# Unison - any good?



## mozzy (Feb 19, 2010)

I have been meaning to join a union for ages, and cause I am lazy and useless, I have only just got round to it. I have done some research and Unison seems the one most suited for my line of work (I work in the voluntry sector), and just wondered what you lot think of them. I don't want to subscribe and pay, then realise i'm wasting my money. I've never joined a union before so i would be grateful to hear your views please! Thanks!


----------



## kenny g (Feb 20, 2010)

My work is half GMB and a quarter unison. GMB have flat rate fee of 10 squid a month so I went for that. Unison would cost me around 30 a month which is taking the piss. Plus GMB  got me 1500 in back holiday pay years back in a previous job so I have some respect for them. 

Politically they are both shit but better than nothing. The advantage of GMB in my work place is that it has members from reception staff up to senior staff which helps stop the union being used to attack each other when the going gets tough. Also, there  seem to be less arsehole student union types out to relive 1917 in the GMB branch.

Talk to your work mates and see who belongs to which is my best advice.


----------



## selamlar (Feb 21, 2010)

I'd go with the most important thing being seeing if anyone else in your workplace/whatever is in a union, and aiming for the same one.  Failing that, Unison (although isn't it Unite these days?) would seem to be a fair choice.  I'm in the GMB myself.


----------



## se5 (Feb 21, 2010)

First off is there a recognised union at your workplace? If so its best to join that. 

If not its worth talking to your colleagues and seeing if there are other people who would be interested in joining a union and then you can go to management and get official recognition - good employers will recognise the value of this and will willingly recognise the union for negotiation purposes. But you can force recognition if a majority of workers vote for it. Once you've got recognition/ want to get recognition you then need to get everyone to join the union. If you contact any of the unions they will help you with the whole process.

For what its worth I think Unite (http://www.unitetheunion.com) are slightly better than Unison (http://www.unison.org.uk/) for voluntary sector organisations - a few years ago when working in a charity I was responsible for investigating whether to change unions and we chose to change to  Unite over Unison. 

Unison are very focused on the public sector especially the lower paid staff in the NHS, local councils etc - ie cleaners, nurses - and so didnt have much experience in the voluntary sector (and the experience it does have tends to be organisations like housing associations which have transferred form teh public sector) whereas Unite has always had a strong white collar 'professional' staff section (arising from the days when it was MSF/ Amicus) and has more experience in voluntary sector organisations and negotiations in smaller organisations - Unison is focused on negotiating standard terms and conditions for thousands of health and council staff. 

One thing to look at also is costs of membership - if I remember correctly  Unite is a standard fee of around £10 a month whereas Unsion is on a sliding scale which means that anyone earning over about £15,000 pays more than £10 a month. 

See http://www.unitetheunion.com/sectors/community_youth_workers.aspx
and http://www.unison.org.uk/voluntary/

it may also be worth looking at the TUC site http://www.worksmart.org.uk/ for general information and help in finding a union


----------



## stethoscope (Feb 21, 2010)

I'm in Unison myself, and have already had support from them over an issue work-related. Where I work (University) we have Unite, Unison and the UCU all representing, and so not only considering which union to join based on your particular line of work, and which ones are actually represented, it may be worth familiarising yourself a bit better with the actual reps themselves. The prominence as well as attitude (believe it or not) of individual union reps can be variable at some places (they are at mine) and which is why I chose Unison over the others.


----------



## mozzy (Feb 21, 2010)

kenny g said:


> My work is half GMB and a quarter unison. GMB have flat rate fee of 10 squid a month so I went for that. Unison would cost me around 30 a month which is taking the piss. Plus GMB  got me 1500 in back holiday pay years back in a previous job so I have some respect for them.
> 
> _Politically they are both shit_ but better than nothing. The advantage of GMB in my work place is that it has members from reception staff up to senior staff which helps stop the union being used to attack each other when the going gets tough. Also, there  seem to be less arsehole student union types out to relive 1917 in the GMB branch.
> 
> Talk to your work mates and see who belongs to which is my best advice.



I was worried they may be crap now politically and was thought no one had replied to this thread cause you all thought "duh, no one joins unions now - get up to date!". However, i'm having a hard time of it at work atm., and wondered if it would be the sensible thing to do.

However, I work in an organisation which has only 4 paid members of staff and as far as i know, no one else is in a union. But thanks for getting back to us - i will try and talk to collegues and see what they say!

Cheers everyone for the advice and replying! It's nice to know there are still folks joining unions and that they are not just a dying breed now. Thanks for the advice about who to/not to join. I'll do more researching and look up more then decide!


----------



## Blagsta (Feb 21, 2010)

i work in the vol sector and i'm in unite


----------



## Grandma Death (Feb 21, 2010)

se5 said:


> Unison are very focused on the public sector especially the lower paid staff in the NHS, local councils etc - ie cleaners, nurses - *and so didnt have much experience in the voluntary sector*



I think its unfair as to deem an entire union as not having 'much experience' in a particular sector. I'm a chief steward for Unison and currently have four cases going to an ET all of which are in the third sector. I certainly wouldn't describe our branch as not 'having much experience' at all.


----------



## se5 (Feb 21, 2010)

Grandma Death said:


> I think its unfair as to deem an entire union as not having 'much experience' in a particular sector. I'm a chief steward for Unison and currently have four cases going to an ET all of which are in the third sector. I certainly wouldn't describe our branch as not 'having much experience' at all.



I could have phrased that better - when I investigated the matter a few years ago the perception I got was that Unison did not have much experience of the voluntary sector work my charity was involved in - ie a professional campaigning organisation not a service provider. 

Another union active in the voluntary sector is Community - http://www.community-tu.org/information/101566 which I dont know much about


----------



## RubyBlue (Jan 12, 2016)

Where I work we have both Unison and Unite - I want to join one but not sure which - they both seem to offer the same things, no-one else on my team is in either!  Any specific thoughts on them?


----------



## Fozzie Bear (Jan 12, 2016)

RubyBlue said:


> Where I work we have both Unison and Unite - I want to join one but not sure which - they both seem to offer the same things, no-one else on my team is in either!  Any specific thoughts on them?



There isn't a huge difference between them but Unison has more of a focus on the public sector I guess. If both unions in your workplace have recognition then just find out who is a member of which and join the one with the people you have most in common with (in terms of work, socially, politically etc).


----------



## Pickman's model (Jan 12, 2016)

RubyBlue said:


> Where I work we have both Unison and Unite - I want to join one but not sure which - they both seem to offer the same things, no-one else on my team is in either!  Any specific thoughts on them?


tbh i'd see which union does more and then join them.


----------



## Fozzie Bear (Jan 12, 2016)

Pickman's model said:


> tbh i'd see which union does more and then join them.



that too.


----------



## Puddy_Tat (Jan 12, 2016)

apologies for a serving of copypasta, but i've posted this a couple of times this week -

with a very few exceptions, all workers have a right to join a trade union of their choice, whether or not their workplace has a formally 'recognised' union and whether or not the union they join is recognised.

while the benefits of membership are greater in a recognised workplace (e.g. collective bargaining to some extent, reps who are either based in your workplace or at least know it), you'd still have access to advice and so on even if your place isn't recognised, or if you join a non recognised union.

if there is a recognised union at your place, it's probably a better bet than one that's not (although if there are only 4 people at your place, you probably don't have recognition - although if it's a small office of a larger organisation, there may be a recognised union elsewhere.  Although recognition of this union at this workplace does not necessarily mean that a different workplace with the same employer will be covered by the same recognition agreement or the same union - for historic reasons (mergers and the like) my job is not 'recognised' although other jobs with my employer are.)

TUC Union Finder may be worth a look.

Some unions (and probably some branches within some unions) are better than others at looking after members who are working at small, non 'recognised' workplaces - many unions' structure tends to be based on large, single workplace / employer branches (e.g. Unison will have one or more branches that largely or wholly represent staff at Lewisham Council, Unite will have a branch for staff at Catford bus garage.)

If the job you do is in the range of technical / professional sorts of thing, then Prospect may be worth a look - I was a member for a while (left only because another union is more appropriate to the job I now have) and while I never called upon their services, they do seem a lot more geared towards the world of individual contracts, small workplaces, remote / home working and even workers with self employed status (for the vast majority of whom, their relationship with their 'client' is not exactly a partnership of equals)

And experience of any union will vary depending on the local reps - at ground level it's a voluntary thing and there's usually not enough people coming forward to do it.  There are some very good people doing it, and a few indifferent ones...


----------



## Steel Icarus (Jan 12, 2016)

Ah, have been meaning to post about this/beg info off people. Joined Unison, have been nominated to be steward in our college
Anyone fancy sending me a PM if they have any advice or experience they'd be willing to pass on? Never done anything like this before


----------



## Puddy_Tat (Jan 12, 2016)

S☼I said:


> Ah, have been meaning to post about this/beg info off people. Joined Unison, have been nominated to be steward in our college
> Anyone fancy sending me a PM if they have any advice or experience they'd be willing to pass on? Never done anything like this before


 
I was a NALGO then Unison rep in local government some years back.  Will try and get some thoughts together in due course (will post here to start with - may be of use to others - but feel free to PM if there's anything you want to ask me away from the thread)


----------



## Steel Icarus (Jan 12, 2016)

Puddy_Tat said:


> I was a NALGO then Unison rep in local government some years back.  Will try and get some thoughts together in due course (will post here to start with - may be of use to others - but feel free to PM if there's anything you want to ask me away from the thread)


That's very kind of you. No rush, likes; they've received my nomination paper but I've yet to hear back


----------



## Puddy_Tat (Jan 12, 2016)

(since i couldn't get hold of someone i was meant to be phoning...)

dunno how much of a formality it will be.  when i was a rep, NALGO was entitled to 1 rep per X number of members represented, and I can't remember there ever needing to be an election for reps. 

my thoughts on being a union rep -

don't feel under pressure to change the world on your own.  not on the first day at least.

exactly how the relationship between reps / management and between reps and branch / regional office (or whatever it is there) will vary between workplaces.  it's worth getting the hang of it.  Likewise whether there's a formal or informal structure of what reps represent which group/s of members (e.g. departments / locations / grades / self organised groups and so on) or whether it's the kind of set up where any member can approach any rep

as with all voluntary / semi voluntary activity, the experience will vary.  i've been involved with some voluntary things where members of less than 10 years' standing aren't expected to speak, i've also been involved with some voluntary things where if you show up a second time you get invited to go on the committee...

never forget that there are more senior reps / branch officers / paid officials behind the scenes (the exact set up will vary - branch i was in had branch officers / committee, a couple of full time staff locally, then it was regional office.)  it's better to answer a difficult question from a member with "i'm really not sure - i need to seek advice and will get back to you" than give advice based on guesswork that might open a can of worms.

some issues may be too close to home for comfort, e.g. if your own job is one of those at risk of redundancy, or if someone who is (or is perceived as being) a close friend - or someone you really don't get on with - has an issue.  there may be times where your motives / objectivity may be called in to question and it may be better to see if another rep or a branch officer can handle it. 

For a simple example, one of the other reps in my department was pretty hot on all things relating to maternity leave - if anyone asked me about that, i said i was happy to try and help, but that X knew a lot more about it than I did.

I think there are set procedures if you get something really shitty like one member complaining of sexual harrassment by another member.

UNISON generally offer training courses for new reps (you might get facility time for this, you might have to take a day's holiday) but it's worthwhile.  If you really get in to it there are more advanced courses, e.g. if you want to specialise in H&S or union learning or whatever.

in some workplaces, management will take a dislike to you the moment you become a rep.  in others they might try and buy you off.  some reps do get far too cosy with management, others go out of their way to be confrontational over the tiniest of things as a matter of principle.  neither is good.

bear in mind that you need to be careful in the 'day job' not to give management an excuse to get you on a disciplinary for the sort of bollock that everyone drops now and then but they want to make an example of you because you're a union rep (see this - bus company went to appeal over this and lost recently - and just for the record, I have no personal involvement with RMT or Arriva.) 

although as a union rep, you're probably entitled to a full time union officer representing you if anything gets to a disciplinary.

and there are always going to be some members who make you wonder why the heck you bother - the ones who complain that the union isn't representative of members like them (they never come along to meetings or vote for anything of course), complain that the union doesn't keep them informed (they never bother to read the newsletter) and will bring you a concern then tell their manager they are perfectly happy and don't understand why the union is making a fuss about it...

Have fun.


----------

