Joining a Union

Just joined Comrade Vine and all of the other GBOL in Unison. Took me a while to figure out the right one (think USDAW were the big dogs at my old place, was never sure if I was eligible to join though) but glad to be aboard.

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Going to give FSU a call to see if it’d be a good fit :thinking:

Whatchhh the filmmm

i’m actually franchising

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forgot that when i joined they called me and said oh youve written all of your job titles on the same line, if youve got more than one job just let us know and i said oh no all of that is my job title

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Hi comrades

Today is my 9th day of being on strike against new (worse) contracts being imposed on us by a Labour Council. The whole workforce has been sacked and re-hired. This is a very aggressive anti union industrial relations strategy which Kier Starmer has rightly criticised BA for doing to it’s workers but a Labour Council is doing it and he’s said nothing. It’s weird being on strike during a pandemic when loads of people are working from home but we have had amazing both physical and online pickets (over 500 people on zoom together) with general secretaries of loads of unions and people like Dianne Abbot and John McDonald speaking to offer support and solidarity that a Labour council are doing this to low paid public sector workers.

If you are in the Labour Party please raise this in your CLP.

Our slogan is #clappedthenslapped

London Unison In pictures: Tower Hamlets strike | News | News | UNISON Greater London

The Guardian Tower Hamlets workers to strike over sack-and-rehire plan | Local government | The Guardian

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Will do so if I can ever get to have a CLP meeting.

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Thanks, it would be really appreciated.

Amazing protests and pickets outside Tate venues all week :heart: the union I’m a part of for a different museum have also been there to show support.

Properly, properly despicable behaviour from the company, everything that’s wrong about the art world in a nutshell.

https://www.instagram.com/tate_united/ has all the info and receipts including the director only speaking to the press about the decision to make 313 staff redundant on… Desert Island Discs :rofl: :joy:

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I was listening when she did that like “WTF!!” She played Billy Bragg and said she was a socialist and Lauren Laverne asked about the redundancies and the director said that they were necessary! It’s really amazing stuff.

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Thanks for the insta link. Interesting seeing they’re still applying for HR staff with this specific experience:

I’m seeing this in a few workplaces, including my own. We’re also getting insultingly low voluntary redundancy terms, and from what little I understand of redundancies - voluntary redundancy packages tend to be OK because they’re much easier for HR to manage. I think hiring HR staff with ‘change’ experience points towards they’re happy to deal with the workload involved with compulsory redundancies… especially as that work will justify keeping the amount of staff/resource in their department.

But there’s a lot I don’t understand about HR and if anyone here thinks I’m talking shite do let me know!

It also involves running a wellness programme lmaoooooo

eurrrrgh

Don’t know much about different voluntary redundancy schemes (and would suggest take-up of voluntary redundancy in the current economic climate is gonna be… low) but redundancies post-furlough are inevitable, regardless of how virtuous (or not) the exec team of an organisation is. Imo it’s the job of HR to support the organisation to remain financially viable through the process (whilst maintaining duty of care to employees via best practice etc), and it’s the duty of unions to protect the interests of their members, negotiate using any means they can to protect jobs, and make sure the organisation follows their own policies & doesn’t break employment law. And until we get rid of capitalism that’s the way it is and kind of has to be.

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Another chapter in the saga. Created under the watch of (intentionally enabled by?) Labour Councils. And when the SNP took control of the Council in Glasgow and grasped the nettle, these unions had the cheek to protest against alleged Council slowness in cleaning up the mess.

They shat on their members to protect their entrenched arses. Plain and simple.

That’ll get called political point-scoring, but it properly stinks, maaan. And it’s just one of the examples of reasons why people are reluctant to join a union (or the Labour party, despite the choice of whether subs go to the party).

I only joined Prospect when I’d clocked that it’s not party-affilliated. Unfortunately it’s not got formal ‘recognition’ by my workplace, either a (but rather that status, than joining a significantly deceitful org).

It does the unions, nor their members, nor the Labour party any favours whatsoever to have unions be party-aligned in the way they are.

Acorn AGM this evening then.

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Have fun - do you have to be a tenant to be a member? I joined GMTU even though I pay the Homer tax, but would consider signing up to these guys as well.

I’m not a tenant. I said that was a concern for me! but they said it’s fine and some members aren’t.

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Good thread summing up the battle UoL cleaners have just won:

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This is one of the reasons why Labour should still be pursuing a policy of scrapping academies and free schools, rather than walking back on it as Streeting has done in his Guardian interview today