D-Day approaches, wish me luck :-(

[Halfmad]

Well I just found out that the guys in central IT have been hit badly too, with some of them it's justified I guess but others it's definately not. Server specialist, bloody good at his job is losing £9,110. What's really mad is that the council probably spent that much last year training him and now he can walk!

 

madness! but it's nice in some way to know I'm not the only one!

[MkII]

A note about abruptly joining a union,

 

Most if not all will not handle an existing issue at point of joining

Most if not all will be extremely leery of anything major in the 1st 3-months

 

They are not being unreasonable, it can cost a fair bit to defend somebody and they are not just there for your bad times, they are supposed to be there for everybody.

 

The best advice is to join a union off-bat, from personal experience it’s a wise investment in personal legal protection - unless you are labouring under some illusion the school/LEA will bail you out if things go pear-shaped.

 

My advice - Go and talk to a professional - IE a solicitor, most run a fixed fee interview and can advise you of your position. This charge is around £50 - £100 depending on solicitors. If you can't afford it - go to a citizen’s advice centre. With the best will in the world, everybody else is nothing more than a well meaning amateur.

 

Unison have a 13 week rule.

 

All this means is that you're not eligable for legal support until after 13 weeks membership for the reasons Firefly states above - it just wouldn't be fair on long term members paying for people with no intention of paying their share.

 

Otherwise you're entitled to full support from the union besides legal support, immediately your membership commences.

[aesop]

guess who halfmad

 

well bods, i'm one off the printer monkeys mentioned earlier in this thread from central IT (not by choice, happened through an assimilation process a few years back, many off us went in there kicking and screaming)

 

of course i'm so happy they have finally got round to reducing our salary to complement the few years deskilling they thrust upon us. dead thoughtful really.

 

and its nice that they threw the server/comms/unix bods in with us, we all need a bit of group empathy in times like this.

 

conserving or increasing the middle management saleries was also the way to go. to be honest, how important is the tech side of IT really?

 

i better go, think i hear a printer jamming in the distance.. one down four to go..

[Halfmad]

*hands him a banana*

 

Good little monkeychimpboy!