Join a Union
The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) urges all our supporters to join a Trade Union today.
The Miners’ Strike of 1984/5 was one of the Conservative Government’s many attempts to break the Trade Union Movement. They thought if they could defeat the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) then all the other unions would not dare to fight back. Along with attacks on working conditions we saw an ideological attack on our nationalised industries and Welfare State. On top of all this we saw an unprecedented amount of legislation aimed at making the ways unions organise more difficult. They didn’t succeed and the Trade Union Movement is still here and organising for workers rights across Britain.
More than 6.6 million people are in a union and numbers are growing – from nurses to retail workers to lorry drivers to airline pilots. Unions help workers get together, stop people being treated unfairly and get a better deal from their employers.
Important issues to note about joining a union:
- You have a legal right to join a union. It’s illegal for an employer to disadvantage you because you are a union member.
- Some unions may have restrictions on who can join. This is usually because they represent people in specialist jobs.
- Generally unions can’t help people with a problem that happened before they joined the union.
Further information to help you decide about joining a union.
https://www.tuc.org.uk/join-a-union
https://www.tuc.org.uk/why-join-union
For those not in employment who want to organise for a fairer society you can Join UNITE Community here:
More about Trade Unions here:
www.tuc.org.uk