Losing faith with union rep

sage61 · Post by **sage61** » 02 Apr 2018, 19:22

Question if anyone can help.
Our local rep seems hell bent on destroying harmony in our office. He wants all number of things done including a revision of all walks. Stopping people reducing their hours amoungest many other things. Union members are the minority in our small office, and he has not consulted with any of us union members as to what he wants to do. Can he do all of this on his own ,without the members input ?

worktotime · Post by **worktotime** » 02 Apr 2018, 19:53

sage61 wrote:Question if anyone can help.
Our local rep seems hell bent on destroying harmony in our office. He wants all number of things done including a revision of all walks. Stopping people reducing their hours amoungest many other things. Union members are the minority in our small office, and he has not consulted with any of us union members as to what he wants to do. Can he do all of this on his own ,without the members input ?

no he cant , contact your area rep asap to contact him for his reasons to do any changes without asking the members , if not email HQ and let them know.

Post by **Lincox** » 03 Apr 2018, 15:21

Send a letter to the DOM that you are not prepared to accept any local changes made between the Union Rep and himself without a meaningful vote by the membership.
If the DOM tries to railroad these changes in then you will invoke the industrial relations procedure, which will mean the status quo holds until a full investigation has been carried out.

GRS · Post by **GRS** » 04 Apr 2018, 16:31

Obviously I’m not au fait with your unit,it’s problems or your rep, however please remember he is doing a difficult job for no reward. Many reps only take on the role because nobody else will and yet all people do is criticise them. In our unit the rep gets terrible abuse and yet nobody would dare put themselves up to challenge him for the role as they would be the ones being shot at. Whenever an issue arrives you often get two,three and sometimes many more different view points as everyone wants everything to fall their way to suit them or their situation - how as a rep can you manage that? No matter what stance a rep takes you upset someone maybe even a group of people and if your unit is anything like our’s then those people sulk,give the rep abuse and then leave the union. Some people have left and rejoined the union 3 or 4 times over the last couple of years when something doesn’t suit them (so they say). Saying that if he’s abusing his position (maybe to cosy up to the management for his own benefit now or in the future) then yes it needs sorting out and may need someone to challenge him for the role.

Rumple · Post by **Rumple** » 04 Apr 2018, 17:27

sage61 wrote:Question if anyone can help.
He wants all number of things done including a revision of all walks. Stopping people reducing their hours amoungest many other things.

The rep cannot stop anyone reducing their hours, and would you say your walks are equal?
I would think your rep doesn't want to lose hours out of the office, not to try and stop someone reducing their hours, in essence protecting full time jobs/roles for current and future employees. Well done to your rep.

Post by **Lincox** » 04 Apr 2018, 17:45

Rumple wrote:
sage61 wrote:Question if anyone can help.
He wants all number of things done including a revision of all walks. Stopping people reducing their hours amoungest many other things.
The rep cannot stop anyone reducing their hours, and would you say your walks are equal?
I would think your rep doesn't want to lose hours out of the office, not to try and stop someone reducing their hours, in essence protecting full time jobs/roles for current and future employees. Well done to your rep.

This is all well and good. However the rep is there to represent the current staff. He/She can only do that by holding meetings with the membership, discussing the issues and then taking forward the wishes of the majority. He/She is not there to carry forward his/her personal thoughts or desires, or that of there closest friends, the DOM or if it comes to that the wishes of the CWU heirarchy. He/She is purely there to advance the wishes of the majority in the unit, and will only gain credibility if seen to act in such a manner.

sage61 · Post by **sage61** » 05 Apr 2018, 16:43

Thanks for all the replies. I will take all the advice on board. Thanks again

crazzzeey · Post by **crazzzeey** » 12 Apr 2018, 21:49

GRS wrote:Obviously I’m not au fait with your unit,it’s problems or your rep, however please remember he is doing a difficult job for no reward. Many reps only take on the role because nobody else will and yet all people do is criticise them. In our unit the rep gets terrible abuse and yet nobody would dare put themselves up to challenge him for the role as they would be the ones being shot at. Whenever an issue arrives you often get two,three and sometimes many more different view points as everyone wants everything to fall their way to suit them or their situation - how as a rep can you manage that? No matter what stance a rep takes you upset someone maybe even a group of people and if your unit is anything like our’s then those people sulk,give the rep abuse and then leave the union. Some people have left and rejoined the union 3 or 4 times over the last couple of years when something doesn’t suit them (so they say). Saying that if he’s abusing his position (maybe to cosy up to the management for his own benefit now or in the future) then yes it needs sorting out and may need someone to challenge him for the role.

well said grs i am a unit rep and its exactly how you said it no one is willing to stick thier hand up and be counted to do a hard job of trying to keep everyone happy which is an impossible task at best of times we can only keep some of the people happy some of the time but what memebers dont realise is that you wont always get what you go in and ask for and you have to negotiate a lot to hang on to what you have had in place for a very long time and thats another side people dont see too they are all too quick to jump down your throat when they see things starting to disappear that they dont agree with but this guy should be consulting the office of any changes that are on the horizon that the manager is thinking about changing or doing differently im quite fortunate in our unit my manager was an ex union rep so knows cant just bring major change without consulting or checking and double checking 1st