Costumed Historical Interpretation can be covered by Equity (which has a very useful Public Liability insurance policy as well as legal assistance if needed) I am.also a member of BECTU who cover one of the main sites I work at - I understand that Public &
Commercial Services Union and GMB also represent staff in this sector and have been vocal about the jobs cuts being undertaken at HRP at present.
Union membership is even more necessary now as there are likely to be job cuts due to falling visitor numbers (not helped in London by extending the Congestion Charge to weekends and hiking the rate to £15 a day when people are still wary of using public transport!)
I completely agree with Tony that this shouldn’t have to be a topic of discussion and with you, Nicola, that Union membership is important for the whole sector, especially now.
The reality is that some of us have always been actively discouraged from joining a Union or if things are good in our employment haven’t seen a need to join and others may not know who the best Union for them might be.
My personal experience is that I’m with Prospect because they’re the ones that my current employer recognises, I was previously in a small independent museum that didn’t have a recognised Union and I didn’t join one because a) I didn’t know which one to
join and b) some of the trustees at the time were actively vocal against Unions.
Thank you Louise for providing a little guidance to start the conversation and helping us to start thinking about which Union is the best one for us all individually so that our voices can be represented at all levels and areas of the sector.
Best wishes
Melissa
Sent from my iPhone
Union membership is needed not just in museums, but in the wider heritage sector too.
Best wishes
Nicola
In an increasingly precarious sector such as ours, joining a union should be one of the first things to get sorted when in a new post. I'm surprised it even has to be a topic for discussion. Some people think unions don't do much but they do a lot of work behind
the scenes, and when you need them they will support you (unless you don't join one!!). Prospect https://prospect.org.uk/ Public & Commercial Services Union (PCS) https://www.pcs.org.uk/ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + GEM list: Contact the list owner
for assistance at
[log in to unmask] Anyone can join for free at any time by sending this message to
[log in to unmask]: Join GEM Firstname Secondname Include only the text above, without email signature etc. The title of the email doesn’t matter.
Send it to
[log in to unmask] If you are going on holiday or have an out of office message for some other reason, you can send this message: Set GEM nomail When you get back: Set GEM mail You don’t 'miss' any messages by doing this as they are all available
via main GEM list web page as above. Finally, if you need to change your email address, but stay subscribed to GEM, just send your new email address like this: CHANGE GEM
[log in to unmask] + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + GEM list: Contact the list owner for assistance at
[log in to unmask] Anyone can join for free at any time by sending this message to
[log in to unmask]: Join GEM Firstname Secondname Include only the text
above, without email signature etc. The title of the email doesn’t matter. Send it to
[log in to unmask] If you are going on holiday or have an out of office message for some other reason, you can send this message: Set GEM nomail When you get back: Set
GEM mail You don’t 'miss' any messages by doing this as they are all available via main GEM list web page as above. Finally, if you need to change your email address, but stay subscribed to GEM, just send your new email address like this: CHANGE GEM
[log in to unmask]
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + GEM list: Contact the list owner for assistance at
[log in to unmask] Anyone can join for free at any time by sending this message to
[log in to unmask]: Join GEM Firstname Secondname Include only the text
above, without email signature etc. The title of the email doesn’t matter. Send it to
[log in to unmask] If you are going on holiday or have an out of office message for some other reason, you can send this message: Set GEM nomail When you get back: Set
GEM mail You don’t 'miss' any messages by doing this as they are all available via main GEM list web page as above. Finally, if you need to change your email address, but stay subscribed to GEM, just send your new email address like this: CHANGE GEM
[log in to unmask]
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +