Union Recruitment Failure

Now I understand why unions in this country are failing both in recruitment of new members and their political standing....

This is a classic example of not meeting customer/potential customer's needs. Bad marketing and bad business.

Here is the story of me trying to find a union for DH to join....more on that later - but if you have ever been bullied/discriminated against at work, we are now 'experts' at this. Hence the long silence from the blog, we have been too bogged down to blog!

OK here goes my rant:

Hmmm....if I were in trouble, I would think about seeking help from a body that has experience dealing with these matters - ie. a union. Now never having been in trouble, it would not occur to me to join a union. What with their public image of militancy and association with train strikes.

So when the situation arises that one needs the help of the union - the response one gets is rather incredulous.

''We are unable to assist with any matters pre-dating the membership application''.

From a purely marketing point of view - isn't that why people join a union?

From a business point of view - their rationale is that legal representation costs money so you have a be a member for more than 6 months before you can benefit. Now, since in the course of one's career, one does not expect to be bullied, harrased or discriminated, thus joining a union would not even cross one's mind...doesn't this mean that those who do join unions are more likely to seek legal representation thus use union resources? Self-selection policy it seems to me.

Now, if they introduced a higher joining/membership fee for people with existing issues who would now like to be part of a union, wouldn't that solve that particular problem and increase their members, thus their clout and coffers?

Furthermore, that new member who had been helped would feel compelled to spread the word about benefits of union membership. Thus increasing membership coffers even further. In fact, it could lead to a class action as it is rare for a company management to mistreat just one staff member.