I joined CIE nearly two years ago now which is unionised company. As far as I can tell when I started working for them we were mislead / lied to about having to join a union as part of the terms of our employment. I was later told that what it actually is, is that one has to join a union as part of their conditions of employment but that it's not mandatory to stay joined to one.... in other words, you can join one and pay €5 for one week and then leave. But then somebody else who worked in HR told me that they actually can't even enforce that we join a union first day at all. So I don't know which is true.
Our training inspector told us that we've three weeks to join either NBRU or SIPTU, and that if we didn't that the money would come out of our wages anyway, or something like that. I took my time deciding which to go for and I think I ended up taking closer to 4 weeks and didn't hear a thing about the fact that I hadn't joined one.
Most people in the company say that the unions are weak and that they used to be stronger. A lot of staff seem to think you have to be joined one. I heard that a decade or more ago there used to be only one union in the company, and that when SIPTU came in that it was great for the company because the two union spent so much time blaming each other that they ended up being weaker as a whole. It's apparently like US politics. There's a lot of talk out from both non-rep driver and rep drivers about how we should not drive buses with defects, or buses we're not trained on, or buses with the tax discs out of date; and that if we did and then had an accident "that we'd be fcuked". But whenever I try and ask them to provide an example of when that actually happened and what was the actual consequence for the employee, they fudge it. Also recently I noticed that one of the union reps who's all for this kind of talk regularly drives defected buses and buses he's not trained on!
There seems to be an undertone from some reps that higher management are rootless, and that they'll look for any excuse screw the employee. They never mention any specific names when they talk this way. But in my experience with higher management, I find them all fine to deal with. The union will also say "don't ever go upstairs without a union rep" a lot, and that if you do that that they'll "tear me a new a$shole". A lot of the staff seems to think that the company will pick on you if you're not joined a union, but I just can't help but think they're stupid for thinking this. I've had one or two problems with inspectors but the funny thing they could well be join the same union as myself, so I don't know how that in making a formal complaint. Sometimes even the inspectors talk about 'the company' as if to imply they're not it!
Ironically one of the very few people I've had a problem with was a union rep himself. I didn't know who the person was at the time but he was a rep of my own union. I had taken over the bus from him as per my duty and he stayed on the be dropped off passing the bus station. A few minutes later the bus displayed a red 'stop' warning light on the dash and steam began to come out the engine at the back. I wanted handle the matter the by the book way, but this guy was in hurry to get home. Being more experienced he advised me to drive on. But given that I was the driver I said it'd be my call. After pulling over and waiting for an answer from the control centre he grew impatient and snapped at me... shouting and cursing in front of passengers. He then just hopped on another bus that pulled in at that bus stop. I spoke to my rep about it at the time, and he said I'd be perfectly entitled to make a formal complaint about him, or that (if I could find out who he was) that he could have a quiet word on my behalf. I only found out that the guy was a rep of my union 2 months later and got back onto the original rep I reported it to. The fella apologised about the incident and explained that he wasn't feeling well that evening and thankfully that matter is dealt with. But it just put things somewhat in perspective for me... to think that I was supposed to believe that this guy and myself had "united" against the company!
It seems any time I have a concern that the union isn't a whole lot of help. It often wouldn't feel like the sort of thing that would warrant picking up the phone for. They seem reluctant to answer hypothetical questions, so they're view is that you should give them the call only when the problem arises in reality and therefore you don't have the peace of mind to know where you stand in advance of it. Any time I've had an issue with shifts being changed unexpectedly on my roster, or over-time sheets not being paid, I've come to the conclusion that it's best to just handle the matter myself by going directly to higher management and cutting out the middle man. In the time you've explained it to the union rep you could've explained to a manager. The union will sort this issue, but they don't acknowledge the ongoing problem of how it's not worth the hassle of following the problem up for the sake of €20. And the union reps seem to prefer go to the middle managers in doing so... who'd probably have been the very ones you'd have had no success with. On another occasion I remember one of the reps getting somewhat irritated when I asked him about how ABC pension schemes work because he didn't know, and didn't want to admit it.
It seems the only thing that they're good for is if you have a serious crash on the road.... in which case I'm not convinced that they'd be any better at representing me than myself. If I did - lets say - drive a bus into a bridge, what could a union rep say to defend me anyway? Or is it the case that you get brownie points in the company's eyes merely because you're joined a union, irrespective of how well they can defend you? I mean in such circumstances you're either going to get fired or not, and the answer is that they're not going to fire you if you've just had one issue to date, so I don't see the point in being represented. Sure, some of the reps mean well, and will give you a smile or so... but what good is that if they can't help me.
There was quite a bit of talk out of one rep about how union reps don't get paid. I mean they get paid for the actual union duty time when they sit and meet with the company, but I'm not sure do they get any general payment for being on call to people who've problems. This I'd like to know.
I only know of one person who's not in a union. He had the exact same thought process as me, and said he never had an issue. He said that management wanted him to join a union for the sake of a few weeks in 2017 when there was some sort of strike... not sure if he did or not in the end. It would be awkward for him passing the picket I guess. The unions are often criticised by senior staff on the whatsapp group. Their defence is often "you've know idea how much work goes on behind the scenes". Of course it's impossible to know what goes on behind the scenes but I wonder would it be a fair assumption that they put in the same effort in that regard that they do with me with my own experiences of them. It might be unfair in a way that I'm being working under conditions that are negotiated by unions when I'm not part of a union. There's a current agreement that was excepted by CIE staff at the moment anyway, whereby they can't negotiate for any more conditions for another few years. So basically they're not of so much use for now anyway. I do wonder if I'm missing something here.
The only reason for staying in my union is that it would be a bit awkward passing them when I'd see them around! I would however like to do it discretely. I suspect I'd have to go to payroll. But would it go unnoticed or not by higher management is what I'd like to know.
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