John Cartmell wrote:

Except that all the instances that I cited were from personal
experience/knowledge.


My experiences appear to be at odds with yours. I have almost always
found the union representative to be an intellectually challenged
individual who liked to seem important. ( I have seen the same in many
managers also) My experiences with the GMB in particular were very bad,
in that the low calibre, full time, officials had no interest what so
ever in a family members problems. Their only concern was the collection
of money from the workforce. I've never seen a union representative
point out health and safety points in the industries I've been
associated with. They just don't know enough about the processes. The
last comments I read on the future of trade unions from an international
appraiser, with no axe to grind, was that they have no future in the
modern economic system. The US car unions are now reaping the results of
pricing their members out of a job with the pending failures of Delco
and GM. The same is also true of US airline workers. The only benefits I
can see in union membership are short term, in some service industries,
with weak management, where foreign competition is low and wages can be
temporarily raised, although the Irish ferry workers are still facing
replacement by cheaper non union labour. At the end of the day, what it
all comes down to, are the services which you provide of interest to the
customer/employer at the price point you specify. If not, then the union
will not benefit you. By the way, I also get the impression that you
feel employers are responsible for the state of health of their
employees, not so. Employers are only expected to provide safe working
environments. If the employee is unfit, the the NI system comes into
play in providing support for the person concerned, tough, but that's
the real world.

Regards
Capitol