To ballot or not to ballot?

A hat tip to Darren (who should get his own blog!) for pointing out to me this story about how the RMT deal with privatised employers.

The RMT have a track record of getting good deals - and gaining members because they don't worry about whether they have exhausted internal procedures before they ballot for action.

This lunchtime I attended the largest Branch Committee meeting I have been at for a couple of years - called at short notice and attended in our lunch time so that we could endorse a request for a ballot for industrial action against the threat of redundancies.

That ballot request is eminently reasonable and based upon a sound approach to trying to win the best deal for our members. If our Regional Office is on board for UNISON's robust response to the economic crisis then we will be given the ballot we have asked for.

There is no law, and no UNISON policy, which says that you should exhaust procedures before balloting for action. Should occasional readers of this blog (Sid and Doris Congress-House) think that there is such a requirement then the comment box on this blog is open (as it may not be elsewhere).

Update on Friday morning - welcoming Darren to the blogosphere.