Help with Legal Issues with your Union

Questioner

My direct boss has disadvantaged me for over 2 years with travel declarations by not adhering to the business travel decree. He used his own made up rules. I have been disadvantaged for over 1000. More than 2 years ago I brought my problem to the union. Almost immediately I was told that I was right and that they would sort it out for me. From that moment on I sent them several emails to which I received no response. Then I called the union, slightly irritated. They promised to do better and admitted that it cannot be the intention that it takes so long. Then someone else was put on the case. Again the same combative language that I heard at the very beginning. 3 months ago the union's plan was to give my employer one more chance to repair the damage. Otherwise it would become a legal case. From that moment on I again receive no clarity or even a response to my emails. In the last email I added the email address of the department in question as a CC. It took me more than a week to receive a response from the department. It stated that their staff does not do their work in the office most of the time. As a result, their inbox becomes overflowing and cases are left unfinished. He told me that he printed out my email and put it on the desk of the colleague in question so that my case would be given priority. In the meantime, another 2 weeks have passed without hearing anything from the union. I have been paying contributions for 17 years without ever needing them. Now I need them and they are leaving me out in the cold. What are my options? What steps can I take against the union? I am now completely fed up with how the union treats me. Is there an agency (ombudsman or something like that) where I can report this. They do not provide the services I have paid for all these years and I feel quite ripped off by the union. Kind regards

Lawyer

Depending on the terms of the association, you can give them notice to take your complaint seriously or at least to deal with it as soon as possible. You may then also be able to file a complaint with the body that supervises the association. There is usually a complaints procedure that you can follow.