Refuse to strike

spartakus · Post by **spartakus** » 10 Sep 2019, 11:44

I hope it won’t come to that.
What will happen to a union rep if he/she refuse or doesn’t strike?
Asking for a friend :)

Pidleypoo · Post by **Pidleypoo** » 10 Sep 2019, 12:20

Why would they and why are they a rep if they don’t understand why a strike is necessary?

The people that work in this company amaze me sometimes.

What reasons do they have for not striking btw ?

spartakus · Post by **spartakus** » 10 Sep 2019, 12:43

Pidleypoo wrote:Why would they and why are they a rep if they don’t understand why a strike is necessary?

The people that work in this company amaze me sometimes.

What reasons do they have for not striking btw ?

He says he can’t afford to strike. Then I’m thinking he get paid to be union rep?!

JKSmudge · Post by **JKSmudge** » 10 Sep 2019, 12:51

spartakus wrote:
Pidleypoo wrote:Why would they and why are they a rep if they don’t understand why a strike is necessary?

The people that work in this company amaze me sometimes.

What reasons do they have for not striking btw ?
He says he can’t afford to strike. Then I’m thinking he get paid to be union rep?!

Most of us cannot afford to strike ! - It's not like we are going to be out for 6 months continuously. It will be the odd day or 2 every week or 2. Will be a bit of hardship, yes. But it will be worth it in the medium to long-term to get a fair deal from the company.

Anyone with a bit of sense would have put a little away each week for the past few months.

No helping some people....

Pidleypoo · Post by **Pidleypoo** » 10 Sep 2019, 13:32

spartakus wrote:
Pidleypoo wrote:Why would they and why are they a rep if they don’t understand why a strike is necessary?

The people that work in this company amaze me sometimes.

What reasons do they have for not striking btw ?
He says he can’t afford to strike. Then I’m thinking he get paid to be union rep?!

He could be one of the 20k jobs Royal Mail want to lose , he can’t afford not to strike

Post by **POSTMAN** » 10 Sep 2019, 14:15

Run of the mill union reps do not get paid any extra, they lose money if they strike, said union rep would have to resign from being a rep, that is if the office have not put a vote of no confidence in/the branch kick said rep out.

Rule 14 Discipline (CWU rule book)
1. General
1. Matters of a disciplinary nature arising from the rules or regulations of the Union
affecting Union members shall be dealt with in accordance with this rule.
2. A member shall be liable to disciplinary action in respect of the following:
a) Acting in breach of the Rules of the Union;
b) Behaving in a manner contrary to the interests of the Union;
c) Failing to carry out lawful and reasonable instructions of a Branch, the NEC,
Annual or Special Conference;

doorstepped · Post by **doorstepped** » 10 Sep 2019, 15:33

normal DO Rep's don't get paid at all.
in fact I personally over 2 hours a week of helping members, either by answering questions, or finding out answers from Area reps etc, I don't get paid for that.
being a part timer I have come in early just to have gate meetings again in my own time.

people need to realise that the rep is that same as they are and get no extra pay etc when either striking or not.

on the original post, I would ask the Rep to stand down if they are not going to strike and leave the union, if they refuse to do so, I would get onto their area Rep and let them remove them from their service.

Post by **cobrakai** » 10 Sep 2019, 15:38

I think that there’s a lot of union members that are uneasy about the way we have just gone straight in to a strike ballot. Why didn’t we go to court to challenge the legally binding aspect of the agreement?

Prepare for a very close vote, a lot closer than before.

runningdave · Post by **runningdave** » 10 Sep 2019, 16:14

cobrakai wrote:I think that there’s a lot of union members that are uneasy about the way we have just gone straight in to a strike ballot. Why didn’t we go to court to challenge the legally binding aspect of the agreement?

Prepare for a very close vote, a lot closer than before.

Closer than before ? Absolutely no chance of that. My guess would be a similar figure to last time, 89%.

Yamr1 · Post by **Yamr1** » 10 Sep 2019, 16:33

I think it will be higher this time the vote fingers crossed

hero22 · Post by **hero22** » 10 Sep 2019, 17:45

why would it be closer ? Have we all been treated so much better since last time ? This part time / full time argument is irrelevant. We will all be affected in some way so really don't understand this closer vote talk or I wont strike stance.

Has there been any dates mentioned for strike action if it occurs ?

Woody Guthrie · Post by **Woody Guthrie** » 10 Sep 2019, 18:07

cobrakai wrote:Why didn’t we go to court to challenge the legally binding aspect of the agreement?.

That would be a high risk strategy, there are so many get out clauses in the legally binding agreements to be honest they're not really worth much other than in symbolic terms.

No court is going to force a company to adhere to an agreement that could affect the financial viability of the whole company, I bet Royal Mail has mountains of data waiting that point to exactly that. It doesn't have to be true it just has to look good to a judge.

If the union took RM to court over the legally binding agreements and lost not only would they face huge costs but the result would give RM the legal backing to do whatever they wanted.

world class male · Post by **world class male** » 10 Sep 2019, 18:40

back to the original post, a union rep should be an extension of those higher up the ranks, and should follow instructions from above
if he/she cannot back the unions requests as a rep they must surely resign, then if they choose to ignore any IA then probably leave the union all together,
same as anyone else really

Woody Guthrie · Post by **Woody Guthrie** » 10 Sep 2019, 19:18

back to the original post, a union rep should be an extension of those higher up the ranks,

Unions are supposed to be bottom up organisations, isn't that what 'you are the union' means.

Reps are not forced to follow the union line, all members including reps are entitled to vote with their concience however I would not accept or expect a union rep to try to convince other members to vote against the national position so I would question the motives of a rep telling members he's voting no.

I would also not expect to be a rep long if I voted against the position of the majority of my members. It is those people you're representing after all.

world class male · Post by **world class male** » 10 Sep 2019, 19:48

Woody Guthrie wrote:
back to the original post, a union rep should be an extension of those higher up the ranks,
Unions are supposed to be bottom up organisations, isn't that what 'you are the union' means.

Reps are not forced to follow the union line, all members including reps are entitled to vote with their concience however I would not accept or expect a union rep to try to convince other members to vote against the national position so I would question the motives of a rep telling members he's voting no.

I would also not expect to be a rep long if I voted against the position of the majority of my members. It is those people you're representing after all.

i'd expect the cwu chiefs to have more info on this or any other dispute, yes we all have our opinions and must vote accordingly but our reps should follow the guidance of above in recommendations 100% or back down, not saying they should be "yes men" like RM now have management in their pockets though, but if they don't subscribe to those who are influencing us into what they believe is right for us, then they shouldn't be a cwu rep pulling us in 2 or 3 directions