Which union is best for HGV drivers, if any? TGWU (unite) are a general union they do a lot in the health service and public sector but seem weak for Transport workers, United Road Transport Union seem to be a specialist union for transport workers but again seem very week, is it even worth joining a union these day most Hauliers don’t even recognise them and never negotiate with them anyway.
Whatever Union you decide on remember they are good for representing YOU for YOUR personal issues
If you want a Union for general negotiating or national issues then forget it
I found URTU great for standing up for me legally
I have no knowledge of the T&G but an URTU application form is not even worth lining the cat’s litter tray with. You get a diary for you money and little else other than an unhelpful attitude over the phone should you have the nerve to ring up for assistance.
I have been in both, URTU some 40 years ago, poor showing but then not sure we even had a shop steward so unfair to judge on that alone.
Been in the TGWU for what seems like for ever, some places i’ve worked better than others.
The union is not the suits at the top of the union tree (suits are the same everywhere), it is the members, in our case the drivers themselves who have a massively important task, and that is to vote in the right people as their own shop stewards, and each and every member either pays their part as the union or you might as well pack it all in and bend over and take it dry.
What i will say is that wherever i’ve worked with collective bargaining and company recognition, the terms and conditions have been at the top end, and places i’ve worked where there has either been no union at all or if there was it was corrupted by greed and self interests usually in collusion with a corrupt management, the job has been poorer for it.
If you were to be the sole union member at a workplace, i’m not sure it would be worth it, but from small seedlings giant trees grow.
Where I work Unite are the recognised union, though in previous employment I have been an URTU member. I think that on some levels the union (whichever one) is only as good as the shop steward that you have.
From personal experience I find that the man representing you at ground level is usually the no all lazy so and so that does it as a perk with his usual cliche of also lazy, save the best job for us types. Generally when the chips are down and money needs spending to defend your ‘rights’ they run a mile because they have to consider the cost benefits of the case above all.
Just an opinion but that’s how I’ve found it so keep my subs in my pocket to waste on something else! [emoji6]
I was with Unite (T&G back then) in my tanker days & found them very good. Currently in the GMB with my supermarket driving job but not made my mind up as to their effectiveness yet though.
If effective Union action is “Illegal”, then the best Union would be one who’s prepared to defy the law at all times - but peacefully.
I’m surprised we have not had a “Peaceful Disobedience” run of events already actually.
I’m talking about actual Union members picketing the private houses of high-ups that are inside the problem for a start!
If you’re not prepared to risk arrest and injury to your person (without inflicting it yourself on others) then no “Union” truly has any power in the first place.
fredthered:
From personal experience I find that the man representing you at ground level is usually the no all lazy so and so that does it as a perk with his usual cliche of also lazy, save the best job for us types. Generally when the chips are down and money needs spending to defend your ‘rights’ they run a mile because they have to consider the cost benefits of the case above all.
Just an opinion but that’s how I’ve found it so keep my subs in my pocket to waste on something else! [emoji6]
Sounds familiar.
Winseer:
If effective Union action is “Illegal”, then the best Union would be one who’s prepared to defy the law at all times - but peacefully.I’m surprised we have not had a “Peaceful Disobedience” run of events already actually.
I’m talking about actual Union members picketing the private houses of high-ups that are inside the problem for a start!If you’re not prepared to risk arrest and injury to your person (without inflicting it yourself on others) then no “Union” truly has any power in the first place.
Firstly there’s a conflict of interest between that of the rail unions v road transport in which better terms and conditions for truck drivers can only be obtained at the expense of rail workers to a geater or lesser degree.
With the union movement also crippled by political dogma which regards rail workers as an elite.While at the same time often having a ( justified ) ideological dislike of road transport,in large part because of bad ‘history’ of too many in the road transport industry being involved in strike breaking and disregard of picket lines.
On that note picketing has always been a case of a flawed answer to lack of solidarity among the union movement and if/when it does take place the idea of not being prepared/able to defend itself just providing an incentive for violence to be used successfully by strike breakers against strikers and picket lines.
Which explains the difference between the success of US unions in the industrial strife of the 1930’s v UK miners in the 1980’s. 
