On Wed, 21 Feb 2018 15:13:03 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

snip

When working for BT on bench electronics repair I was taken aside by
the union rep and asked to slow down.

Care to say which year this was?

Erm, 5 years in the late 70's or so?

I did wonder since BT is a very different company now.

Oh, I'm sure it is. Then it was a civil service style 'job for life'
and I'm sure liberties were taken all over the place (stories of
several BT vans parked up for a long breakfast or lunch etc).

However, where I was in 'PO Factories' it was very different in that
you were (generally) under supervision and had to do your bit. That
said, I bet there were a few who had been there for ever and where a
blind eye was turned, as long as they got the job done.

But thanks for
giving an example which does rather show that many base union experiences
on 40 plus years ago. ;-)

Whilst it was probably fairly typical in that is was 'unionised', the
union didn't seem to be anything like as 'involved', especially on a
day-to-day basis compared with other organisations.

I understood it though ... different people worked at different speeds
and they had to agree a time for a batch of units that were actually
achievable by 'most people'. If you weren't able to hit their (union)
agreed targets mean you also got a talking to.

Not quite sure why you included (union) there as it's rather irrelevant.

Because it was effectively the union that set the pace in that case?

Such targets could equally as well just have been agreed with the
workforce.

True, except in my case they weren't.

But a union means the workers elect their spokesmen/negotiators
for such things. Making things rather easier for both the workforce and
management. In a well run company.

Yup, as I mentioned, I felt the union was there for us but not
unnecessarily so.

Cheers, T i m