I have only had my membership card for Amicus for a couple of weeks and it now looks like its out of date already as today I received an e-mail from something called Unity which is apparently what my union will be called now it has merged with the TGWU.
I should have been paying more attention, but the last couple of months have seen me a bit pre-occupied with losing elections. Anyway, we now have a union called Unity and another called Unison. Nothing confusing there.
Back in the old days the unions were all known by scary acronyms like NAFTHE, TGWU, NALGO or EETPU and then they all seemed to flock to the type of PR firm which advised the Royal Mail to call itself Consignia. Given the chance to differentiate themselves with new shiney names they have all ended up sounding like each other even more.
Still… a rose by any other name eh? As long as they do their job of protecting workers’ rights who cares what they are called – unless they are called Solidarity of course (“independent” my arse!).
You’re pretty much in a similar situation to me. I’ve just got my Amicus card…