Look I am quite happy to have a sensible debate but really if you cannot see the advantages of union membership to my mind it is absolutely and utterly beyond belief.
There are two types of person not in the union nowadays, those who through no fault of their own do not know or have been poisoned with anti union bile. That is not their fault and then there are the low lives anti union degenerates who rail against the unions because of their own vested self interest. Isolated, misguided and confused workers are far easier to exploit when they are not in a union. That applies to Building workers, factory workers and yes, us Taxi and Private Hire workers.
Unions whether they are trade, industry or general are reformist not revolutionary and I was working on the basis that we all want to see reforms that improve the industry.
Starting from the lowest point as far as unions are concerned we have what I refer to as trinket trade unionism where this that and the other special deals on cheaper mortgages etc are sold as the reason to belong. In general I vehemently disagree with promoting this type of issue to anything over and above a minor bolt on.
The issue is that with our branch it is different in that most of us are self employed workers, working under the direction of the company. Therefore some of the deals that Terry has achieved in relation to cost effective purchasing of vehicles, insurance and accountancy services are just like a union getting a wage rise in PAYE jobs.
In order of ascendancy next there is the legal issue. Before anyone points out that the law is not there to benefit working people that may be the case but we must use it to our maximum advantage. Christ knows how many outstanding tribunals we have, if we develop the legal work further and in conjunction with effective union organisation we will have trained stewards and the legal back up required to advise and in some cases represent members at court or in front of licensing authorities.
Then there is the political issues i.e. in London gaining access to the bus lanes for picking up and dropping of, the congestion charge exemption, our Southern branch could tell you about what is being done on a certain council to ensure the safety of the public by taking contracts away from those not fit and proper to run them and awarding them to those who are.
The national political scene is also vital and as you know only to well GMB will be meeting the Minister to talk about O licenses and chauffer hours.
There is the safety campaign and the campaign to deliver real basic skills training opportunities for our members.
None of this is as important as the backbone and heart that has been shown by a number of drivers this year, for example in Wolverhampton, when drivers came out on strike to improve conditions.
You cannot blame the union people on this site if the anti union brigade vomit their bile and then run away leaving a kid to argue for them.
You know this is the case and you know that this union (which incidentally is its members) could help transform this industry for the better so there are no excuses from now on.
Taxi's I am sorry if I hurt your feelings son, you’ve got heart and backbone and if we sorted out how everyone who is genuine in this trade could go forward as one, your ideas could really start going places and improving things.
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