Hi Simon

I’ve lost count of the number of very distressed people embroiled in employment problems who sorely need the kind of support a trade union is able to provide but are on their own and can’t get it, because obviously most unions won’t represent new members in disputes that arose before they joined.

Personally, too, for most of my professional career I’ve been a union member and, without going into detail, my life would probably have been very different and far far worse if I hadn’t been.

So, your decision it has to be, but my advice for what it’s worth would be to get one joined. All the more so, given present, turbulent, times.

A few of us here in the past have suggested that CIPD themselves might look at providing more help to members facing personal employment difficulties, but sadly they don’t seem too interested in the idea.

Unless there’s one appropriate to your particular workplace, have a look at eg Prospect. https://prospect.org.uk/join/

PS

May be worth mentioning that many domestic insurance policies now throw in or offer optional legal claim insurance, which covers employment disputes. These sometimes can help too if for any reason you aren’t able to access trade union support, but they tend to vary greatly in terms of utility and accessibility. So do trade unions of course, but not anything like as much provided you join an appropriate one etc.

There are very few down sides to being a union member. The only time is would really get awkward would be if the union was in a full-blown dispute with the employer and called for a walk-out. Given HR's role in managing the fall-out from such events it can set up an additional conflict when members of the HR team are participating in the walk-out! On the one hand, that would be the employer's problem. On the other, it can undermine the trust of management in HR.

In such circumstances, it might be necessary to resign your membership until the dispute is resolved. Whether a union would accept you back under those circumstances is something you'd need to discuss with them.

In reply to Robey:

In the past I've found myself having to wear two hats eg negotiating / in disputes with the same trade union I was in membership of. Although it involved a bit of soul-searching sometimes, it was never any great problem and everyone in the union involved were fully aware of potential conflicts and totally supportive in avoiding them

The TUC has a union finder search and here is the link:
findyourunion.tuc.org.uk