Plumber joining TEEU???

Barrysham

Hi guys,
I'm a qualified plumber for 10 years and have never being in a union. Im working for a small company (6 workers) for the last 9 years and have never had any problems. Recently I've being thinking about joining TEEU.
I was just looking for some advice really. Is it worth joining? What are the advantages/disadvantages? Any info greatly appreciated.

corkgsxr

Iv never seen unions help anyone. I'll never pay them another penny.

I was a member of the GMB who look after gas fitters for all my time working in London and they were very good at looking after the little man.

The idea of working as RGI without Union representation is a troubling one for me.

Even a crap union is better than no Union if a property you were working on went kaboom.

Nobody is interested in the defence of the RGI in the event of a death or explosion and he or she is vilified, it's a very lonely place to be so having a Union to lean on is very important.

I'm going to have a look at the TEEU and I'll join if only for the legal cover, I would be interested if anybody knows of any Unions that are more suited to RGI's.

corkgsxr

gary71 wrote: »

I was a member of the GMB who look after gas fitters for all my time working in London and they were very good at looking after the little man.

The idea of working as RGI without Union representation is a troubling one for me.

Even a crap union is better than no Union if a property you were working on went kaboom.

Nobody is interested in the defence of the RGI in the event of a death or explosion and he or she is vilified, it's a very lonely place to be so having a Union to lean on is very important.

I'm going to have a look at the TEEU and I'll join if only for the legal cover, I would be interested if anybody knows of any Unions that are more suited to RGI's.

Does your insurance not have legal cover?

I would be very surprised if you made a house go kaboom and the union was any help. Most likely they would stay miles away and say this is why we need proper training and quality control etc while letting you get hung

corkgsxr

corkgsxr wrote: »

Does your insurance not have legal cover?

I would be very surprised if you made a house go kaboom and the union was any help. Most likely they would stay miles away and say this is why we need proper training and quality control etc while letting you get hung

I don't have union experience here but was a active member in London.

As a RGI I feel I need as much protection as I can get(it's my paranoia), my insurance is only interested in my liability.

There is a difference and the trade union I belonged to helped a lot of gas fitters more so than the usual legal representative.

One thing I do hope is no RGI has to find out how good or bad their insurance rep is.

Sir Arthur Daley

Barrysham wrote: »

I was just looking for some advice really. Is it worth joining? What are the advantages/disadvantages? Any info greatly appreciated.

Are your co workers in the union?

gifted

Barrysham wrote: »

Hi guys,
I'm a qualified plumber for 10 years and have never being in a union. Im working for a small company (6 workers) for the last 9 years and have never had any problems. Recently I've being thinking about joining TEEU.
I was just looking for some advice really. Is it worth joining? What are the advantages/disadvantages? Any info greatly appreciated.

If your working for the same company for the last 9 years without any problems then why bother joining a union?

My own personal view is that they are a waste of time. I haven't been a member in over 17 years and have no intention of rejoining them. It's bad enough watching money been taken out of my wages for the feckin CIF but no way will I give a union anything.

scudo2

Barrysham wrote: »

Hi guys,
I'm a qualified plumber for 10 years and have never being in a union. Im working for a small company (6 workers) for the last 9 years and have never had any problems. Recently I've being thinking about joining TEEU.
I was just looking for some advice really. Is it worth joining? What are the advantages/disadvantages? Any info greatly appreciated.

I never could figure out how a union could be helpfull in a small plumbing firm.
Garrys UK experience with unions is an eye opener as to what they (unions) should provide here. (security) for all.


Your aswell off staying here on BOARDS P&H.
We'll give you as much free professional help, support and advice that we can.
If its confidential, then PM's are used.
No where else will you come across such a combined wealth of knowledge.






If you do want to pay a weekly fee, PM me !

jimf

scudo2 wrote: »

I never could figure out how a union could be helpfull in a small plumbing firm.
Garrys UK experience with unions is an eye opener as to what they (unions) should provide here.

Your aswell off staying here on BOARDS P&H.
We'll give you as much free professional help, support and advice that we can.
If its confidential, then PM's are used.
Now where else will you come across such a wealth of knowledge.






If you do want to pay a weekly fee, PM me !

ok scudo how much do I owe you at this stage

Barrysham

Sir Arthur Daley wrote: »

Are your co workers in the union?

No, none of my co workers are, but they are also thinking of joining. But from reading some of the responses here I'm now not to sure if its worth while.

gifted

Barrysham wrote: »

No, none of my co workers are, but they are also thinking of joining. But from reading some of the responses here I'm now not to sure if its worth while.

There must be some reason why ye are now thinking of joining a union?

Your unions must be brutal:eek:.

Quick example(I have a few):

A gas fitter friend of mine who was a very nice man in his mid forties was sacked for long term sick(which makes future employment very difficult).

As a apprentice his fitters allowed a large boiler they were carrying up the stairs to fall on him shattering his legs and hips, this led to a few problems through out his career but nothing ott.

What done for him was the time he was off because of a very bad burn he got taking the contents of a boiling pot on to himself after his daughter knocked it over, he died twice on the operating table due to the shock.

When he came back he was sacked, when he complained he was told he should of thought about his job before he saved his daughter.

It was the union that got his job back and had him pensioned off with a big lump sum.

On a personal note having seen first hand investigations after gas incidents it's very scary not having a good union to watch your back when the powers that be want to drag you to the hanging tree.

gifted

gary71 wrote: »

Your unions must be brutal:eek:.

Quick example(I have a few):

A gas fitter friend of mine who was a very nice man in his mid forties was sacked for long term sick(which makes future employment very difficult).

As a apprentice his fitters allowed a large boiler they were carrying up the stairs to fall on him shattering his legs and hips, this led to a few problems through out his career but nothing ott.

What done for him was the time he was off because of a very bad burn he got taking the contents of a boiling pot on to himself after his daughter knocked it over, he died twice on the operating table due to the shock.

When he came back he was sacked, when he complained he was told he should of thought about his job before he saved his daughter.

It was the union that got his job and had him pensioned off with a big lump sum.

On a personal note having seen first hand investigations after gas incidents it's very scary not having a good union to watch your back when the powers that be want to drag you to the hanging tree.

A good solicitor nowadays would have done the same thing...

gifted

The last contact I had with the union was 1999, I was a foreman on a construction site in a hospital and the secretary of the local branch of the AEEU was the maintenance foreman in this hospital. I had 2 plumbers up there and one day they came into the office and started complaining that on the way out of the hospital canteen the secretary of the union stopped them and told them that he would get them off the site for owing back money to the union. The 2 boys paid up nearly a 100 pounds each to him just to stay on the site.

A couple of days later he stopped me while I was in the hospital and told me the same thing. I told him I would call into him on a Friday night. I called in on a Friday night and before I gave him any money I told him that there were 2 more building sites within the vicinity of the hospital who were employing non qualified personnel as plumbers ( one of them was a car mechanic) and would he check it out? He informed me that he is not getting paid to drive to sites to check on personnel so I told him he had no right so to ask me for money in the hospital.

I asked him to write a letter to the head office of the AEEU union to explain my case as I had put it to him...his jaw hit the floor...told me I was ok to work there and he never bothered us again on the site.