I'm looking for advice on which union to join for a small company employee in a niche industry.
I am design engineer for a small company of just 15 people and up until October last year I was very happy with my job but things have changed. The situation is like Blackadder the 2nd where everybody is terrified of the eccentric Queen Elizabeth. The owner of the company is a nice person but very demanding, constantly changes her mind without letting anyone know and will not commit to written communication, the staff find things out through whispers a lot, we found out we have a new executive director last month from a Linkedin post.
The envelope has been pushed big time in the last year, at first I did not notice but my job has slowly changed from design into a technical manager. The directors have decided to sub-contract our manufacturing to an Indian company who are hopeless, our UK manufacturer found out about this through social media and since the quality of their work has dropped and the relationship has been difficult. The Indians will not be ready for a long time yet and I have spent a lot of time dealing with them and dealing with an unhappy UK manufacturer who know they are losing our contract.
Things have got worse lately as one of the two ladies who share the ops manager job has been off sick since mid March after being blamed for something where she was just following the orders of the directors, and all but four staff have been furloughed. Those who have been retained are being pushed by stressed out directors.
In mid March some prototypes which I had been working on for over a year were finally finished. Having seen them the owner wants changes, which was expected and I'm fine with. In late March on a Zoom call with the owner, new director and two partner comapanies we are working on new products with, I was asked to manage the project and I couldn't really say no.
I am getting grief for not "driving" the project but I have not been briefed on what she wants, and she does not seem to undestand that industry had ground to a halt. Our manufacturer are closed and I cannot get updates on other prototypes they are working on. One of the partner companies is working as normal, one cannot do anything as they are waiting for electrical components from China and cannot get a response from their suppliers.
Last week I sent an email explaining the above and that I am not a technical manager or project manager, it would be a perfect time for design but in 3 weeks I have not been briefed. I have asked for management training too. Following this I had a Zoom call with the owner and she said I had insulted her, after a long conversation she has come round a bit, but nothing in writing.
I am nervous about my job and I will be looking for another when possible but in the meanwhile I think having a Union I can speak to can't hurt. I am unsure if I keep this quiet or to ask my employer to deduct subs at source. Can anyone recommend a union for someone in a small company like mine, I'm in Kent if that matters
Thanks
I think it sounds like a bit of expectation management is in order. I’d consider starting to send in a weekly PSR (project status report) so she can see progress, blockers etc and therefore you’ll not surprise her. I’d also prepare a RAID and run her through it at a meeting. You may not be a PM but in a small firm you have to be adaptable, very little of this stuff is rocket science you’ll just need to adapt.
The TUC has a "Union Finder" tool.
https://www.tuc.org.uk/join-union
Although IME a lot of what they do is collective bargaining on behalf of groups of employees, or represent groups of employees in redundancy processes and takeovers. I'm not sure that would apply so much as you'd likely be the only member.
It also relies on having an employer who is willing to constructively engage with the union. It doesn't sound like that would apply for you either.
I guess you're looking for advice on employment law and stuff like that which is fair enough.
I'm not really sure how being a member of union will really help you here as a lot of this simply appears to be about communication rather than employment - sadly, there's nothing in law about being rubbish at running a business.
Small businesses are all about the need to be flexible and adaptable - be careful about not showing willingness to get things done as if you get into warnings and disciplinaries, you could find yourself coming worse off.
There's plenty of stuff online about basic project management. Having a basic plan with key milestones, dates, dependencies and risks will help focus discussions on facts.
If it really is that bad, then cut your losses and see if you can find another job - it'll be a lot less hassle.
Can anyone recommend a union for someone in a small company like mine,
What do you think a Union is going to do for you? At best they’ll provide some legal representation if it all goes Pete tong but they won’t be collective bargaining in a small company, and whilst it may be wrong publically joining a union in such a small company in difficult times probably send a “difficult employee” message to a struggling manager... sub-consciously you’ll be giving her more reasons to attack you not less.
The behaviour you describe is quite common among company owners who are struggling, have to deal with other directors or shareholders who are pricks and staff who as the company has grown have found themselves in roles which don’t really suit their competence. The only thing worse than someone incompetent doing a role is someone incompetent not doing the role because they think someone else should be. If that’s the way your mind works - go find a job in a big company where everyone has strictly defined job descriptions and role drift is rare.
With poor leadership, in this crisis your company may well fail. In many (but not all) industries recruitment has vanished and if you are in a job and not furloughed you are pretty lucky - so you owe it to yourself and the company and the rest of the staff who are furloughed to try and keep afloat. Lead from within: If your boss won’t write it down, you can write it down - she’s probably quite busy and likely has no idea what you think the brief should include that she hasn’t told you; if she still thinks offshoring is a great idea, highlight to her the risks in the current situation (this is months not weeks) and work with the uk manuf to show how they mitigate those risks and if they stop being petulant they can come out of this better. If this has all suddenly become worse since WFH started ask yourself, if it might be a factor rather than a symptom. Ideally your manager would be a natural at remote working and instilling in you different disciplines, tools and styles of working - in reality I suspect she’s desperately trying to make sure there is enough money in the bank account to pay your salary, whilst a million people all send her emails, zoom meeting invites etc. Try just calling her. And remember to ask her his she is doing in all this; you can manage her too.