Disappointed at lack of union support

[kev241]

I have been a ucw member for over 25 years during my employment as a postman. Last September I was suspended from duty due to several issues, have since lost my job, a job I may add i did enjoy for the mostpart and would go out of my way to help customers... the BBC have even filmed my goodwill to customers side on two occasions! I uncovered a £250k+ revenue loss that was taking place with a national utility company ( for which I never got a word of thanks) I have represented Royal mail at Teamwork events, won through to national levels on two occasions also represented the company at firs aid competitions, again winning through to national levels. This is just a small insight the activities that I have undertaken within the company.

I cannot go into the details of my suspension as it is now a farcical court case. I was though very disappointed in the total lack of support from a union which I had been paying in to for over a quarter of a century. This case has so far cost me thousands as I have had to seek external legal support... and is still on going. Where is the union when the going gets tough?

[demon]

nowere they just take our sub then screw us over and then hide

[General Mannerheim]

Where is the union when the going gets tough?

There busy chasing ambulance cases.

[NWpostie]

I would suggest going to Area rep and get them involved.

I have just finished reading a book called "While you were out" by Stan DuBonnet, he has experienced a similar thing no Union support and had to fight his case at the Employment Tribunal, if you are going to go that far,
I don't know where you are up to in the appeals process, I would suggest visiting the ET courts for a couple of weeks to get used to the process if it goes that far, go through the internal process first before ET, do put the application in anyway as they will try to string it out.

http://www.justice.gov.uk/tribunals/employment" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dounome]

The Union are there to help no one but themselves and to line their own pockets, watch this space for the next "Deal of the Century"

[dvbuk55]

Well they do say you're only as good as your last cock up .........and that seems to be the case here, although if there is a court case, farcical or not, there's presumably, a case to answer.

[parcelboy]

Sounds oh so familiar i had 20yrs in,local support outstanding the further up you go problems begin .When you have your appeal they use Reps with no knowledge of whats gone on which is very frustrating.I was told that we are only here to discuss the 2 conduct charges ,and nothing about what led to them.I had an ongoing grievance that had partly been upheld.I tried to pursue this through HR at Rugby ,they in turn relayed this to the individual (DOM) .He then went on a mission to trump up anything he could on me.After my dismissal my only witness was then sudddenly suspended ,followed shortly by the local rep who was a wtness in ET.Coincedence i dont think so.These are the lengths RM will go to to protect themselves .My rep could not believe what the CWU were upto in deciding what we went to Tribunal with.I for one wish you luck if your going it alone ,in my experiance I think i would of done better myself.Just for the record i have since found out that the main culprit in my case allegedly fabricated evidence and like the lying he did to bring charges against me then got his idiot Cluster manager to carry it on upto and going to ET.If this is the case then be it on there heads because it would appear according to certain persons they have committed 2 criminal acts.Finding a new job for me was not to difficult ,for the people involved in my demise might find it a little more taxing with a criminal record hopefully now that would be Justice

[RedRich]

The union have sealed their own fate. Lack of support for the members and in our office its been pathetic. Our rep was forced off sick for months and not one jot of interest after many calls for help. Finally after threatening a mass exodus we got an area rep over for a meeting but that was nearly ten weeks ago and we've heard nothing since. When their forced to call on us for action and don't get it, god forbid, that's game over.

[arthur was right]

This union is weak and spineless. The management at Royal Mail [AKA KNOWN AS THE TORY LED GOVERNMENT] get away with everything they throw at us. THIS USELESS UNION STAND BY AS STAFF ARE WALKED ALL OVER. STAFF SCARED TO SPEAK OUT..... WORKING OVERTIME FOR NOTHING ...WORKING WITHOUT PROPER BREAKS... BEING MADE TO DELIVER IN SNOW AND ICE [ DISGUSTING] WHERES YA HEALTH AND SAFETY!!
UNDERSTAFFED TO THE HILT AND WHERE IS THIS UNION....... SHAME SHAME SHAME!!!

[dvbuk55]

This union is weak and spineless. The management at Royal Mail [AKA KNOWN AS THE TORY LED GOVERNMENT] get away with everything they throw at us. THIS USELESS UNION STAND BY AS STAFF ARE WALKED ALL OVER. STAFF SCARED TO SPEAK OUT..... WORKING OVERTIME FOR NOTHING ...WORKING WITHOUT PROPER BREAKS... BEING MADE TO DELIVER IN SNOW AND ICE [ DISGUSTING] WHERES YA HEALTH AND SAFETY!!
UNDERSTAFFED TO THE HILT AND WHERE IS THIS UNION....... SHAME SHAME SHAME!!!

Remember Arthur - we are the union...............at least when it comes to paying.

[Tman]

The union is there to see that the rules and processes are adhered to by RM etc. They aren't there to "get people off" or protect the guilty, so without the OP saying the full circumstances of his case (which wouldn't be a wise move) how can any meaningful comment be made?

The concept of " I paid for X years but got no support" etc etc is just naive and unrealistic.

[dvbuk55]

The union is there to see that the rules and processes are adhered to by RM etc. They aren't there to "get people off" or protect the guilty, so without the OP saying the full circumstances of his case (which wouldn't be a wise move) how can any meaningful comment be made?

The concept of " I paid for X years but got no support" etc etc is just naive and unrealistic.

You're absolutely correct tman.

[hans solo]

time for a new union imo

[dounome]

The union is there to see that the rules and processes are adhered to by RM etc. They aren't there to "get people off" or protect the guilty

so the fact that they let management bully, harrass, threaten, sack you for no reason et etc, and do nothing about it, this is how the union see that the rules and processes are adhered to.
Id love to be able to agree with you but the last few years have shown them up to be nothing but management puppets

[cityfan39]

Agreed about the cwu being absolute shite
nowadays. They're so far up Royal Mails
arses it's frightening. My union rep was
shocking when I got finished. He really
didn't want to be there, I could tell that.