Striking on the 30th

So, thinking of or planning to strike on the 30th? Or work as usual?

Lots of talk going on in my dept. Looks like quite a few will be striking.

Ordinary person has two powers. Voting and Striking. However flawed it is about democracy and sub democracy, don't ever be fooled by establishment spin. 

 Lorenz Curves make me mad.

And also, not voting and not striking.

When will BASW be balloting it's 'independent' Social Workers Union members on the issue of Striking?

Apart from 1 person who is not in the Union everyone else in the team is striking. That is 10 people.

What kind of response have you had from your management, Squirrel? Ours is resigned to it.

I should think that many managers will also be on strike.

Maybe Redana. Will be interesting to see.

I'll be striking. Some in the office will, some won't but then, some aren't union members and some are members of different unions (RCN/BASWs new union). Generally, those not striking have been supportive/sympathetic and there doesn't seem to be any bad feeling. Equally, I won't harangue anyone who doesn't feel they can strike (if they are in a striking union). 

Interestingly, our LA management is quite phlegmatic about strike action and are not opposing it - they seem resigned to it and have actually been quite supportive regarding information about exemptions and having the deductions for striking coming out of February's pay packet. 

 

cb:

I'll be striking. Some in the office will, some won't but then, some aren't union members and some are members of different unions (RCN/BASWs new union). Generally, those not striking have been supportive/sympathetic and there doesn't seem to be any bad feeling. Equally, I won't harangue anyone who doesn't feel they can strike (if they are in a striking union). 

Interestingly, our LA management is quite phlegmatic about strike action and are not opposing it - they seem resigned to it and have actually been quite supportive regarding information about exemptions and having the deductions for striking coming out of February's pay packet. 

 

Sounds like Telly Tubbies. Get real.

 

I  thought it would be useful to share some of the more positive work environments that exist because sometimes it seems to be a den of negativity and not all offices are toxic. Not all managers are bad. I am striking though because I'm a member of a union that voted for strike action. 

If there's one thing, it most definitely is though, it's real :)) 

cb:

 

I  thought it would be useful to share some of the more positive work environments that exist because sometimes it seems to be a den of negativity and not all offices are toxic. Not all managers are bad. I am striking though because I'm a member of a union that voted for strike action. 

If there's one thing, it most definitely is though, it's real :)) 

Yes, 'real' stupidity presided over by those rich Union leaders whose pensions are not affected at all and mitigated by senior managers who will provide cover - whether they are Union members or not and causing inconvenience to many people who are on much lower wages (i.e. working mums who will have to take a day off work as their children will not be at school).

How to win friends and influence people? - I think not.

Rupert M:

working mums who will have to take a day off work as their children will not be at school).

What hardship, not.

By the way, some will enjoy a day off with their striking Dads.

Too many assumptions there Rupert.

A day's loss of pay or using up a day's Leave may well be something that others will not thank you for. The Public Services are not well regarded and this is only likely to make them even less liked and supported.

What's this need to be liked?

In a damned if you do, damned if you don't' role, it is irrelevant.

This public image thing is over rated and only used by those with overwhelming state allegiance,  government plants, or employers.

When there are strikes both sides are responsible and both sides have the power to end/avoid.

It is just a transaction like haggleing in a north African bazaar; only without the option of walking away.

But now with the real threat that the improved offer will be withdrawn.

I'm not striking. I'm not a member of a union and if I'm honest (ducks down to escape flying insults!) I don't think striking works, it's just a pointless inconvenience. Striking has not actually been effective for years - government don't pay much attention to it and it creates bad feeling in the general public who resent services being shut or less available... It's not like it will effect the service in the long run because customers will defect to a rival as was the original ethos - (the bosses would loose business and money)- kids will go back to school and no one wants a social worker anyway! .... I also think that like it or not public service pensions have to change because the money is just not there (ducks again!) there have been some big debates in my office and there will be a picket line ... I will have to cross it at some point in my day but as it's likely the schools will be closed I may well end working from home anyway ... I used to be a legal executive for a trade union firm of solicitors ... Unions have got greedier and less trustworthy over the years .... They have turned into a business solely out to make profit - that's not what they were meant to be about! ... Some unison members in my office have approached them about some of th ground level difficulties we are having (car parking, resources etc) and they could not be less interested .... Probably because there is no headline in it!!!! If strike was explicitly about more than pensions I may be more swayed but essentially I don't think they are effective ... Working to rule is probably more effective I think... There must be a better way then striking though ..... Not that I claim to know the answer!!

supersonic, if you were a member of the RMT you would most definately know tat strikes or the threat of them are effective. The30th is not a social work strike, it's a piblic sector woekers strike. It is of course ineveitable that social workers will hide behind all sorts of excuses about not striking but claiming strikes when solid does not wash. I assume that when you cross the picket line you will look your colleagues in the eye and tell them they are wasting their time rather than slinking off to work from home. Lets here the BASW members view on this openly too given how you always tell us how you are our leaders.

The Social Workers Union has apparently stated that it will not be striking on the 30th.

Lovecats, if I'm working from home it will be because my children's school is shut so I can't go to work. My colleagues who are striking know my views on striking as I said there have been big debates on it, but if I have to cross the picket line I'll simply wish them well .... I'm not ashamed of having a view that differs with theirs. .... You say your a social worker yet seem to hate social workers!! You are so negative about them .... I'm not making excuses to night strike - I don't agree striking is the best way and I dont agree with this issue on pensions..... I should point out at no point in my post did I say I thought it was a social workers strike - I mention teachers for example, I know what unions are striking.... Perhaps take time to read the post? .... And yes, your absolutely right about the RMT ... In that their striking has an effect on their management but I don't hear any public sympathy for the extremely well paid tube drivers! It is also still true to say that the strikes by the RMT cause public misery - social workers striking wont, neither will most of the other people striking from public sector roles......

Top 20% are hammering the rest, can you just pause for a moment and imagine what it would be like without unions?

Would be like the old ironmasters giving men jobs if they could "borrow" their wife for the weekend.

Get your tails out from between your legs. (Boxerdog excluded)

Who said get rid of unions? No argument against what they have achieved but they have changed a lot and not for the better... Spent a long time as a legal exec in employment law specifically working for trade unions ... It's made me cynical to them in their current form.... No tail between my legs..... I'm perfectly happy with my decision and not ashamed

supersonic:

Who said get rid of unions? No argument against what they have achieved but they have changed a lot and not for the better... Spent a long time as a legal exec in employment law specifically working for trade unions ... It's made me cynical to them in their current form.... No tail between my legs..... I'm perfectly happy with my decision and not ashamed

Your alternative is?

When striking make sure you are on the picket line to look the scabs in the eye.

supersonic:

I'm not striking. I'm not a member of a union and if I'm honest (ducks down to escape flying insults!) I don't think striking works, it's just a pointless inconvenience. Striking has not actually been effective for years - government don't pay much attention to it and it creates bad feeling in the general public who resent services being shut or less available... It's not like it will effect the service in the long run because customers will defect to a rival as was the original ethos - (the bosses would loose business and money)- kids will go back to school and no one wants a social worker anyway! .... I also think that like it or not public service pensions have to change because the money is just not there (ducks again!) there have been some big debates in my office and there will be a picket line ... I will have to cross it at some point in my day but as it's likely the schools will be closed I may well end working from home anyway ... I used to be a legal executive for a trade union firm of solicitors ... Unions have got greedier and less trustworthy over the years .... They have turned into a business solely out to make profit - that's not what they were meant to be about! ... Some unison members in my office have approached them about some of th ground level difficulties we are having (car parking, resources etc) and they could not be less interested .... Probably because there is no headline in it!!!! If strike was explicitly about more than pensions I may be more swayed but essentially I don't think they are effective ... Working to rule is probably more effective I think... There must be a better way then striking though ..... Not that I claim to know the answer!!

"The Cambrian," Wales's leading newspaper, published in Swansea, and always on the side of the authorities, portrayed the union leaders as "gin-swilling degenerates." The very idea of a union was also roundly condemned by the Calvinistic Methodists, who called on all church members to boycott such "devilish" activity.

Can not read the yellow type!

Rupert M:

Can not read the yellow type!

Probably just as well.

Highlighting it turns it blue!!! A most agreeable posting though!

supersonic, the definition of a lost argument is to accuse the other side of hate, not sure where you get that from as to hate social workers would mean hating myself and I am not receiving treatment for a psychosis. If you mean I question the smug certainties of some social workers I work with or have worked with or read posts by, then you are right to conclude that I see teh world differently form their like. That is not hate it's a difference of opinion. Sticking to strikes, I think you should just accept that you assert with certainty striking does not work and posit possible alternatives but when I point out to you that with proper organisation they do work, you urge me to re-read your  post while at the same time conceding that the RMT have had and continue to safeguard their memebers interest through striking. Being a professional of course you resent 'manual' workers earning decent wages. I'll wager though that you have never given first aid to a dying or injured service user, you have never suffered a bomb or fire in your workplace and you most certainly have never run over someone committing suicide by jumping infront of your car. This must mean I hate social workers because it goes without saying that without a doubt social work is the most difficult, the most stressfull, the most dangereous job of all. If you choose to believe that our country is so broke that we can only fund "the markets" and the banks, that we can only afford to bribe midddle class parents to open "free schools" , that we can let off Vodafone from paying taxes due, that we can only afford to incentivise private equity firms  rather than provide adequate pensions on the basis of contributions of between 6 to 11 percent of our wages, while robbing private pension funds a la Robert Maxwell and Equitable Life with impunity and safeguarding the pensions of members of parliament, then be happy to work while your striking collagues secure a pensions future for you.

supersonic:

I'm not striking. I'm not a member of a union and if I'm honest (ducks down to escape flying insults!) I don't think striking works, it's just a pointless inconvenience. Striking has not actually been effective for years - government don't pay much attention to it and it creates bad feeling in the general public who resent services being shut or less available... It's not like it will effect the service in the long run because customers will defect to a rival as was the original ethos - (the bosses would loose business and money)- kids will go back to school and no one wants a social worker anyway! .... I also think that like it or not public service pensions have to change because the money is just not there (ducks again!) there have been some big debates in my office and there will be a picket line ... I will have to cross it at some point in my day but as it's likely the schools will be closed I may well end working from home anyway ... I used to be a legal executive for a trade union firm of solicitors ... Unions have got greedier and less trustworthy over the years .... They have turned into a business solely out to make profit - that's not what they were meant to be about! ... Some unison members in my office have approached them about some of th ground level difficulties we are having (car parking, resources etc) and they could not be less interested .... Probably because there is no headline in it!!!! If strike was explicitly about more than pensions I may be more swayed but essentially I don't think they are effective ... Working to rule is probably more effective I think... There must be a better way then striking though ..... Not that I claim to know the answer!!

So you're going to cross a picket line "at some point", are you. Are you also going to refuse any gains that we win through our action? If not, then that smacks of gross hypocrisy.

Lovecats - I asked you to reread my post as you had made comments about it that were untrue. I'm not having an argument ... I'm stating my opinion, I'm not trying to persuade you to change yours. Your posts are in the majority, argumentative, patronising and rude. You make sweeping generalisations about social workers which led me to think you don't like them very much ..... I agreed with you about the RMT and that I had been wrong, but pointed out it's different as they have something tangible to fight with - different to a lot of public sector roles.......the rest of your post is aggressive conjecture as usual. Making massive assumptions about views on the social work role (some people don't think of it as a profession at all you know) you even assume I'm middle-class. Nigel- Reigate - I'm entitled to my view but I have pointed out early on I am not a union member so won't be striking. It just so happens I also don't think striking is the best way. ..... A little fed up that this thread had basically turned into an attack by some ..... Because I have a point of view, instead of reasoned debate on it im getting load of conjecture and assumptions as well as getting called a scab. ..... I'm not the sort of person that has one view and sticks to it religiously in the face of sensible debate and discussion that is able to give me insight into a different point of view, yet no one has tried to do that .... Just attack and aggression

Shirack - dont know the alternative - I don't think that they should go ... I said "in their current form" so perhaps it's the fact they need to go back to their original ethos? The big bosses at the union won't be having their pensions cut will they? .... Unions were for workers and run by workers - now they are a business out to make money and get media attention. I can't help feeling cynical which is why I dont join one

So for those of you that are striking how many if you are actually going to the picket line and protest? In my team meeting the people that were striking were unsure there was even going to be a picket line and were intending to just stay at home. .... Which is pointless.... Also of those people, the ones that were striking but staying home were doing so as they are union members and felt that had to strike because else they were get abuse for being scabs ..... The overall turn out for the ballot was pretty low ... Around 30/40% ..... What's that level of ambivalence about?

supersonic:

Lovecats - I asked you to reread my post as you had made comments about it that were untrue. I'm not having an argument ... I'm stating my opinion, I'm not trying to persuade you to change yours. Your posts are in the majority, argumentative, patronising and rude. You make sweeping generalisations about social workers which led me to think you don't like them very much ..... I agreed with you about the RMT and that I had been wrong, but pointed out it's different as they have something tangible to fight with - different to a lot of public sector roles.......the rest of your post is aggressive conjecture as usual. Making massive assumptions about views on the social work role (some people don't think of it as a profession at all you know) you even assume I'm middle-class. Nigel- Reigate - I'm entitled to my view but I have pointed out early on I am not a union member so won't be striking. It just so happens I also don't think striking is the best way. ..... A little fed up that this thread had basically turned into an attack by some ..... Because I have a point of view, instead of reasoned debate on it im getting load of conjecture and assumptions as well as getting called a scab. ..... I'm not the sort of person that has one view and sticks to it religiously in the face of sensible debate and discussion that is able to give me insight into a different point of view, yet no one has tried to do that .... Just attack and aggression

Some fair points, but you still haven't responded to the issue re: you personally benefiting from what OTHERS have fought for. Despite what I may think of your position, I haven't called you a scab. And yes, I will be  with colleagues on the picket line and at a rally on the 30th.

I'll be striking, I'll be on the picket line and then I will join the march and rally afterwards.

supersonic, I thhink accusing lovecats of hate is pretty agressive so perhaps it's in the eye of the beholder this aggression lark. Th emore interesting point to me was the one about why we can afford decent pensions when you say  teh country has no money. If you are serious about debating perhaps you can address that rather than see attacks form all.

Try not to just leave all your Billboards and other litter lying around afterwards - as is usual.

tiptop:

I'll be striking, I'll be on the picket line and then I will join the march and rally afterwards.

As I will be. 

Rupert M:

Try not to just leave all your Billboards and other litter lying around afterwards - as is usual.

And try not to just post asinine comments - as is usual.