new year there aint. Recession on the way!
Yorkielad:
I’ve done alright out of the Union over the years,never been in bother but decent pay rises,extra day’s holiday and got us a few grand back several years ago when they’d been diddling the average holiday pay.
People moan about paying the monthly cost but I wouldn’t not be in it,I get the impression the company would try walking all over us…
It’s no different to any other form of insurance. If you want the protection, you pay the premium.
Unions can be a force for the good; it’s when their leaders start to believe they’re Napoleon (see Scargill, and Lynch in the current day) that the problems start.
I have been a member of the t&g for all my working life spread over 4 companies. If the stewards were a waste of time the branch members would soon get rid but a lot of members can,t be bothered to attend meetings and have their say but they love to moan to anyone on a night out or post negative things on this and other sites. 2 hours once a month is not a to ask to try to help your future but they would sooner have a night out or go to the pub. The unions will never be as strong as the were because at one time most companies, docks and manufacturers were unionised and were solid, you could nearly always get help off them if needed in a dispute and return the favour if they needed help.
My job was connected to the midlands car trade and the docks and I was only on strike a couple of times in 40 years, never crossed a picket line.The terms and conditions of the old car trade was far far better than a lot of jobs that some drivers today class as top jobs and I retired in 2007. Its anotherworld completely nowadays with all the increase in traffic and modern technology but I think a properly run union branch would still have its place.
I’m pro union in the transport industry, I was a member of the T&G and they were very good but we had a bad experience with Unite after amalgamation so I refuse to rejoin despite pressure from coworkers.
Overall I would recommend joining if your firm recognises them and they have a decent membership.
I would have thought that everyone in road transport today would be a member of a union the main reason is for legal representation for all kinds of reasons ,re unfair dismissal ,medical claims ,accidents legal claims… they are the good points in my view .
IN fact this very time in 1979/1980.we as drivers [not all] were on strike for the £5 per hour the strike lasted 8 weeks ,not every where but in the midlands it did, so that is how we had a pay increase ,brilliant ,but made redundant 3 months later however i still paid my union dues until i retired no one knew, as firms then would not entertain any union.
£5 an hour in 1980 is £20 a hour in today’s money. I guess we are all mugs now.
In my old job my staff were 70+ % Union. They recently almost went on strike for 6 weeks over Christmas. Got 7.5% for this year.
Some work places have unions with in-house shop stewards ( work place representatives), other don’t. Mine doesn’t.
When I was on the buses, it was unionised- Unite was the trade Union. Most people were in it and paid there £15 quid a month. Some people weren’t in the union and some were in independent unions.
I’m in an independent union. They have legal cover so if I have an accident- my fault or not my fault, I’ll have legal representation, whether my company wants this or not. My union doesn’t strike but offers representation at disciplinaries or grievances should I require this.
Larger unions like Unite offer sickness cover and pay out for injuries. This can include paying you out if you lose your license for medical reasons. This depends on the cover you want or need. You pay more for more benefits. Work place Unions also negotiate pay. If they didn’t, no one else would.
Anyone can join a union. Mine will cover pretty much anyone. Some employers will tell you they won’t recognise unions. However, they cannot stop you being represented by a union representative if you require this for a disciplinary or meeting. Infact you can bring in anyone within reason, to be a witness for you.
If you drive a vehicle for a living, I’d advise being in a union, even if it’s for legal cover. We’ve all seen the amount of muppets out there on our roads.
Sidevalve:
Unions can be a force for the good; it’s when their leaders start to believe they’re Napoleon (see Scargill, and Lynch in the current day) that the problems start.
Nah, you’re listening too much to the media propaganda mate, don’t fall into the trap.
This is exactly why there is so much anti union feeling in the present generation, divide and conquer, teach a distorted view in schools and across the media,.and the masses swallow it and repeat it with glee.
Scargill was one case, the establishment were out to win him and crush him and his class at whatever cost, opinions on him and his personality and methods are open to discussion on both sides, but he was not ALL bad, just a tad misguided in his methods…different times btw. 
As for Lynch, I ain’t having that mate, .I sure as hell wish he or someone like him represented US !
His members don’t have to put up with the types of crap we do.
His members ain’t expected to do.70 hour weeks.
His members are not on paltry wages,.same rate right through.
So cut the man some slack, the establishment and govt’s campaign to discredit and vilify him will be well under way, they do NOT like being taken on by ‘The plebs’
,‘They don.t like it up em’’ as somebody once said.
They arrogantly think in their view we should be '‘Kept in our place’, and on the whole we actually have been since the 80s (especially in THIS job) …For the reasons I pointed out in my first paragraph.
Our industry could DEMAND wtf we wanted, and then some, we could close the country down a lot more than the rail industry ever could.
What is the point of him saying …''Right, if you refuse to negotiate we will stop trains between the hours of midnight to 3 am ‘’ of course they have to unfortunately cause a lot of disruption to hammer home their points, but it is then used to ■■■■ them in the eyes of the public,.again via media,
whilst leaving those who will not give way looking like the innocent party.
I would also prefer to work with some of those guys in that job with a bit of backbone, and who are not afraid to fight for their own welfare and good, than (and unlike) some of the sorry arsed limp wristed yes men and arse crawlers that accept any ■■■■■■■ thing chucked at them with zero resistance, who we are forced to work alongside…ie the majority of the workforce, unfortunately for the rest of us.
So before you make generalised and sweeping statements about a guy representing other guys just like us, just compare the 2 worlds,…
The one where somebody like Lynch is standing up for you.
Then one ran by haulage company bosses, with their ■■■■ take policies towards their drivers.
In fact you don’t even have to go THAT far, just compare a driver working for a firm like mine and his t.s and c.s, to one working for a recognised union firm that gets things done for it’s drivers,.and looks after them…it ain’t complicated to suss out who is better off, and those firms ARE out there,.but not in my area . 
And… breathe out.
Cheers.
It’s been a while since I had a ‘‘rant’’ on here. 