No-one is forced to be in a union? Discuss.

From an employers perspective, there are merits in requiring staff to join only 1 union, in that it makes negotiation easier and also removes the risk and issues caused by inter-union disputes. Nothing more frustrating then having 2 unions having a bun-fight over issues of "principle".
 
Complainer said:
Are there any current examples of this?
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Here's an extract from the electricians' REA:

All foremen, chargehands, and electricians employed by the ECA and the AECI
hereafter called the employer bodies shall be or become members of the TEEU​
hereafter called the Union and must hold current union cards.
 
In an ideal world an employee should be free to choose union membership or not. I don't know why someone would not join if it meant greater protection and assistance in the event of some issue arising. In some workplaces I imagine there would be pressure to join. Talking to a schoolteacher friend a while ago, he told me that he had no interest in ASTI per se, but felt he would benefit from membership in the event of something serious cropping up; he specifically mentioned something like a false accusation of harassment/misconduct/abuse being levelled.
 
So is it fair to say that the assertion that "no one is forced to be a member of a trade union" is not true, at least in respect to certain employments and categories of employee?
 
ajapale said:
So is it fair to say that the assertion that "no one is forced to be a member of a trade union" is not true, at least in respect to certain employments and categories of employee?
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I was always of the opinion that closed shops did exist in Ireland.

However, the only anecdotal evidence that I personally have is that a friend of mine worked for a major bank. On day one, she was told that she had to be in the union. but, I don't know what would have happened if she had refused so I don't know if it was a formal or informal closed shop.
 

Personally speaking I worked for a major bank for years and was never in the union and I'd estimate that no more then half the staff there were members.

I have heard similer stories about the Civil Service, not so much that you had to join but that you wouldn't get anywhere if you didn't. Given that the couple of times I had interviews for public sector jobs that someone who said he was from the union took the interview minutes, that doesn't surprise me
 

I dont think this is anecdotal.
 
Complainer said:
But the REA's are on their way out, aren't they?
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Not quite, the constitutional issue arises where agreements have been binding on an entire sector.

REA's are still binding on the signatories.

Our agreement is unusual in that the trade union requirement is explicit, but it's certainly implicit in others like Construction and Printing.
 
I'm going back 20 years at this stage, but when I had my first summer job with Irish Ferries, I was told I had to join the union. I actually had to go to the union office and join before I took up the job and pay a subscription fee.
I don't even know if the Seamans Union is still in existence now as I believe a lot of the Irish Ferries staff were made redundant a few years back and replaced by non-EU workers. (Maybe there's a lesson in there!)
 
Hoagy said:
Not quite, the constitutional issue arises where agreements have been binding on an entire sector.

REA's are still binding on the signatories.
.
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But the Government has stated that they will be replaced with something different - right? It would be hard to see Richard Bruton signing off on some new agreement system that involves closed shops.
 
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