Mar
1
Why I’ve left Unite the Union
Filed Under Labour politics | 37 Comments
I left Unite the union this morning after 11 years membership. I made sure it was the first thing I did.
I was appalled and angry to read the Mail on Sunday’s revelations about Derek Simpson’s frequent stays at the Waldorf. Appalled that someone who lectures others on corporate greed and excess could tell the Mail that the Waldorf was an appropriate resting place for a man of his stature. And angry that the governance of the union is so broken that the excess was permitted.
I joined Unite (when it was just the TGWU) in 1997 because I believed in the values of trade unionism and because I saw membership of a trade union as an essential part of my commitment to the Labour party. I picked the T&G because I liked national officer Bob Purkiss, who lived in my constituency and because he was keen to push my involvement. At the time I was working for £1.80 in a pizza franchise where there was no prospect of trade union recognition and I was put in a branch of Barcardi staff in Southampton. However, I enjoyed being active on the regional and national structures although I was surprised when (despite being a 6th form student) was told to claim ‘loss of earnings’ expenses as well as full train costs, despite my young persons’ discount card.
I drifted away from active trade unionism whilst at university – even though I was working for my first and only employer which recognised a union – the House of Commons. In fact, during that time the union in parliament ran a successful campaign to increase salaries for MPs’ staff – and it’s not their fault I left before benefitting. I kept paying my £10 per month even when doing so sent me over my overdraft limit and cost me bank charges. I didn’t want to leave an organisation when I believed in its purpose just because I was poor at managing my finances.
When I moved house in 2004, I called the union to register my change of address. The membership centre couldn’t find any records of my membership, despite me giving the reference numbers which appeared on my monthly direct debit. In an act of petulance I suggested I should cancel my direct debit and the call centre operator agreed that union membership was of little use. However, my wife was a local councillor and I thought it was better to be in than out. Then Jack Dromey came calling and I stayed in the T&G because I supported his candidacies. I remained in the union despite not receiving a ballot paper to any of my former addresses and no other communication from the union.
I left today because I realised that being a member of a trade union is not the same as being committed to collective organising and standing up for working people. In fact, it feels incompatible. Some may think that it’s daft to leave whilst there’s an election up for grabs (even though I won’t get a vote). But it shouldn’t depend on one person to change the culture of an organisation which told a 16 year old that it was ok to lie about his expenses and fails to provide a check on a general secretary who has lost a sense of what he’s for. Besides, I always hoped that Jack Dromey’s election would leave to things changing. I haven’t seen that (not that the union has contacted me either).
There are two other things that have helped me make the decision. My wife is a member of Unite and, as a Labour councillor in a marginal ward, has asked on three occassions for help with election expenses. She’s never had a reply. And although she receives plenty of advertising for financial services products, there’s no regular communication (even something as basic and old fashioned as a newsletter).
So I’m leaving Unite the union and will not rejoin a trade union until I find one that tends to practice what it preaches. Even if the particulars of this story are not true, it comes after a series of embarrassing revelations of corporate greed at the union.
Instead, I will find a progressive organisation which stands up for working and vulnerable people and believes in collectivity and donate £10 a month to them instead. And if I get in trouble at work? Well, I wouldn’t fancy my chances with this bunch, even if I could convince them that I’m a member.
UPDATE: I’ve emailed Tony Woodley to explain why I’ve left. Not because I’m important, but because I want the leadership of the union to understand just how damaging these stories are.
I’ve no reason to doubt the integrity of Woodley, Dromey or lots of other hard working T&G activists and staff. But the failure of corporate governance to allow the union to give THAT quote to the Mail – and turned a blind eye to the payments suggests a rotten organisation. Moreover, it no longer has the credibility to speak for me in the Labour party, in Whitehall, to company bosses or the media.
UPDATE: Tony Woodley called me to discuss my email. As we agreed, the content of the call will remain private. However, I was impressed that he took the time to talk about my concerns.
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Matthew.
I still dont understand why you left the union. I can see your point about DS and the Waldorf but I get the impression that you are quite happy supporting a political party such as Labour who support neo liberal policies that benefit the rich.
Why dont you rejoin and assist in making the union more available to members where there are no union agreements and at the same time using the lay member structure to challange abuses like the waldorf incident?
Fair question, Ian. There are three factors, really:
1. I happen to think that Labour’s “neo liberal policies that benefit the rich” are a necessary price to pay for getting it elected. It’s a compromise worth making
2. Labour makes no pretence of “fighting back for the workers” and indeed gets lectured by hypocrites such as Simpson for defending the rich.
3. I was active in the lay member structure of the union and found it to be completely and utterly hopeless in challenging abuses. Indeed, as I intimated, it drew me in to a web of excessive expenses claims, on a smaller scale
Maybe that makes me incoherent or unprincipled in your eyes. But I’d rather my wages not subsidise hotel visits in the Waldorf.
I think there should be a minster for consumers rights
Technically there is, Jerry. It’s Kevin Brennan MP: http://www.berr.gov.uk/aboutus/ministerialteam/page51725.html but I’m not sure that giving someone ministerial responsibility for a policy area has always made much of an impact.
There’s also Consumer Focus, of course.
Don’t blame you Matthew. Like you, I too spent a decade supporting a Trade Union and am disillusioned. USDAW does nothing to support workers. They are more concerned with revenue raising to fund their lavish non-stop conferencing, than defending workers rights. They have lost members to other unions and are balloting workers in Wrexham. Like Labour MP’s they are not interested in the working class, only in their explotation for their own political prestige and power. Gone to BNP and GMB. Good luck to you.
I can’t condone supporting a racist political party.
Matthew trade unions are now a country mile behind the employers on all counts , we pay our subs for representation and thats what we dont get ,,
TELL EVERYONE ABOUT IT AT http://WWW.EMPLOYMENTCONCERN.CO.UK
The descision by flight staff to strike over the Christmas holiday is the final straw. O.K there was a ballot but a profesional Union should be in a position to understand the long term damage such an action would cause.
To the Company, The Government, Labour Party, Customers, General public and not least BA staff who will ultimately be made redundant .
I was around in the 70′s and remember initial rot setting in. nearly 40 years on and no lessons have been learned it would appear.
The only fat cats that I can think of are Sim[son and Woodley
Unite or any other union are not interested in the individual whether she/he be a member or not. They will go so far as to represent you in the workplace but only to ensure that any action taken against you is fair. There sole purpose (in my view) is to negociate your yearly payrise and to be honest they aint that good at that. Unions are dated and have little or no affect on the current work/life style, You only have to look at the current BA crisis if the workers go on strike, BA will be lucky to last 12 days before they call in the receivers then all the workforce will be looking for employment. Dont waste your money by paying your subs every month it would be of more benefit donating it to charity. We have Unite representing us and they have acheived nothing on note in recent years every decision they have argued they have lost.
Having read your comments I can but agree and Hope that people like yourself stand up more and show what Unions are doing to our country. People complain about Fat Cats in Industry, Banking and fiddling claims in Goverment, what about Union Staff taking liberties with supporters money is that not as bad? I wish someone had set up an anti union site on the web that had some power.
How do you go about leaving the union? I looked on their website and can’t find a “Leave Now” button. Is it simply a case of cancelling my direct debit?
Thanks
Unite is a joke ! What muppet solicitors are they using to continually throw members money at this BA dispute and they can’t even get a ballot right. Time to throw it in ! Willie Walsh won’t be beaten !
Unite is a joke. My employer routinely breaks every rule in the book. I’ve been bullied for years, even had two teeth knocked out. No other jobs out there, so what choice do i have but to stick with, i’ve got a family to support. Nobody I work with is in the union, so unite is just not interested in my problems. All this and they spend my contributions on the BA dispute.
They will soon be another member short.
I’m really sorry to hear that. The dreadful thing, though, is that leaving the union isn’t going to make your case any better. But there’s no one filling the gap left by poor trade unions (I’ve not heard anyone say that a particular union is better than any other).
I have just read the annual accounts for Unite,the money paid to Simpson and Woodley is a disgrace,we are talking of over £250,000 paid to these two guys in a year.
What a disgrace,they have the cheek to talk of fatcat bosses they are a pair of hypocrites.
I was made redundant after 33 years of service, never been disciplined and very good attendance. The reason given was multi skilled needed and they would not give me training I had asked for since 1995. The manager told me I was to go and no other affected, no voluntary redundancies would be accepted. Because I was on my own the union area rep did not want to know just said get the best deal I could. Later he said we should have appealed. I did not trust this man one bit as anything I said to him had got back to my manager before my meetings. After paying union subs for 33years I feel well disgusted how I have been treated hence I am no longer a member
I’ve just read your blog and reply’s, most of which seem to come from Unite members who have been wronged by their employer but have decided to blame the union. The problems they have faced seem to me to put the case for stronger unions. However I fail to see how leaving a union can help achieve this. You say you were not listed as a member and then complain that you did not get a ballot paper, well I’m sure some one as smart as you could work out why and who to contact to have the situation corrected, also you must have had a membership number as you were a “committee” member, something about what you say does not ring true. DS may not have been right to stay in the Waldolf but neither would a B&B be right. All in all I think you are just another neo-liberal within the Labour Party who feels it is fashionable to bash the trade union movement. Your actions have only strengthened the hand of the employers who were the guilty ones in the cases referred to by those people who replied to you
Jerry
I think some of your observations are absolutely right. Unions can only achieve a certain amount within the existing legislation and like any large organisations, have success stories and problems.
I won’t go into the dull intricacies of trying to get the (then) TGWU membership services to sort out my subscription. But it didn’t work, despite my best efforts.
I did try and change the union, for a while, by serving on my district committee, regional committee (region 2) and national young members forum. I went to conferences, workshops, wrote papers for national officers etc. But ultimately after 3 years of activism had nothing to show for it except a series of dubious expenses claims which had been pre-arranged by the officer responsible.
I do believe in trade unions as a force for good – but I see limited evidence that they are fulfilling their role in the way that they should. Today’s vulnerable workers aren’t (in the main) in the public sector (where unions are at their best) or working for large employers with recognition agreements.
It’s a shame you choose to criticise me and my political views rather than addressing the challenges facing trade unionism.
I respect your views but I also disagree with what is written by others who view the union as the cause of all their woes at work.
I am a full time seconded rep and representive people 24/7 even when I have had tragic events in my life to deal with at the time, sometime I have gone 24 hours in a day to deal with the shifts, so please don’t tell me as a union official in my workplace I don’t care!
The rep in the workplace cares deeply about the member and also the company as one without the other does not go.
That is business our members also need a job, on the BA dispute not all the reporting is true, I’m sure.
But we must all remember this is the working men and women voting to take this action and that is their right, hopefully common sense will prevail and everyone will have a desired outcome.
No matter where you work, no-one should tell you, your rights have been taken away from you, and you no longer have a voice.
As for fat cat’s in the union, this will always be an issue in any industry/company whom decides who gets what but in the current climate with falling numbers owing to job losses the days are well behind us.
Do not give up on unions they are made up of decent men and women whom work hard not all label with the same brush.
Sally northants
Dear Mathew,
I think the only answer to Unite squandering members money and supporting its fat cat secretaries is for all the members to leave.
I was employed by the same company for 23 years and was unfairly dismissed. Unite passed my claim for employment tribunal to their solicitors – Thompsons. I thought they were going to help me! Instead, it turns out that the relationship between them and Unite is so cosy that the only beneficiary is Thompsons who bullied me to settle my case and misled me in the lead up to my Tribunals in order for them to receive their bonus. I was left out of pocket and severely traumatised by their actions. Unite happily paid Thompsons London weighting fees and their bonuses and they let them bully me to accept a pitiful amount of compensation to avoid the cost of a Barrister and to line their solicitors pockets with members hard earned contributions. They are a disgrace. They have failed to repond to my complaints and ignored my concerns. What is the point of Unions. They only want to get their names and faces in the papers and on the television when it suits them.
I think that members should be made wholly aware of what to expect when they ask for help – namely none!!!
C Chipperfield
Union solicitors have to base their view on whether your case had 50% chance of success at an Employment Tribunal. Your case didnt. All solicitors have to base their view on a criteria. No win no fee solicitors base their view on whether you have a 60% chance of success.From what you are saying the union didnt view your case of having resonable prospects of success. Arent they the experts in deciding this?
Either way it isnt the unions fault as they have to take the solicitors advice and guidance.
If the Union, any union , took up every case, however futile then they would either go bankrupt very soon or have to put up subs to £40 or more a week to cover the loss. Remember costs are awarded against complainants for frivolous cases.
Unions arent perfect. But collective action is better and more pewerful than individual action. The employment law in the UK offers the very minimum protection. It is better to fight collectively with work colleagues through a union arrangement than to fight on your own and then moan.
I,m in Unite. I have not been supported in some cases but have been in others.The solicitors are paid by members money to do a job.They sometimes have to make hard decisions.Where I think the union is wrong I tell someone and get an explanation. I wont leave the union but fight to make it better.
C Chipperfield and Matthew and the other union critics, get over yourselves and move on.
Its not all me,me, me.
I am a self employed gardener.
I am on a low wage, work all weathers, work Bank Holidays [and don't ask for triple time and a extra day off for my efforts]do not get paid for my holidays, do not get sick pay, pay my own insurance and all equipment/ van etc.. I pay my own tax and even have to work it all out myself [unpaid]and do not have the benefit of being able to call on a trade Union for assistance if required. WHY ? because the trade Unions are not intrested In my membership and are not prepared to fight for MY rights as an ordinary working class man.
The next time Unite and other Unions call for a ballot perhaps they should think about who they are representing in this country. And why they are ignoring many like my self who are working with employment conditions that are 60years behind everything Union members are recieving today.
Andy
Who is your employer?
If you have an issue the union will help.
But you havent an employer. You are self employed. So what the f*ck is your point about unions?
By the way. I was a self employed window cleaner for 7 years. I didnt whinge like you unless you are trying, yes trying to take the piss.
Unite has self employed members. They organise Hackney Carraige Taxi drivers in London, Southampton, Brighton and elsewhere for instance.
What is your point?
In reply to Tony Blair [ or is it Bliar]
Without resorting to bad language [You know when an argument is lost as soon as this occurs]
My points are obvious and clearly outlined.
As is the case with window cleaners [Good honest working class employment] my employers are my numerous clients. It would be of great interest as to how a Union would help if I had an issue . Perhaps they could come round and tell them [usually elderly clients] that as I worked through my lunch hour to ensure that a lawn was cut before it rained that they were in breach of a subsection of a European work directive.
Or perhaps that as I climbed a ladder to prune a tree without someone footing the base and I was not provided with a hard hat, goggles and a little red book of petty Union safety recomendations that I should get a Union rep to ‘sort em out’
What I am saying is that some ordinary working class people are trying to earn an honest crust. To do a good job and to please their clients.
The unions have never made any representations to speak on our behalf. One thing they could do if they really supported the working class would be to apply pressure to enforce PAYE for all aspects of self employment. If I have a regular client I should expect the same rights as someone who works for the medium and large companies [who Unite seem to represent]
With reference to your reply to Chipperfield, Mathew et al ‘It’s all me, me, me’
That’s rich given the Unite Unions unilateral stance on the BA strike – against the interests of the Company, Passengers and the general public.
Please listen to the arguments and consider them carefully without resorting to abuse.
Am planning to leave Unite, having been a member for about 10 years, joining when it was Amicus. Reason: Unite, which is supposed to represent my industry of pharmaceutical/healthcare sales, couldn’t care less for salespeople, when pharma companies are making mass redundancies. Excuse: no union recognition in those industries. Why can’t they make a point in the wider arena? Or do you have to earn a certain level of salary before you are deemed ‘worthy’? Once you go above that level, you are one of the ‘enemy’?
Will increase my subscription to Help for Heroes instead.
can’t understand why people will destroy the something set upnto help them. it will always be have area undesirables absorbing some of the resources, wrongly manipulating things for their own ends. But it has to be better than trying tonfight an unjust employer who will do everything to become richer on the backs of the poor employee. If we do not correct and strengthen the groups fighting these dictatorships for want of a better word. Then we will leave because they haven’t met with our personal perception of what they should be doing, in doing so remove any obstacle in the way of the bad employer and let them go back to sending children down the pits or working people till they drop. These are issues that where fought for and people died in pursuing. Bury your differences the struggle is just. Don’t expect every thing you want to be given to you. The employers won’t give you much if they don’t have to. To walk away is to accept any injustice and allow others to be subject to it. We need to work together, if just to help support when things do go wrong.
Matthew Cains blog ! My arse.Having read some of the drivel posted here about blaming unions for all the failures, (failures being the union bashers),the reason decent,want to earn a crust and principled people join a union is that their principles and lives will not be bought by any employer or beaten out of them by the anti-union scum that exist in workplaces and who have posted shite on this site. I was a member . . . I paid for …. They never supported me … blah blah blah.I am a member of Unite and prior to that the T&G collectively for 20 years.In this time I have had to made several justifiable claims for different reasons against different employers.I have never been let down once and was so inspired by the backbone of Unite I became a workplace rep.I have placed my neck in the block many a time for members.Its built into you or it ain’t.My reward comes from the countless members I have helped when they are not fired,receive a pay rise,and general support through their working day.Who else independant of a trade union can deliver this service . . your employer or some of the anti union scum on this site.I don’t agree with some aspects of some unions,religeons or politians but I am not so biggoted as to condemn all as useless.No working class person in this country should not be a member of a union irrespective of who that uion is..As I started out,Matthew Cain blog …my arse !
i read your article with interest without going into this too much in open forum I want to leave unite not because of the hypocrisy at the top but because the people who are supposed to represent me are plainly not interested in doing so. Did you manage to find an alternative union to join?
Dear All,
There seems to be a lot of “my arsing” going on. I can only speak as I find, as can all the people who comment on this blog site. I was so let down by Unites solicitors – Thompsons – that I received compensation from them after an extremely lengthy battle with them that damaged my health. I had to report Thompsons to the Solicitors Regulation Authority who have treated my complaint so seriously that they have put them under a supervision order. They did their utmost to damage my chances at tribunal and Unite support them because they let these total incompetents train their poor unfortunate reps in “legal??” matters and they refuse to consider my complaints, even though I have proof of every 26 of them. They do not give a monkies about me as a long serving member. Before anybody else comments that it is all me me me, please carefully consider how you would feel in my shoes. I also know of many other members that have had to go to extaordinary lengths to try to achieve recognition and support by Unites legal department. Why are they there if it isn’t to help their members? I know that not every case has reasonable prospects of success but I was told mine had. Therefore I expected to be placed in the hands of a prosessional organisation. I did not expect 18 months of frantic, desperate pleading with a bunch of solicitors that were intent on destroying my chances at tribunal. I would have been better off without the lot of them!! Why didn’t I do it on my own? I will tell you why, because they tried to pull the wool over my eyes led me on and made false promises, which I now know was only in order to gain their bonus at my expense.
Unite did not try to save my job! I was a member for years but unfortunatly staff were unrepresented at my workplace. Where does that leave us innocent members? I cannot fault my rep who passed my tribunal case to Thompsons who then took it on because they considered that it had reasonable prospects of success. I now know that Thompsons sole intention was to extract as much money from Unite as possible, damage my chances at tribunal, try to force me to settle my claim so they could receive their bonuses and cancel my barrister hours before my hearings without informing me.
The only way that unions will continue to work is, if as a member, you are also treated as an individual. You join the union for the better good of the working people. More members mean more power. If you are picked on as an individual in the workplace, as I was, then you still need to know that as an individual you will have the same backing as the majority. We cannot all be employed in large businesses or organisations that have more members to cast votes.
I joined the union because I also believed in what they stood for. Had I worked on the shop floor in a large factory then my voice would have been heard within a balloting system. This did not happen to me even though I also joined the union ranks to make a stand against exactly what the unions were formed to resist and fight – a dictatorship by the ruthless employers.
I did not expect the union and their solicitors to turn on me!! It is not all me me me!! It is just complete disillusionment, disgust and now contempt, which is exactly how any other sane person would feel in my shoes.
Have a look at http://www.dearunite.com strapline “what’s really going on in our union” its mostly about this dort of goings on in our union. Or http://www.grassrootsleft.org which is attempting to do something about it.
I certainly wouldn’t do anything on the basis of something I’d read in the Daily Mail or the Mail on Sunday. Both publications are used by the Taxpayers Alliance to propagate misinformation about working people and their unions. The millionaire-funded TPA needs to justify its existence by generating quotes and reports for lazy jounalists. Mail readers are their main target audience.
I see at 32 the self employed, houseboat-dweller, class warrior David Beaumont has entered the debate. Ok, every thing has to stop. First of all, lets have an election of officers then the world of Trade Unionism will be alright. Then we can all check out Grassrootsleft who got minimal support in the badly turned out recent executive elections in Unite.Then we can try and find Jerry Hicks who disappears until there is an internal election or a picketline at the opening of a fridge to try a gain a tiny bit of support.
I was being subjected to a great deal of abuse by one of my work colleagues. Although I complained to management they did little about it. It was pointless raising the subject with my union rep (Unite the Union) because it was he who was giving the abuse. Consequently I resigned from the union.
A number of my other work colleagues resigned from Unite since they also received abuse from this man and they felt that this Union was giving poor value for £11 per month.
unite waste members money on there freebee hols and nights out,total scum
I have been a member of the union for 40+ years now,I class myself as an active activist .I have served as a shop steward , convenor, safety rep and four years on the national exec af amicus.
I too am extremely annoyed at the excesses paid from union funds to DS and such we need to find the facts and act on them, the Executive council of the union needs to be accountable to the members as they have the final say on such payments and other issues.
If Overpayments have been made then the members should follow proper procedures to complain about them and seek recoupe within the union.
Yes there are people, fulltime officers that are not doing there jobs to the members benifit. That was why in amicus I campained for and we had election of officers to make them accountable.
The merger with the T&G saw an end to that as they appointed their ft officers,as I see it jobs for the boys.
No wonder people can feather their nests at members expence.
Ds persude Jackson relentlessly during my term of office on the EC on just such issues.
I feel really let down and disilusioned by what I am hearing has gone on since the merger with the T&G.
But then what can we expect when you find the amount of money that is paid to the labour party by the union and look what we get for that,”well they do talk to us” is what I am told. Its actions we want not words.
Lets reform the union from within no officer should be paid more then the average pay of the members they represent.All officers should be elected to ensure accountability.
I agree with your comments and if you step back and look at all parties involved they stand for principles that theydont follow as they should.
The best place for your work to assist is within a Union, if only they have the resource to help you fight the cause. Their are many with your feelings and they too are trying to change things from within.
Don’t stand outside and throw stones get in there and help reorganise. We need more doing this from the inside. It will never change looking in.
I never liked ‘One Union One Voice’ Too big means more income less officers and not enough time for those limited officers to be everywhere fighting the issues for its members. It falls to those ground roots members to work together and make the changes. My view is, if you have three unions in a workplace you have three reps, three full time officers, three resources for advisors and solicitors. The Manager has to talk to three people at the other side of the table. They can then be better placed to argue and with the same amount of employees who can take action if needed.
I dont blame you for not staying in there, but we need to work together to change it, help us.