From another thread.........

[Tman]

from "The Mushroom Farm Manual"...Join the union pay your subs,feed the parasites your hard earned then watch em run at the first sign of a real fight....anyone who trusts the CWU should think long and hard about their union leaders motives and long term goals...the CWU like anyother union is a self serving "line my own pocket " job and fcuk those im paid to take care off....simple as

When I read this sort of crap it makes me question why I lost money striking to show support and solidarity for people like this.

If you lot can't get behind the union when it's your fight, then why should we? If you're not crapping on like this above, then you're whinging about London.

Yet the CWU wonder why there's been calls for the NCU union to be resurrected......

[fishtank]

“Faith... Must be enforced by reason...When faith becomes blind it dies.” Gandhi, Mahatma

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I think its a case of some members asking "What can the Union do for me" or "What has the Union done for me personally" rather than "What can I do for the Union" and "What has the Union done for everyone" - The Union is made of people who have, no matter how hard they try, human failings. Sometimes they WILL get it wrong, but hopefully over the expanse of time the balance will be to the good.

They cannot, nor should they, try to be everything to every man (and woman). They should always focus on the larger picture and try to gain benefits, or hold back reverses, based not on individual members, but on the majority of members. There view should also be long term and not short term. This means on occasion that a deal that looks bad initially can be a boon years down the line. It also means that deals that look good at a cursory glance (like P&M2007) are actually the opposite.

Its not wrong to question the CWU, its not even wrong to criticise it. Nor is it wrong to leave if you are not happy with their policies or achievements. But what is wrong is to expect that you will get everything you want from them, and that they won't make agreements that you disagree with. Again its human nature that not everyone will be happy, some will always be disappointed with any agreement even if we got a 100% pay rise - 35hour working week - Paid breaks of 1 hour per day - Saturdays off every week and D2Ds on a voluntary basis with no increase in amount and a 10% increase in the bounty.

[fishtank]

I think its a case of some members asking "What can the Union do for me" or "What has the Union done for me personally" rather than "What can I do for the Union" and "What has the Union done for everyone" - The Union is made of people who have, no matter how hard they try, human failings. Sometimes they WILL get it wrong, but hopefully over the expanse of time the balance will be to the good.

They cannot, nor should they, try to be everything to every man (and woman). They should always focus on the larger picture and try to gain benefits, or hold back reverses, based not on individual members, but on the majority of members. There view should also be long term and not short term. This means on occasion that a deal that looks bad initially can be a boon years down the line. It also means that deals that look good at a cursory glance (like P&M2007) are actually the opposite.

Its not wrong to question the CWU, its not even wrong to criticise it. Nor is it wrong to leave if you are not happy with their policies or achievements. But what is wrong is to expect that you will get everything you want from them, and that they won't make agreements that you disagree with. Again its human nature that not everyone will be happy, some will always be disappointed with any agreement even if we got a 100% pay rise - 35hour working week - Paid breaks of 1 hour per day - Saturdays off every week and D2Ds on a voluntary basis with no increase in amount and a 10% increase in the bounty.

I don't think it's a case of "What can the Union do for me" at all.
I think many members are more worried about the general direction the union is taking rather than personal gains.
You mention pay,shorter working week,paid breaks,Saturdays Off and D2Ds none of which were an issue when we first balloted for I/A.
Now it would seem that workload,EA and managemaent B&H have been all but forgotten.
In fact the union seem intent on increasing workload in 2010.
The union should first and foremost be one thing to everyone.
PROTECTION

[damo]

i think stavros has got it spot on myself,certainly regarding the top echelons of the union,i must admit my local reps were good though.