Fellow Nurses: RCN ...
 

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[Closed] Fellow Nurses: RCN or Unison?

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Posts: 12
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Thinking of changing from the RCN who I have been with since I was a student and just stayed with on qualifying. Just wondering who other people are with and the pros/cons of the two.


 
Posted : 22/11/2014 11:22 am
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Must keep eye on this, same boat RCN since 1996 as student and never really looked at it until recently. Their change to indemnity insurance terms really peeving me as possibly not cover me in some OH roles.
Been considering Unison


 
Posted : 22/11/2014 12:53 pm
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Topic starter
 

To add, I work in secondary care for an NHS trust, so the RCN's lack of indemnity cover isn't such an issue.


 
Posted : 22/11/2014 4:34 pm
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If you care about that sort of thing unison are a bit more 'campaigny' whereas ime rcn have often been the first union to cave in over things affecting nurses.
You could also consider gmb and unite, who certainly 'do' qualified nurses where i work.
But what i would really do is have a look at who your local staff-sid reps are and work from that -for me the biggest reason to stay with unison (apart from a purple tabard being clearly the best colour for me on the picket line 😉 ) is that the 2 reps nearest my department are really solid but not 'over-the-top zealot' people to have fighting your corner should it ever come to that.


 
Posted : 22/11/2014 8:33 pm
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Cheer Julian, I'll ask around and see who the reps are.


 
Posted : 23/11/2014 7:35 am
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I have the same problem and am between Unison and GMB. Both seem to slag each other off in a very 'ununited' fashion, primarily re levels of legal representation should it be needed and in how much influence they claim to have.

GMB are about £70 a year cheaper for my pay scale, which I can only assume is because they use 4 instead of 5 star hotels for their [s]jollies[/s] conferences/meetings!


 
Posted : 23/11/2014 8:59 am
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RCN here. Have been since 2008. Same goes for my mum Think the majority on our ward are Rcn also.


 
Posted : 23/11/2014 11:03 am
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I am Unison. Wife is RCN. Not much between them but Unison seem to be more proactive in supporting members in the workplace. Unison where spot on when i needed them following an assault while on duty a few years ago.


 
Posted : 23/11/2014 4:27 pm
 Drac
Posts: 50470
 

Woody go with Unions trust me you'll be thankful you did if you ever need them.


 
Posted : 23/11/2014 5:47 pm