A dumb question about strikes and unions

[Chrisw666]

The OH is a teacher, who is fairly ambivalent about the whole pension thing, she does want to work next week though but the school she works at will be closed to children. She is a member of one of the teaching unions who has said they are backing the strike but members can choose to follow it or not.

This has lead me to wonder, if I was in a union (I hate them passionately) and that union called a strike that I didn't vote for, and I then went to work what would actually happen if I disobeyed the lazy s and went to work?

[Puggit]

They'd call you a scab.

[Chrisw666]

I've been called much worse

That's it though, some petty name-calling?

So essentially unions are an excuse for union members to be lazy and grab a days unpaid leave whenever they are in a bit of a bad mood or there is xmas shopping needing to be done? The last time there was a teaching strike IKEA launched a sale on the same random midweek day, coincidence?

[Mojooo]

It depends on where you work

a) some places are laid back and you can choose one way or the other

b) some palces are very tight knitted and if many people are Union members then everyone is expected to follow

I have a feeling palces liek B were much mroe common back in the day - these days I think most people are happy to give others choice. The bottom lien is there are probably mroe than enough people in all these places willing to strike that it doesnt matter if your aprtner does or not so it prob isnt a big deal to them.

[Chrisw666]

The school doesn't give them a choice, they have decided there is a risk people may be on strike so have planned a closure in advance without asking staff if they intend to come to work or not.

I was more musing if union orders have any teeth, but it appears not.

[Mojooo]

Well Union members cannot literally force non striking Union members to strike. All they can do is exert some pressure if they wish.

[TankRizzo]

Chrisw666 said:

The OH is a teacher, who is fairly ambivalent about the whole pension thing, she does want to work next week though but the school she works at will be closed to children. She is a member of one of the teaching unions who has said they are backing the strike but members can choose to follow it or not.

This has lead me to wonder, if I was in a union (I hate them passionately) and that union called a strike that I didn't vote for, and I then went to work what would actually happen if I disobeyed the lazy s and went to work?

I can tell you because that's the exact situation my wife's in - member of NASUWT but voted not to strike. The school will probably be closed to children, but she will be going in anyway to do some marking and lesson prep.

Nothing will happen to her because the teachers who are voting to strike will not be standing outside the school gates picketing, they will be doing some Christmas shopping or watching telly. As I said in the other thread, the last time people voted to strike at her school (the NUT that time), they went down the beach and did some sunbathing.

Apparently the union rep in school has been piling on the pressure and making threatening remarks like "if you don't support the union, then the union might not be able to support you if you have a child dispute or allegation".

[Mojooo]

Whats wrong with going to the beach on a strike day? No doubt a better use of time than standing outside a closed school!