As I have said elsewhere there are examples of bad practice and abuse of position in all walks of life and unions are no different in that. It doesn’t make the whole thing bad though.
The vast majority of employment legislation actually has very little to do with unions, the last 50 years or so even less so, as for twenty years try 40 plus years, you obviously work for a union from your stance, I have never been a member of a union and have only ever come across them as an obstruction, the simple fact is that unions today are imbedded in the public sector in the main apart from the rail unions and are motivated by politics rather than humanist issues of their members, their members afford them the financial power to play politics.
Would be interesting to see which employment legislation you are on about. Other than the legislation brought in by the tories to overcome the unions. The higher levels of pay, shorter working week, greater holidays, better health and safety and better employment protection we enjoy now hasn’t been handed out by managers and company owners out of the goodness of their hearts. Unions will be an obstruction if you are trying to do something detrimental to their members. Obviously the unions will be more noticeable in the public sector as that is where they are going to be stronger through the organisation being bigger. Politics are a big part of working life so unions who of course originally led to the Labour Party are bound to be involved. I don’t work for a union but have been a union rep and health and safety rep and know for a fact I am better off because of them and have seen unscrupulous companies exploit non union workers.
