[iSteve]

CWU is the most appropriate union for the communications industry and also by no means a 'tame' beast - when threatened they bite back.

They will also provide all members with representation and will provide FULL training and support to anyone interested in becoming a rep. They have TWO dedicated training colleges in the UK and a number of events held around the country.

As a member you will be entitled to go on many of these courses, they will provide FREE transportation, FREE lodging, FREE food and FREE advice. They have severals courses on being a rep (basic, intermediate & advanced), employment law (basic, intermediate and advanced), redundancy law, organising a union, and many more.

What's more, where the employer does NOT recognise a union (such as in NTL) and refuses you paid leave, you can take unpaid leave from NTL to take the course - protecting your holiday entitlement - and the union will COMPENSATE you for the lost pay.

I was a member for a few years while in NTL. They appointed me to the local committee so I would have direct access to my local officers, who educated me on unions and told me what I needed to know on starting and building up a union, and also paid for/sent me on a youth education course last year, and have always backed me 200%.

CWU have recognition in engineering grades within Telewest and I believe this has carried over onto relevant NTL grades after the merger.

The key to a strong workforce is ORGANISATION. Join the union, get familiar with how a successful organised union works, get all your colleagues to join and do the same. Once you know how 'the game is played' you will be in a much stronger position to know how to fight back, how to anticipate the company's next move and the best way of fighting that, and so on.

BECTU is only brought up because they had recogntion within NTL Broadcast. This in itself was simply a carry-over from the fact National Transcommunications Ltd, an old broadcasting company (what we knew as NTL Broadcast) was acquired by CableTel (what we think of as NTL now), at and AT THAT TIME this acquired company already HAD union recognition with BECTU. When CableTel renamed the whole shebang as 'NTL' this didn't mean BECTU had recognition spread across the company. And now, NTL Broadcast has now been sold off again, and no longer part of NTL.

Therefore BECTU for all intents and purposes are irrelevant to NTL again, except for where they have made already have built up members. However BECTU is a very SMALL union and does not have the strength to make a big difference in a company like NTL.

While I was part of the CWU, BECTU were considered something of a pain as they would interfere in CWU organising campaigns, jumping into bed with NTL management whenever we were building numbers within an NTL office. BECTU did not respect that we were 'present' at these offices and therefore, as they should, leave it to us to sort out - they pushed us aside to sign a deal with NTL instead.

This did not stop the CWU informing me of BECTU's activities within NTL when I joined, and asking if I'd prefer to sign up with them instead. (As the CWU prefers to play by the rules). I said no, and I'm glad I did. I now know that the CWU has the network of some 300 local branches nationwide and the contacts/knowledgebase you'll need, BECTU probably won't have a local base to you within 200 miles and so you'll feel like you're on your own with no-one within local distance to help you when you need it.

My advice - join the CWU, and email/ask to meet with your local branch officers - explain you're in NTL and that you want to organise a union - ask if you can join the local branch at the next AGM elections as I did - that will get you 'in' and from there it will be easier to stay 'connected' to the rest of the union, and you can represent your workforce inside the union. Then ask to go on courses so you can find out all you need to know to be a good rep.

If you do NOTHING and people do NOT get themselves organised, NTL engineering WILL be outsourced. If you can pull off a miracle and get the engineering workforce organised and signed up YESTERDAY, there's still time to kick up a fuss and show a determined, united front against this plan.

Good luck

---------- Post added at 10:10 ---------- Previous post was at 09:43 ----------

Also, this is an important related news item from the CWU's own website on what they are doing for the NTL/Telewest engineers:

Originally Posted by http://www.cwu.org/news.asp?step=3&nid=1372

News

19 May 2006

NTL/Telewest: The Future of Installations

In March of this year, the Union approached Telewest as to what were the plans on assimilation of the two operations. The Union took this course of action as it was clear that in the company had two distinct operational models, one predominately in-house, the other the outsourcing route.

Senior management admitted that in reviewing the two operations, they discovered a marked cost difference, with the in-house being substantially more expensive and that this had the attention of the Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer of the company. It was forcing them to consider the outsourcing option; in response the union stated that the workforce representatives should be given the chance to examine the processes and costs, the objective being to close the gap in terms of cost. Management also accepted that unionââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s claim that the cost of quality was lower in-house, but in response they doubted that this would narrow the gap completely.

The outcome was a small team of union reps from Install and one service rep and employee forum representatives looked at the costs with the objective of throwing up ideas which would produce cost savings and provide the basis of retaining an element of in-house operations. Regrettably whilst the group worked hard, providing areas to look at, these have not lead to cost reductions of any significance according to the company.

Management have now decided to move from the informal to the formal decision making and consultation process. At this stage contrary to the spin or incompetence of local managers no decision has been taken on TUPE and outsourcing, what the company has moved to, is a position of formally announcing that if the issue of costs is not addressed, then they will proceed to the formal and final decisions to outsource. [emphasis is CWU's not mine] I draw your attention to the fourth paragraph of their internal announcement which is clear that this is not their final position.

The union will now move to the stage to consulting with the Install reps with a view to forming a team to deal with the discussions and to formulate the unionââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s policy.

We are naturally very unhappy and disappointed with the situation; our in-house members do provide a higher quality service. The union will be working very hard to retain an in-house operation and if unsuccessful to ensure the highest amount of TUPE protection for our members going forward.

Please note: CWU only have recognition in engineers grades, hence why they are only able to address issues and negotiate for these grades. CWU are unable to negotiate on behalf of other units due to lack of recognition (i.e. lack of members).