Quote:
Originally Posted by RichardCoulter
The Conservative Government introduced legal limitations to "Flying Pickets" in the early 1980's.
The VM management team would not go out to deliberately antagonise the workforce- it just wouldn't make sense from any perspective.
Having said that, I do know of a factory owner who instigated a strike whilst trade was very quiet. It was "resolved" just as trade picked up and he had saved a fortune in wages, by not paying people to do nothing!
The situation is completely different in the case of VM.
What alternative unions are there to the CWU?
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bectu
Virgin Media anti-union move hits BECTU members
26 November 2012
Roughly 30 members of BECTU working for Virgin Media have been caught up in union de-recognition bid.
Virgin management gave notice last week that the Communications Workers' Union, the company's largest, would no longer be recognised for bargaining purposes.
It is now clear that the de-recognition move also applies to BECTU, whose members in Virgin Media originated in NTL, which was merged into the company in 2006.
Virgin announced that it was no longer planning to bargain with the two unions after a ballot of staff, including many who were not covered by the agreements between the company, CWU, and BECTU.
Officials in both unions have condemned the move, which is believed to have been coordinated by union-busting specialists hired in from an American consultancy.
No access to staff was allowed to CWU or BECTU while the ballot took place, and reports from members indicate that they were put under severe pressure to vote against continued union recognition.
Despite the unequal nature of the ballot, only 52% of the participating staff voted against a union presence in their workplace, suggesting that a significant proportion of the workforce still want independent representation.
While the two unions prepare strategies to regain recognition, staff at the company will be allowed to take part in an in-house staff forum, which will not, however, bargain over pay and conditions.
Spencer MacDonald, BECTU's Supervisory Official covering Virgin, said: "This is a backward step for staff at Virgin, and I'm baffled that the company would want to destroy a productive and functioning relationship with us.
"Virgin staff will now have no independent representation at work, and on a range of issues like pay and working conditions they will be at the mercy of management. BECTU will be working with the CWU to win back the basic rights of our members in the company"
http://www.bectu.org.uk/news/1726