My reply may come over a bit ***ist but it reflects what was happening at the time. The Civil Service (certainly in the Home Office) was then made up largely of middle-aged blokes who joined after the war who were mainly conservative Conservatives who wouldn’t touch the union with a barge-pole and women doing clerical work (kids gone, husband also working) who also wouldn’t join a union because they weren’t really bothered. This was the late 70s so think Life on Mars. Mortgage rates were going through the roof. Our union was, as I said, toothless. They’d put up some opposition to a pay offer then the Department imposed it and the union shut up. They made the offers by looking at pay increases elsewhere, dividing them into four based on percentage increases then make ours based on somewhere around three-quarters the way down the list. In other words way below average and we were falling behind year on year. So when the kids came along and things got tight I left.Quote:
Originally Posted by chaincey.ncfc
I always said that our strikes should have been more targeted. Instead of “all out” it should have been “all out” in areas of most damage. In other words shut the borders and the prison gates instead of faffing about with folk from HR and the like. Nobody listened to a simple member like me though.
