# Anyone care to tell us some of the silly union claims in their jobs?



## thedaras (24 Feb 2009)

Ill start;
The job I was in was held-up by guys with shotguns.
They held up the guy who went to collect the cash for the wages.It was horrific for all involved.

The company suggested that the staff be paid directly into their bank account,or by cheque..perfectly reasonable..you would think..

The union got involved and claimed that a lot of the staff didnt have bank accounts...the unions won .

The union also wanted time off for staff to cash the cheque..the unions won ..

The union then got the staff a once off payment for the disruption!
The company has closed down!!
GO FIGURE


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## woodseb (24 Feb 2009)

Not in my job but two examples:

- Demanding a pay rise for construction workers 

- Friend told me about a guy who was usually first in to the office in the morning so he'd turn on the lights and open the blinds as you would. My mate came in one morning to find the bloke sitting in the dark after his union rep told him its not his job to turn on the lights and open the blinds


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## PaddyW (24 Feb 2009)

woodseb said:


> - Friend told me about a guy who was usually first in to the office in the morning so he'd turn on the lights and open the blinds as you would. My mate came in one morning to find the bloke sitting in the dark after his union rep told him its not his job to turn on the lights and open the blinds



Oh my dear God. I turn on the lights in the morning.. I really must stop doing that and work blind in future... How ridiculous haha


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## BoscoTalking (24 Feb 2009)

woodseb said:


> My mate came in one morning to find the bloke sitting in the dark after his union rep told him its not his job to turn on the lights and open the blinds


no union can make someone sit in the dark like a right gobs...
did he get paid for the time he was "in the dark"
unions are one thing but employees can be really loving the "them and us" of it all too and can add far more to it.


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## csirl (24 Feb 2009)

Some I've come across over the years (some gotten from friends/family):

1. Union looks for higher pay for introduction of new technology that makes the job easier to do.

2. Disturbance payments sought for moving from a cramped old building to a spacious new building with all mod cons across the street.

3. Overworked, but dont want new staff hired as it increases the competition for promotion. When new staff hired, refused to train them, so trainers had to be brought in from another branch of the company abroad at great expense to the company. [In this particular case, a legislation change required everyone in this job to do a further training course. The older employees in the union refused to cooperate suggesting that the company should get an exemption from the law (impossible). Ended up with these older employees having to be let go becuase they didnt have the required legal qualifications for the job.]

4. Want travel and subsistence expenses greater than what is allowed by Revenue Commissioners, but threaten to go on strike when the company says that tax advice is that they would have to tax anything above the Revenue Commissioners level. In this case, the company was willing to give a pay rise. Essentially the union wanted more money, but didnt want to pay tax.


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## thedaras (24 Feb 2009)

Haha they are all soo funny
Another one Ive heard (not me ),,For someone to walk from one area of work to another.(a 100 foot walk)Union wanted, RAIN JACKETS,UNBRELLAS AND ..wait for it....
SNOW BOOTS...
and they got them too,which they never used!!


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## Brianne (24 Feb 2009)

I'm reading these posts with interest and have to say that my experience is different. I think that people forget that unions are made up of members and it's up to the members to stand up for what is right and fair. So if the  'union'  is talking rubbish, the people in the workplace whose work could be affected by daft decisions, have the right to ignore the advise and challenge the decisions.
On one occasion where I work, we were given bad advise that would have, if followed, resulted in job losses. We told the union what help we needed, we got it,we refused to follow their advise and told them that their job was to protect our employment. They are employed by us. They followed our advise. In other dealings , because they have professional knowledge, they have helped immensely both at local and regional level.
However, it's up to people to think for themselves. Many of us in the past were very glad of unions, we got sunday pay, proper holidays, and we didn't feel alone if there was trouble. However like any large organisations, they can become institutionalised and lose sight of their mandate. What's needed by all is flexability.


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## thedaras (24 Feb 2009)

Brianne, agree with most of what you say, however they are called union LEADERS..
ANd IMO the above problems stem from where people are being LED..the leaders need to lead ..


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## Purple (24 Feb 2009)

Brianne said:


> Many of us in the past were very glad of unions, we got sunday pay, proper holidays, and we didn't feel alone if there was trouble. However like any large organisations, they can become institutionalised and lose sight of their mandate. What's needed by all is flexability.


Sunday pay, now there’s an interesting one. I was talking to my neighbour who runs a small shop. She pointed out that if she get a school kid to work for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon doing unskilled work tidying up the shop after the day she has to pay them over €17 an hour. That’s just crazy. 

Does flexibility extend to the realisation that we are more expensive than Switzerland for servicing aircraft and Dublin is more expensive than Manhattan to run a shop in?


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## thedaras (24 Feb 2009)

Flexibility....whas tha???? Dont think it exists in the world of unions


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## DublinTexas (24 Feb 2009)

And than again sometimes unions do something like this:



> Union makes pay deal with M&S
> 
> Mandate has said it's reached an agreement with Marks and Spencers for a new pay deal above and beyond the terms of the National Wage Agreement.
> The deal allows for wage increases of up to 6.7 per cent above current rates.
> The trade union said the deal is what is expected from profitable companies even in difficult trading circumstances.


 
Not bad in these times 6.7% as long as M&S can do this without raising their prices I'm all for it because it means more money to the tax man and more spending power for the employees.

I just hope that M&S is not raising the prices by 6.7% now.


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## Bubbly Scot (24 Feb 2009)

Sunday rates??? I don't get that


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## PaddyW (24 Feb 2009)

No, they'll probably raise them by 10% +....


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## Purple (24 Feb 2009)

PaddyW said:


> No, they'll probably raise them by 10% +....


... or just pull out of the country.


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## PaddyW (24 Feb 2009)

Purple said:


> ... or just pull out of the country.



That too...


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## thedaras (24 Feb 2009)

Purple said:


> ... or just pull out of the country.


 
Id imagine you are right purple

That shows the great LEADERSHIP,negoiating a pay rise in this climate!!

I can just see the staff of M&S,doing a waterford on the company,when it closes! where is the reponsible leadership? maybe thats another thread..
Its a short term gain,but could end up detrimental to the staff at the end of the day..


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## Purple (24 Feb 2009)

thedaras said:


> Id imagine you are right purple
> 
> That shows the great LEADERSHIP,negoiating a pay rise in this climate!!
> 
> ...



Since when have unions looked at what is sustainable? They epitomise the short term greed of the Celtic tiger.


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## thedaras (24 Feb 2009)

Purple said:


> Since when have unions looked at what is sustainable? They epitomise the short term greed of the Celtic tiger.


 
Agreed 100% with you purple


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## Caveat (24 Feb 2009)

I heard of someone demanding trauma compensation because someone accross the road coughed.

(Actually I made that one up)


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## becky (24 Feb 2009)

woodseb said:


> - Friend told me about a guy who was usually first in to the office in the morning so he'd turn on the lights and open the blinds as you would. My mate came in one morning to find the bloke sitting in the dark after his union rep told him its not his job to turn on the lights and open the blinds


 
My favorite so far.

An old boss of mine in HR got a letter from the unions asking for disturbance money due to the fact that staff were being ask to use a different door. 

She counted the number of steps from the middle of the car park and found it took her 5 less steps to get into the building.  She wrote back to the union offical explaining and nheard no more about it.


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## MOB (24 Feb 2009)

I have a friend who used to work in Guinness who told me that she got in trouble for changing a clock (in her own office) from winter time to summer time, because it was somebody else's job.  

It might have been a  wind-up.


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## DavyJones (24 Feb 2009)

A few years ago I worked in Australia on a 500  man job, the minute it started to rain we were sent inside, If it rained for more than 30 mins, we were sent home, (we worked outside). I found it strange and often said if this rule applied at home, we would never get things done. Funny thing was all 500 workers on the job were issued with full lenght snowy river type wax rain coat with union crest attached. Why did we need rain coats???


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## thedaras (24 Feb 2009)

becky said:


> My favorite so far.
> 
> An old boss of mine in HR got a letter from the unions asking for disturbance money due to the fact that staff were being ask to use a different door.
> 
> *She counted the number of steps from the middle of the car park and found it took her 5 less steps to get into the building. She wrote back to the union offical explaining and nheard no more about it.*




*She should have looked for a reduction in their wages*


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## WaterWater (24 Feb 2009)

The IBOA put in a proposal for bin liners for the office bins.


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## DonDub (24 Feb 2009)

thedaras said:


> Ill start;
> The job I was in was held-up by guys with shotguns.
> They held up the guy who went to collect the cash for the wages.It was horrific for all involved.
> 
> ...


 
True story - NCT staff were in Labour Court last week - claiming payment for starting work 4 minutes early each day. Court recommended they recieve additional 4 days holiday this year to compensate.
Based on this claim - given I work at least 20 hours extra each week, then 

     1 min = 1 extra days holiday
    60 min = 60 days extra holiday
  20(hours) X 60(min) = 1200 min = 1200 days extra holiday
  1200/5(day working week) = 240 weeks  off.

Yippee!! All I need to do, is to join a union and put a claim in.................


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## Ron Burgundy (24 Feb 2009)

MOB said:


> I have a friend who used to work in Guinness who told me that she got in trouble for changing a clock (in her own office) from winter time to summer time, because it was somebody else's job.
> 
> *It might have been a  wind-up.*



Or perhaps the clock ran on batteries


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## thedaras (25 Feb 2009)

DonDub said:


> True story -
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## becky (25 Feb 2009)

DonDub said:


> True story - NCT staff were in Labour Court last week - claiming payment for starting work 4 minutes early each day. Court recommended they recieve additional 4 days holiday this year to compensate.


 

What time do they start at now?

Who's job is it to change the battery in the clock?


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## Complainer (25 Feb 2009)

MOB said:


> I have a friend who used to work in Guinness who told me that she got in trouble for changing a clock (in her own office) from winter time to summer time, because it was somebody else's job.
> 
> It might have been a  wind-up.


Given that I heard the identical story about a civil service office, it may well be one of those urban myths.



WaterWater said:


> The IBOA put in a proposal for bin liners for the office bins.


Have you ever tried cleaning spilt yogurt or left over over-ripe banana from an office bin with no liner?

Should we start a thread about dumb things that managers/owners/shareholders have done to employees? Could the AAM servers support the load?


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## MissRibena (25 Feb 2009)

Complainer said:


> Have you ever tried cleaning spilt yogurt or left over over-ripe banana from an office bin with no liner?


 
Are they eating or working?  And you mean people in unions empty their own waste paper bins? 

As for the clock story ... think the clue may have been in 'wind-up'


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## Brianne (25 Feb 2009)

Complainer said:


> Given that I heard the identical story about a civil service office, it may well be one of those urban myths.
> 
> 
> Have you ever tried cleaning spilt yogurt or left over over-ripe banana from an office bin with no liner?
> ...



Yes , let me start. Of course , some people here , I suspect some of them are employers would have us believe that unions are the devil incarnate!!
Right , how  would you feel if as a 19 year old with no job security and dependent on the employer for future references, you were expressly forbidden to use latex gloves and told to use your bare hands instead to pick up bloody dressings and swabs from an operating floor?
Well , it happened to me and when I say that if I had refused , I would suffer down the line, I tell the truth. Apart from the fact that then I wouldn't have had the courage to refuse.
How would you feel if out of your close circle of seven friends , five of them needed back surgery before they were 32 because they were used as mules basically and then they wonder where a lot of the nurses are gone. They're at home with back pain!!!
So, thank God for Health and Safety legislation and if you are so foolish as to think that a lot of employment legislation that protects workers is unnecessary ,well to be honest I am sorry for you.Does anyone here remember the unions fighting so that married women would be fairly taxed?Well , I do. Forty years ago , you could be fired on marriage, fired if pregnant. You had very poor health and safety legislation  and little compensation for injury or disability caused by your work conditions.

And no , I absolutely don't agree with rampant trade unionism. In fact I detest fanatics of all types. However, I am sick of this endless bashing of trade unions and have come to the conclusion that some of it comes from genuine ignorance and some comes from people who find that unions and the employee protection afforded employees now, is an unwelcome situation in their particular workplace.


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## DonDub (25 Feb 2009)

Brianne said:


> Yes , let me start. Of course , some people here , I suspect some of them are employers would have us believe that unions are the devil incarnate!!
> Right , how would you feel if as a 19 year old with no job security and dependent on the employer for future references, you were expressly forbidden to use latex gloves and told to use your bare hands instead to pick up bloody dressings and swabs from an operating floor?
> Well , it happened to me and when I say that if I had refused , I would suffer down the line, I tell the truth. Apart from the fact that then I wouldn't have had the courage to refuse.
> How would you feel if out of your close circle of seven friends , five of them needed back surgery before they were 32 because they were used as mules basically and then they wonder where a lot of the nurses are gone. They're at home with back pain!!!
> ...


 
Agree that unions have (in the past) played a key role in defending workers from expolitative employers. Worth noting that most of the advances for women were as a consequence of our membership of the EU, and not because of unions taking a stand.
The balance of power has shifted too far in favour of workers - which has led to wholesale abuses, especially in the sheltered public sector. It is imperative that their is a rebalancing of power - if we are to have any hope of recovering our competitiveness.
Addressing this issue is not the only action we must take, but it is a critical one, and an urgent priority!!


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## PaddyW (25 Feb 2009)

Complainer said:


> Given that I heard the identical story about a civil service office, it may well be one of those urban myths.



I do believe that the original post was a joke. The punch line being, it might have been a wind up.. Wind up clock?


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## Mouldy (25 Feb 2009)

Many years ago I worked in a steel fabrication plant, where there were some pretty lethal machnes used for pressing steel plates into various shapes. The gaurds were never on the machines except when an insurance rep would call around for a look. The myself and another employee were told to put them on. When the rep left, we would have to take them off again.

It was this and other types of employer abuse that lead to a Union being formed, which eventually lead to some better working conditions and pay increases in return for delivered productivity increases.

Unions have a part to play in todays world just as much as in the past. The balance of power may have shifted too far to the Unions but without unions, most employers would be far more liberal in abusing employees.

For the record I am a member of Siptu. I will vote against the proposed strike and will not support it, even if I get kicked out the union. I am in favour of the pension levy even though it will cost me thousands of euro in take home pay. However, I will not be tolerant of any more cuts to my pay in the short term unless it is coupled with some other measures to make everyone take the pain for the country to recover.


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## thedaras (26 Feb 2009)

Mouldy said:


> Many years ago I worked in a steel fabrication plant, where there were some pretty lethal machnes used for pressing steel plates into various shapes. The gaurds were never on the machines except when an insurance rep would call around for a look. The myself and another employee were told to put them on. When the rep left, we would have to take them off again.
> 
> It was this and other types of employer abuse that lead to a Union being formed, which eventually lead to some better working conditions and pay increases
> 
> ...


 
There is a thin line between being in denial and being selective in accepting the realities


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## Purple (26 Feb 2009)

Very reasonable post Mouldy. It would be hard to disagree with any of it.

Brianne,
Unions, the EU and the arch villain of modern Irish politics, Mr. CJ Haughey, all played their part in women’s rights (a few women helped as well).


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## Dreamerb (26 Feb 2009)

DonDub said:


> True story - NCT staff were in Labour Court last week - claiming payment for starting work 4 minutes early each day. Court recommended they recieve additional 4 days holiday this year to compensate.
> Based on this claim - given I work at least 20 hours extra each week, then
> 
> 1 min = 1 extra days holiday
> ...


You need someone to help with your sums, too. 

20 hours = 4 hours per day = 240 mins per day
@ 1 day's leave per 1 min per day = 240 days.


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## dockingtrade (26 Feb 2009)

Mouldy said:


> For the record I am a member of Siptu. I will vote against the proposed strike and will not support it, even if I get kicked out the union. I am in favour of the pension levy even though it will cost me thousands of euro in take home pay. However, I will not be tolerant of any more cuts to my pay in the short term unless it is coupled with some other measures to make everyone take the pain for the country to recover.


 
refreshing


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## Purple (26 Feb 2009)

WaterWater said:


> The IBOA put in a proposal for bin liners for the office bins.


This sort of thing typifies what’s wrong with many large organisations (both public and private); why the hell would putting bin liners in office bins be an issue that requires a decision at a high level.
What’s wrong with; 
Cleaning staff to office manager, “Can you get bin liners for the bins? There’s bits of banana and dried yogurt stuck to the bottom of the bins and it stinks.”
Office manager, “Sure, good idea. I’ll get the person who buys the stationary/cleaning goods to get them.”

It’s BS like that that keeps layers of middle management busy.
It says a lot more about the bank than it does about the union.


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## liaconn (26 Feb 2009)

There are some total idiots on Union committees and there are some total idiots working at management level. There are also lots of sensible people on unions and on management boards.
Its easy to come up with a list of isolated incidents spanning God knows how many years and assume that means Unions per se are a bunch of idiots. I have over the years seen an awful lot of good work done by unions  in the areas of health and safety, anti-bullying, migrant workers rights etc and, in my own area of work have often had to consult them as key stakeholders and have got very sensible feedback on important proposed policies (and, in fairness, I've never seen any really silly incidents in my own workplace). 
Yes, there probably is the odd eejit who plods around making sure no one is turning on the lights but they're not representative of union officials in general. You get people who go over the top in all walks of life.


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## shnaek (3 Mar 2009)

Remember this story, where the union wanted compensation for 2 extra carraiges on the DART:
[broken link removed]

or this story from Limerick:


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