brightonbreezy wrote:
Brummie Cabbie wrote:
captain cab wrote:
brightonbreezy wrote:
brightonbreezy wrote:
Our GMB PDB web site is in the process of being built. We hope you enjoy.
http://www.gmbpdb.org.ukVALUE FOR MONEY AT 40 PENCE A DAY
30p too much and too little knowledge
CC
That's a
300% INCREASE on the NTA Individual Membership Fee!!!
Hello BC,
What you have to considor here is what kind of organisation do you want to join? With the greatest respect to the NTA (Wayne Especially) The GMB with its structure of full time officers, its legal department, it's financial resources to support its membership, its access to politicions and the member benifits it offers, or a smaller organisation such as the NTA which may or may not accept individual membership.
The choice is yours!
Regards
BB
Thanks for that Mr Brightonbreezy.
You see, I know who the National Taxi Association represents. It represents taxi drivers & proprietors, or to be far more specific, Hackney Carriage Drivers & Hackney Carriage Proprietors.
Now I didn’t know much about the GMB or their history for that matter. But after you’re post above, (no I tell a lie, it was before my post actually, . . . sucking in springs to mind), I did a little research.
And what I found out about the GMB was a little alarming;
The GMB originates from a merger of the National Amalgamated Union of Labour, National Union of General Workers and the Municipal Employees Association in 1924, named the National Union of General and Municipal Workers.
The union merged with many others including, but not exhaustively, the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX), the Furniture, Timber and Allied Trades Union and the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers.
In 1982, following a merger with the Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers, Shipwrights, Blacksmiths and Structural Workers, the union was renamed the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union, from the initials of which its present name is derived.
That is a very brief history of the GMB.
Now let’s just list a few of the trades that the GMB purports to represent;
Labourers, general workers, municipal employees, professional staff, executive staff, clerical staff, computer staff, furniture workers, timber workers, workers allied to the previous two worker groups, tailors, garment workers, boilermakers, shipwrights, blacksmiths, structural workers, etc, etc. And that’s not taking into account the other unspecified trades which the unions that merged used to represent exclusively.
And if that list is further expanded using the above categories it is fair to assume that the GMB could purport to represent, but not exhaustively; farm workers, hod-carriers, mortar mixer operatives, sweepers, waste operatives (both manual & automated), white collar workers, blue collar workers, managers, clerks, secretaries, bookkeepers, record keepers, administrators, IT software programmers & operatives, cabinet makers, sofa makers, sawmill workers, kitchen makers, kitchen fitters, carpenters, locksmiths, seamstresses, milliners, hatters, bra makers, basque, suspenders & corset makers, panty & thong makers, suit & shirt makers, tie makers, boilermakers, welders, tube fitters, ship’s husbands, ship’s carpenters, forgers, wrought iron workers, welders, scaffold erectors, structural steel erectors, etc., etc. Oh, I forgot. And taxi drivers & private hire drivers.
So, it can be very safely assumed that the GMB is a ‘general’ union purporting to represent an amalgamation, mixture, fusion or blending of different workers in a multitude of trades & professions. And the question has to be asked;
What kind of Mélange Union is the GMB?
Many years ago, it was chic for menus in the best restaurants to be extensive; the bigger the menu the better the restaurant, or so the fashion gurus & food critics would have you believe in those days gone by. Now the thinking has changed to the contrary & small menus with a choice of perhaps only five or six dishes per course is the new vogue for the top restaurants. The thinking behind this is that the chef can concentrate on getting five or six dishes prepared perfectly, rather than attempting to try to produce twenty or thirty dishes to a standard that was invariably less than his best.
It is my view that the chefs at the GMB have a far too diverging menu with concerns for divarication, whereas the NTA chefs’ menu is a much more focused & riveting one.
In 2008 GMB Congress voted to withdraw local funding from around a third of the 108 Labour MPs whose constituencies received support from the union, due to the perception that some MPs within the party were treating workers with "contempt" and generally not working in the interests of the working class and union members.
Now if I were a member of the GMB, (and there is about as much chance of that as there is of me knitting fog), what would happen if you were to represent me or any other member in a area where the GMB had withdrawn funding from the local MP & the GMB needed his / her help on a particular issue. I don’t think that the ex-brother / ex-sister that was previously a funded brother / sister would be very forthcoming with the help that would or might be required. In effect, your GMB union, have in one foul swoop reduced their political presence & pressure in these 108 MP’s constituencies. Shotgun & foot come to mind!!
And last but by no means least,
the GMB are sponsors of Woking Football Club!!
Need I say any more!!! Yes I need; is it because Woking is as near as you can get to Working in terms of football club names?
And besides, I’m a Carlisle United fan!!
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