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hire operators are reported to be active around our market asking traders to join up to the
National Union of Workers. They state that their intent is to gain guarantees
for the future of traders. On the surface of it, any measure that eases the
uncertainty of renewal and helps our market is worth looking at. But is yet
another interest group going to achieve that and is this the right one?
We
have written recently on these pages about interference from outside groups
like Friends of the Market ( http://www.victraders.com/2016/05/leave-our-market-alone.html ) . That article suggested that true friends would be
better off supporting our market by continuing to buy our produced rather than
interfering in matters that are best left to traders. The same might apply to
union membership.
The
National Union of Workers was formed back in 1989 when unions were amalgamating
into national bodies and included the old Storemen & Packers Union amongst
others. They were heavily aligned to the food and grocery industry but have
since broadened their involvement into areas like general warehousing,
pharmaceutical manufacturing, market research and merchandising and sales
representatives. Their wiki entry makes no reference to retailers although, in
a progressive move, they do have what is called "community membership"
which presumably caters to any interested party.
Traders
may need to decide if membership of a union is compatible with small business
entrepreneurs. Perhaps a $50 joining fee could be seen as a small price to pay
for some assistance (as yet not quantified) during renewal. Others may prefer
to wait for trader elections in September when traders can decide who is best
to represent them.
The
danger of getting more involvement from outsiders, whether they be customer
groups, unions or politicians, is that the mass of different opinions and purposes makes it very
difficult to get progress and some cynics would suggest that this is the intent
all along. Let's hope that the trader election is not unduly delayed and we can
get down to forging our own futures very soon.