Taxpayers Pick Up £68M Bill For Thousands Of Union Reps

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8815280/Taxpayers-pick-up-68m-bill-for-thousands-of-union-reps.html

Unions insist that the practice – known as "facility time" – actually saves far more money than it costs because paid-for union representatives help to resolve worker disputes before they escalate.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal today:

* The Metropolitan Police alone pays for 33 full-time representatives of the Police Federation and trade unions at a cost of more than £2 million;

* Labour-controlled Sheffield Council spends more than half a million pounds on the salaries of 18 members of staff who carry out only union work;

* HM Revenue & Customs spends £5.5 million funding the part-time trade union activities of 2,044 employees;

* The Crown Prosecution Service funds 10 full-time staff and 213 part-time workers for union duties costing the taxpayer £726,000;

Just a few examples here more at the link.

Sheffield council must have the fewest disputes of all the savings must be immense for £0.5m of wages to be paid out.

Although the article fails to list the savings made by the unions in return for this money, which of course may or may not really exist.

[Kurt Barlow]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8815280/Taxpayers-pick-up-68m-bill-for-thousands-of-union-reps.html

Just a few examples here more at the link.

Sheffield council must have the fewest disputes of all the savings must be immense for £0.5m of wages to be paid out.

Although the article fails to list the savings made by the unions in return for this money, which of course may or may not really exist.

Decent Union reps help save a lot of money by heading off problems at the pass before they reach the Tribunal stage.

Secondly it is often far more cost effective in large organisations to have a few full time secondees to the Union Rep role than lots of individuals taking time off (which they are legally entitled to)

Edited October 9, 2011 by Kurt Barlow

[Si1]

Decent Union reps help save a lot of money by heading off problems at the pass before they reach the Tribunal stage.

Secondly it is often far more cost effective in large organisations to have a few full time secondees to the Union Rep role than lots of individuals taking time off (which they are legally entitled to)

yep, I was thinking that a degree of paid union representation is healthy for any organisation to smooth staff/employer relationships, so you would expect SOME money to go on this, and per public sector employee, this figure doesn't seem that high;

[jaynewcastle]

"Attacking trade union facility time is just plain daft. Far from costing taxpayers money trade unions save the public purse between £170m and £400m every year by creating a more efficient, motivated workforce, and resolving issues. A government report estimates they also boost productivity by nearly £4 billion a year.

Another part of the same article the OP has not posted, probably because it makes it seem like having Union officials involved within the workforce a good idea ?.

The original article makes it sounds like this was somehow a deeply buried secret that they have discovered & brought to the publics attention !! ha ha

[Stainless Sam]

they should do degrees in public sctor unionism.at the moment I cant see how lefty lecturers are getting their share of the free money on this.

Personally,i think it's a disgrace but then who are we little people to get between tony woodley and his pay out.

I spent 20 years across the table from the people you are berating. The benefit was enormous.

These were people who headed off the minor whinges and minutiae and could be relied upon to deliver what they had agreed. They could also temper the influence of any national officials who had a political agenda to serve. Managers could concentrate on managing, not on distractions.

The unspoken understanding was that if they ceased to be value for money they would return to the shop floor and end up pushing a brush. Several did.

We paid for and supported their education. Not the lefty lectuerer input that you imagine from some 70's sitcom, but things like employment law, negotiating skills and conflict resolution. We also gave them financial skills so that they could understand what they were being told and could ask sensible questions of the Board twice a year.

The very best of them sometimes switched sides and became shift managers, managers, or in one case even went to HR. Their brothers from the trenches were either too incompetent or too weak to negotiate and deliver useful stuff or else were so mental that they wanted to bring on the revolution.

If we had such an arrangement widely in place in the 70's and 80's (as was the case in Germany) it might not have brought on the climate where Thatcher had a good idea to destroy our manufacturing base and put us at the mercy of her financier chums..

But at that time, we had people with your sort of attitude running the show and the die was cast.

[wonderpup]

68 million is chickenfeed- for the real gouging you need to be an investment bank. Round two of the bailouts is due soon- it's nearly bonus time again.