In article , Dave Plowman (News)
writes
In article ,
David wrote:
Did you stand for office to sort out the union you belonged to but didn't
like the way it operated? Attended *all* union meetings - not just the
summoned ones?

No, I didn't stand for office but have been active outside of unions all
my working life, I refuse to be part of a block vote (if you discount
political elections) I never attended the smaller meetings because I
didn't want to be part of something I didn't like the look of so it was
the mass meetings I had direct experience of.

Right. So basically you just don't like unions or the idea of them. Best
to just state that rather than embellishing things.

The fact that I don't like unions should have been obvious from my
posts, sorry to have not stated the obvious, I believe in union type
activity but not in the festering stinking mess that unions became

Do you have trouble believing that there was militant union activity in
the car industry? do you not believe that union "stewards" are capable
of bullying, cajoling, intimidating members who don't offer their full
support (the recent removal of the elderly chap at the Labour Conference
is a mild throwback to the old days)

Yes I do have trouble believing it. And certainly just don't believe the
press on how widespread it was. Or the Tory party. Thatcher brought in
secret ballots thinking it would make industrial action far less likely -
and she was proved totally wrong. Which means bullying - if any - made
absolutely no difference.

How widespread it was, I don't know, I am talking about my own
experience which is what most of us base our opinions on, I have
experience of one particular car plant.

You are missing the point here, either deliberately or ignorantly,
secret balloting wouldn't have made any difference as its the majority
who would have voted the same way secret or otherwise, its not the
majority that were bullied.

I have trouble believing that you have no knowledge of any union
militant activity unless you mean only direct knowledge, its possible
that the unions you have belonged to do not a have a militant history in
which case you can only judge on the experiences of others.

It sounds like you have had a good recent experience of union
involvement, good for you, not all unions are as good and it wasn't
always like that.

I've been a union member since the early '60s. Three unions (at different
times) Been to TUC. Talked to many from other unions too. You?

Apart from the dallying in my early days I have never been in a union,
again my early experience made me want to stay out of one.
--
David