Good morning an update;
I received an email this morning informing me that my time off is classed as unpaid leave, I emailed back that I have received the email and read it.
Unison phoned me this morning, I explained my position and he said to contact escort team and to say:
I didn't agree to taking unpaid leave and expected to be paid for January, also, I did not receive any correspondence from them until this week ( a month had passed) to suggest unpaid leave would be required. He asked me to send him copies of the emails, which I have done.
He said HCC may not back down, so it's a waiting game now.
My Bg was 11.2 @ 10.30 !
Glad Unison are helping as you quite rightly said before that in the main a Union might not help you for anything that's been occurring before you join. I learnt that when I had a personality issue at a previous job and they were unable to help so therefore I joined up. A quick mention actually is that if you are unemployed at some stage Unison membership drops to I think £4 a year or something whilst you are unemployed so worth making a note of that.
What I would say though as a bit of advice is the Union will take a rather bullish standpoint on things which of course is understandable as it is their job. However if you like your job you may feel uncomfortable with some of the advice they give. For instance when I went to 3 days work from home last year Unison said I should have been paid my full contract rather than for 3 days whereas to keep things smooth I accepted the schools offer because a) I was working from home which I wanted at the time and b) I didn't see the point in rocking the boat. When it came to the school dragging their feet on the Risk Assessment I "did" get the Union more involved and whilst the school weren't over happy with this I had requested it myself several times.
My point is the Union is very black and white/right or wrong, but in my case anyway when there wasn't really much else anyone could do when I decided I to leave myself and the school were still on good terms that they want me to reapply once things are safe(r). They might well not have said that if I had gone with the Union every time. For me it's a case sometimes of taking the advice from the Union but a bit of give and take compromise between employee and employer is good. Obviously it's down to both sides so if the employers aren't playing ball then you have nothing to lose by going with all Union advise.
Certainly the Union are bang on expecting you to be paid for January but there may be situations in the future where you and the employer may decide on a private agreement that suits you both,.
In a nutshell don't feel you have to be bullied by either employer or Union.