Canceling my cwu union membership

[48ricks]

Same question lot of folks asking their selves. Personally, even when I,ve got into trouble with the management, I,ve sorted it out myself, the union is only good as their local rep - and when the local rep is $$$$ - the union is $$$$....I don,t trust my depots reps as they are too cosey with management and would like to give them a kick up the arse. Sitting in the office all day ,whilst their is carnage on the shop floor, never does a delivery, never speaks to anyone - what sort of representation is that ? Its an effing disgrace. Privitisation where were they?
When all said and done , its better than nothing, maybe we need to start a new union that better represents the workforce, because there is so much widespread dissatisfaction with the CWU.

[piranha]

We used to have an amazing rep then he left and we didnt have arep for a few years. Now someone who doesnt really want to do it has taken over and he is trying his best with limited knowledge, but it is very stressful and generally a thankless task.

Why the hell doesn't the CWU pay local reps in some way? Maybe then we could have some professional representation at local level. Personally I think the latest agreement has taken the balls from the union and RM are not threatened by them at all, they will continue to destroy full time jobs and do as they please while the union stands by and does very little.

[Andy76Runningman]

How do I cancel my CWU membership officially?

Will You be paying back any money to its membership that its got You over the years ?

What you on about ?

Ill be paying back fuckall.

[Krafty]

it's like £2 a week, why cancel?

mines £180 per year, or about E5k until i retire
i've come very close this last year or so, but scared within a week i'd get pulled up over something

If you do your job properly then you won't get pulled up over anything.

Not true these days, I'm afraid to say.

[postslippete]

There are a few dodgy reps. They know if they get looked after by management then they might help them in turn with local disputes. However, a lot of good reps left when they became disillusioned with their members attitudes.

Given the current climate of cost cutting and saving hours relayed from senior managers to shop floor with implications of nitpicking and petty bullying, a decent rep is worth their weight in gold. On a national level, if we did not have a union we would probably all be on minimum wage today and not the wage that you are earning now, for what is basically, dare i say it, an "unskilled" job. Im sure that there are higher paid jobs than ours but you don't really need any qualifications to do our job. Yes, privatisation couldn't be avoided but every time royal mail wanted to make changes the union either gave us all a bonus or wage increase for it; even the ones that were not in the union.

WIthout a union, we would have no bargaining position. All for the sake off a few quid a week.

[thecompletepackage]

Unfortunately the Union doesn't represent us all. There is a three-tier system, full-timers get represented and looked after, part-timers don't and temp contract staff are just sh!t on.

[oldrope]

How do I cancel my CWU membership officially?

Why cancel? If you don't like the way it's run then use your vote or become a rep yourself, there are lots of benefits staying in.

[oldrope]

Same question lot of folks asking their selves. Personally, even when I,ve got into trouble with the management, I,ve sorted it out myself, the union is only good as their local rep - and when the local rep is $$$$ - the union is $$$$....I don,t trust my depots reps as they are too cosey with management and would like to give them a kick up the arse. Sitting in the office all day ,whilst their is carnage on the shop floor, never does a delivery, never speaks to anyone - what sort of representation is that ? Its an effing disgrace. Privitisation where were they?
When all said and done , its better than nothing, maybe we need to start a new union that better represents the workforce, because there is so much widespread dissatisfaction with the CWU.

It's not the union that poor its the reps..

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Not mine, but if you forgive me blowing my own trumpet - I and others help him. 1 rep against management will always be at a disadvantage, the stronger the "solidarity" behind him, the better representation you get

[dvbuk55]

There has been a point made in that the Rep doesn't get the support he should and part of the problem is that the general run of the mill member does not read the agreements, does not listen to what the Rep is saying and does not realise the limited power that a unit Rep has. So many members get taken in by what the management say they merely follow the diktat rather than apply the agreement and that lies with the union canoodling up to RM. Having said that there are fewer members now in a unit, more part timers and very poor communication. If you take the 2010 agreement it was never disseminated to every member and I believe that was in part to avoid people asking questions about it.

[FinishOnTime]

Members always want a rep to come in, wave a magic wand and make all their troubles disappear. They seem it think it's the reps job to fight all their battles for them, when in reality a rep can only help to arm them with the correct info for when they fight those battles. And of course any union is only as strong as the members that make it up.

You could have the crappest unit rep ever, you should still be a member though, one look at your pay slip for doing this job every week should tell you that.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

+1