In this time of everyone looking out for themselves, are Unions relevant any more… 
URTU - mine is - they are representing me at my ET and have helped me a lot in the past - I have no complaints from a personal perspective.
On a national perspective - they could do more for the industry in general I think, by standing up more to the Government and the EU but I don’t know by how much their hands are tied by the present legal system.
One reason why unions are poor at representing drivers “en masse” is becasue of the fragmentised nature of road haulage…
It s a lot easier to get things done in a factory with a couple of hundred members who are always working together and can support each other.
Drivers , by the nature of the job are usaually working as individuals.
However it should not be beyond the wit of union leaders to deal with his problem.
As has been said many time on this forum, drivers are their own worst enemy, with some who are against unions, some who support unions but never go to meetings etc, some who do get involved and do their bit, and the vast majority who don’t give ■■■■ either way untill the flack starts flying.
Most unions can deal with legal representation etc for an individual driver with no problems and also most workplace problems but fall down when it comes to improving the laws and regulations in the industry
On wages in general , it’s hard to have mass agreements when there is not a single mass body to negotiate for.
This used to be possible when we had regional wage agreements, but bosses and in particular the RHA fought hard against these and eventually during the recession of the 80’s they won when the regional agreements were largely discontinued.
If every member of any union went to the meetings and made their voices heard then eventually the union leaders would get the message, but if we are prepared to pay each week and do nothing else, why should they bother?
They will assume that if we aren’t bothering, that we are content with things as they are.
Roll on the revolution 
Although the company I work for do recognise the union they do not have to worry because the union membership is not a majority.
The members themselves are very apathetic and uninterested in getting organised. It seems the only time they want the union is when they fall foul of the company’s rules and regulations.
My view is that they must be pretty useless for the haulage industry to be in the position it is in. I won’t be joining one.
With some unity, UK Truckers could hold the country to ransom until their demands are met.
i"ve been a member of a certain union since i started driving about 10 years ago.im about to cancel for a number of reasons.(long story short).
recently when i was (wrongly)given my notice,it took me from monday to thursday before i could speak to someone regarding the position i was in.no local offices were intrested and kept passing the"buck".i had to ring london to get something done.not good enough.
a few years ago i had a serious injury at work,used a union solicitor,and ended up in the end being not only physically,but literally stitched up.off the solicitor and the union because their was a small element of risk.the claim has been re-started with my own independant solicitor.
i worked for a large scottish transporter company which went under in 2005,and the union secured very minimal jobs compared to the amount of workforce made redundant,and did virtually nothing to secure employment with competitors that secured our work.
all in all,they are happy to take the money…and run.not impressed at all.
I have in the past been with two union related to this game and they were both as much use as a chocolate teapot. firstly I was with T&G and the URTU, both rubbish. That was a few years ago now and I’m very unlikely to bother with another ever again.
I suspect that if we took any action that the government didn’t agree with, operators would lose their licences and drivers arrested. The last time I took part in any action was at the gates of Fawley refinery (think it was 2000?). There was a lot of support but it didn’t get us anywhere, the gestapo were there taking pictures of us, nobody was arrested although the mrs was almost arrested when she ‘waved’ 
to one of the gestapo’s with a camera. I suspect the penalties of blockading a refinery for days on end might be a bit harsher now 
.
Tiger.
I’m in UNITE (T&G) and they are [zb].
Emailed them the letters I got when I got made redundant. All they did was contact the union solicitor and emailed back with his reply (which was one sentence) and the phone number to the Redundancy Payments Office. I had to do all the leg work and calls myself.
Total waste of time, and money. I’m only in it for the driving licence insurance in case I loose my licence.
censor dodge removed colingl
I used to be a paid up member of the T&G until the first fuel blockades happened when I witnessed the then General Secretary climbing out of his chauffer driven Jag on national tv slagging off the protestors (his members incidentally). That’s when I realised my dues were keeping him and his like in luxury whilst they chased their knighthoods not giving a stuff for his membership. Needles to say I voted with my wallet. 
I’m still a fully paid up member of the T&G (Unite) mainly for the legal protection it affords me as I could never fight the fight in the courts without it, as for the rest the “Thatch” neutered the unions good and proper.
Layby Larry:
I’m still a fully paid up member of the T&G (Unite) mainly for the legal protection it affords me as I could never fight the fight in the courts without it, as for the rest the “Thatch” neutered the unions good and proper.
Funny though, in the eleven years so far that Labour’s been in power (for the most part with an overwhelming majority) they’ve not exactly busted a gut to repeal all that legislation (which even I admit was not all good) that they protested about so much at the time.
The sad truth is Gnasty, they don’t want to…