UNITE - faith in union??

[johnsouthwales]

why am i getting a funny feeling i am not going to get representation? (albeit cwu non-representations in other posts).
after travelling to swansea last friday, i popped into the office to leave a message after receiving correspondence confirming the date of the medical appeal. previously i spoke to one of the two reps about two months ago, spoke about the ridiculous situation i experienced and he said for me to let him know as soon as i get the date.

i had planned to go to swansea anyway, and at last i got the date. when i got to the office, i asked the lady to pass the message to the rep. she took down details, and took it upon herself to mention that may the 12th is not much notice (who is running the show? office staff or reps?). soon as she said that, i had an instant feeling of dread, as if the situation wasn't bad enough to start with, could't envisage anything getting worse.

she said she will email the rep, who's office is in the same building, and said that he will ring by next wednesday. pardon me i thought to myself? at least an acknowledgment could have been made, as all he had to do was look in his diary. why wait all that time as the rep told me we always represent clients.

waiting an anxious few days whether to see if i'm going to get representation or not makes me wonder which side are they on? after all the time waiting and waiting to get the date, and if he is going to represent, means that i have to go back to swansea to visit the rep to go through the paperwork and case.

i am actually feeling he is not, just a gut feeling. and i feel that i should not have been put in that position to start with. only if the lady had not said that it's not enough notice, i would't be worrying, and would have left it at that, and not thinking if i'm going to get representation or not.

the ironic thing is due to the nature of the appeal, one of the factors is the illness caused stress, so when an organisation who i thought was there to help, actually unwittingly caused stress. she wasn't to know, but i wish she knew what is going through my mind.

is it me? the perception i have? or is the way things are in general? if i get the call by wednesday saying that he cannot represent, at least i know where i stand, even if it is disappointing. if i don't get it, i'll burn my members book. if i do get representation, i will want to know why i was put in that position.

and it won't be the first time i been let down by unite (tgwu at the time). i was in a right bad state after redundancy, then was diagnosed by a medical problem with a damaged foot (possible cause could have involved solvents at work - i remember reading an advice notice on a machine mentioning a strange sounding condition, and if anyone gets symptons to contact corus doctor).. so, 2006 i was diagnosed and the start of being messed around by doctors etc.. i took it upon myself to find out more about a cause of where this bone condition came from, and took me back to corus. i had been in contact with the union to sort get answers, attempting to contact corus, even just to get someone to confirm the name of the condition written on the notice, so it could be eliminated from enquiries. i had looked up a medical reference book when i first started as it was curious to learn about some industrial diseases, and i remembered looking it up, and the union did not do a sodding thing. corus closed ranks, but found out that the machine has been moved to gloucestershire (if it has as i have not seen it myself. emails went to the union head office etc). if i could have got thye name of the condition, then i could have presented it to the surgeon and requested a test whether to confirm or to discount.

[andy2007]

That's disgusting!

I'm not in UNITE myself. I'm in the CWU. But the way you're being treated, is sickening.

I've had the misfortune, to have certain Medical problems, which caused me problems at work. My Reps, have always been there for me, and my Collegues. They saved my job, at one point.

Have you tried to get in touch with the Rep personally? (I'd recommend trying at the very least)
Can you be sure that the Email was even sent?

Good luck.

[johnsouthwales]

i gave the union office a ring yesterday afternoon, just missed the rep apparently. come off the phone just now, she tried to put me through, could hear the ringing tone, then the lady came back on. said she send the rep a reminder and he call me by friday...hmm, was mentioned last friday it be wednesday he contact me. then i went onto mention that the rep needs to be filled in with the case, review all the paperwork etc, with bank holiday coming up next week and she said that the rep could meet me on the morning of the appeal itself, which is not very practical as it would mean myself hanging around for about three or four hours for the appeal to start. and i still don't know if he is representing or not. all it takes is a minute to say yes or no instead of keeping me hanging on by a thread and worrying.

this delay would not even get me a chance to organise another rep if it was possible. a solicitor for example, there would be simply be now time to implement a change of rep.

[andy2007]

Is there any way you could get hold of your Reps official Email address?
Assuming that they are given the same computer privilages as CWU Reps. Your Rep should have an Email account on the RM Intranet, for official correspondance. Surely this is a situation, which would justify giving you that address, so you can contact the Rep personally.

Thankfully, I've never been in a position to need do so myself. But I can't think of any reason that you shouldn't be allowed to send an Email directly.

[johnsouthwales]

and guess who the medical examiner was that is at the centre of of all this situation?? yep, ATOS

atos examiner gave me advice late 2006, and that advice actually caused another physical problem detrimental to health, and worsening of the foot.

atos examiner last december declared me fit, going against all the medical evidence provided by surgeon, doctors, physios. surgeon told me in 2007 it cannot be operated on, too risky. my own gp said before visiting surgeon i need an op, psyched myself up for months, then was told i 'm not having one. then it became i may need to have one, then it was said it's too dangerous. so i said fek it, i'm not having none of this

[johnsouthwales]

had a phone call from the rep yesterday, he said he meet me an hour before the tribunal.

ffs, this morning i had a letter from the appeal.. it said that a letter has been received by them requesting a postponement.. at first i thought it was requested by me. looked again, it just says that they had a request to postpone and apologised for inconvenience. wtf. been waiting ages for my case and now this??

[andy2007]

Have they given you a new date yet?
Or are they still dragging it out?

[johnsouthwales]

may the 29th been given over the telephone, haven't had written confirmation yet. it was a relief in a way that i don't have to wait months.
is this the same unite union i am a member of and the same as mail office/centre managers have?

the same unite that condones mail office managers to travel up to scotland to work during strike action? i'm not happy about that so i be asking my rep a question or two.

unite are the old transport and general workers union. cant see how management fits into that category. like the allied and shopworkers union, management always have a different union for some strange reason than the staff. miners num, management nacods.no wonder there's a them and us situation continuosly going on, and not just in the pay sector.

[BELIAL]

Spot the problem/bullshit, Unite sponsor a demonstration in Brum to support jobs,and at the same time ,send their members up north to break a strike taking place to protect jobs. It don't take a genius to work out who's side the leadership are on

[brothermagrew]

may the 29th been given over the telephone, haven't had written confirmation yet. it was a relief in a way that i don't have to wait months.
is this the same unite union i am a member of and the same as mail office/centre managers have?

the same unite that condones mail office managers to travel up to scotland to work during strike action? i'm not happy about that so i be asking my rep a question or two.

unite are the old transport and general workers union. cant see how management fits into that category. like the allied and shopworkers union, management always have a different union for some strange reason than the staff. miners num, management nacods.no wonder there's a them and us situation continuosly going on, and not just in the pay sector.

More correctly put brother In May 2007, Amicus merged with the Transport and General Workers Union to form Unite the Union.

[johnsouthwales]

i thought amicus was nurses union? then again, unison are supposed to be nhs union. arent amicus clerical workers union? university staff?

i see the electricians union became amicus..engineers union. who else mixed in with amicus?? think i do a bit of googling as a catch up

[IWW Fellow Worker]

Spot the problem/bullshit, Unite sponsor a demonstration in Brum to support jobs,and at the same time ,send their members up north to break a strike taking place to protect jobs. It don't take a genius to work out who's side the leadership are on

Correct! Typical TUC union really!

[randompostman]

Unite = scab.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Unite = scab.

Not all of Unite but there is certainly a question over the CMA part of Unite.

[IWW Fellow Worker]

Unite = scab.

Not all of Unite but there is certainly a question over the CMA part of Unite.

Our union is the CWU would we except our members crossing other picket lines by the nod and wink of the heads of our HQ? Bloody hell NO their would be hell to pay at conference and rightly so unite ignore whats right and wrong for the cash and therefore are a scab union, our own as inperfect as they are dont go around allowing members to cross other union picket lines and spout british jobs for british workers streight off the bnp web site to try to appease the more basic instincts of fear generated by a system they surport. dont get me wrong we have many faults in the CWU but we dont encourage strike breakers although we dont punish them either to our shame but we are still head and shoulders above them in unite and i scrape tht lot off my shoe once or twice a week from my walk.

Nicely put!