Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Unhappy with representation by union (rant follows...)

  • 27-05-2009 10:34pm
    #1
    larrykinney
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 112 ✭✭


    Evening all, I posted this in Legal issues but didn't get any response, any advice appreciated.

    '
    I was employed on a series of fixed term contracts for three and a half years by the same employer. I was a member of a trade union for the duration of my employment. In October 2004 I was informed that my contract, and the contracts of all my fixed term colleagues, wasn't going to be renewed. I was gutted but thought that my employer wasn't doing anything illegal. Unknown to me, the union of which I had been a member
    took a case to the Rights Commissioner regarding the rights of fixed term employees. The Rights Commissioner found that they had the same rights to salary, holidays etc as permanent employees. The employees, many former colleagues of mine, had their jobs reinstated and many recieved compensation. This was brought to my attention when someone showed me a report in the newspaper about a year ago, when the Rights Commissioners ruling became final, following an appeal. I was dissappointed, (to put it mildly), that I hadn't been included in the case the union took to the Rights Commissioner. When I asked the union, (through my solicitor), why I hadn't been included, I was informed that the case was taken on the basis of individual complaints. I had no idea that I had grounds for complaint. Could the union (or one of my colleagues) not have told me about the case they were taking?

    This all happened when I was 24. It was my first full time job and I knew very little about my rights. I was being strung along on a series of fixed term contracts (initially 6 months, then 3 months, 10 weeks, 3 more months etc). At no time did the union make any complaints on behalf of me and my colleagues. I (naively, I admit) thought that if my employer was doing anything illegal in keeping us on fixed term contracts indefinitely, then my union would step in and represent my interests.
    Even when I was let go, the union told me nothing about my right to a redundancy payment, which I have been told it is now too late to claim.

    I was naive in being unaware of my rights, but like I said, it was my first job. This is where (I believe) the union should have stepped in and informed me of my rights. I'm fed up with how I was treated by my employer but I'm even more fed up with how I was treated by my union. I paid my subscription every week in the belief that they would represent my interests, but they failed.'


Advertisement