Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[ted_one]

I agree wholeheartedly with Banjax,three years ago I took promotion on to the management team of one of the largest bus

[ted_one]

Oops sorry computer operator error!!anyway all I was about to say was that I was astounded at the behind closed doors attitude towards staff and the constant policies of trying to shaft them!
In the end my bad attitude towards the job came through and I told them to stick their job where the sun does'nt shine and came away with a poor opinion of so called management.All I found really it's full of people trying to cover their own backsides and trying to make a name for themselves on the backs of the people who get the lowest pay and in general the dirty end of the stick!Sadly I'm now one of them,but happier for it.

[Kevin Wood]

I'd never have guessed it. 

I've never lived in London but it sounds to me like they should be spending all this time off learning how to manage their finances if they consider £30K a year to be "too little to cope".

Watch manager Richard Golds, 46, who also runs a driving school in St Albans...

So "moonlighting" two professions that require him to have a clear head and react quickly to situations that could potentially endanger themselves and the public?

Kevin

[wingman]

Fully agree with geoffr70 and others on here. We have gone way beyond the days when employers can arbitarily decide to impose changes to working conditions and contracts without any meaningful negotiations and then threaten workers with the sack. We do not live in the age of Victorian working conditions and employers as some on here would seem to wish. Do they really want to live in a country where union leaders and members "disappear" like in Chile and Argentina in the past, I think not. I guess some of them actually believe everything they read in the Sun, Express and Mail and the other right wing gutter press. For gods sake get real!!

[albitz]

The management have been trying to have meaningful negotiations with the Union for 5 years. Even John Prescott (Labour leftie, former trade unionist and union sponsored MP) gave up trying to have meaningful discussions with them.

Get real.

[geoffr70]

The management have been trying to have meaningful negotiations with the Union for 5 years. Even John Prescott (Labour leftie, former trade unionist and union sponsored MP) gave up trying to have meaningful discussions with them.

Get real.

Yes you're right they have, and now that they haven't got their own way they've resorted to bully boy tactics, much like a young childing whacking another child and snatching a toy, and how very childish.

It's just disgraceful that two parties agree to a set of conditions, then after negotiations, one party, who hasn't achieved what they wanted to, resort to the method of sacking the workforce and re-employing them on less favourable conditions. I think the management at LFB need to grow up and stop acting like spoilt children.

What do you mean by 'Get real' Albs?

How would you like it if your mortgage lender arbitrarily changed your mortgage contract to make it less favourable to you in some way by an increase in payments or lengthening the period or some other way? I don't see the difference.

After negotiations, if nothing new is reached, then the existing conditions are still observed that BOTH parties have already agreed to.

[albitz]

I believe that management must have the right to manage. If you remove that right every business in the country would fall on its face in no time. Management should reach a decision after taking into account thwe views of the workforce. If the workforce strongly believe that the decision is unfair they can go to ACAS or similar. Striking should be an absolute last resort. Reserved for only the most extreme circumstances, and imo emergency services (and probably all other public servants) should be barred by law from striking in any circumstances.

[geoffr70]

I believe that management must have the right to manage also, but resorting to these tactics isn't managing.

Can you confirm Albs if you find the actions of LFB acceptable, and 'managing', as it appears so!?!?!

[wingman]

this whole debate is a race to the bottom, lets see how many rights we can get rid of, how many indignities we can bestow on workers - every strike now is seen as some communist plot to wrestle control into the hands of the unions.....well what if the unions are merely standing up for workers rights? how far do we have to go before enough is enough? i said race to the bottom as whenever industrial action is called the braying hordes come out citing examples of people on less pay with less conditions - i fear some on here wont be happy til every worker is on minimum pay working 80hr weeks. sometimes you need to take a stand, yes it'll ruffle some feathers, but look back in history - industrial action and protest has driven huge benefits in the way we work, the safety and environment we all benefit from so on this one i'll happily defend the right of anyone to withdraw labour or we'll all suffer as hard fought rights get slowly chipped away under the guise of "efficiency" 

that maybe sounds a bit too strong in light of this particular dispute, but i see it as the thin end of the wedge - the more its accepted, the more will be taken 

Banjax is spot on. Those who disagree and would like to see workers rights decimated in the name of efficiency or "managements right to manage" may like to consider the poem by Pastor Niemoller namely :-

"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me"

[ted_one]

Go Wingman-Go Wingman-Go Wingman 

[Dishevelled Den]

Banjax is spot on. Those who disagree and would like to see workers rights decimated in the name of efficiency or "managements right to manage" may like to consider the poem by Pastor Niemoller namely :-

"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me"

He of course was trying to assuage his guilt and - by extension - that of the Protestant churches in Germany by not challenging the authoritarian rule of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party - can that emotive piece really apply traction (or indeed be relevant) in the case of this dispute?

[geoffr70]

yes

[albitz]

No.
And I can confirm that I support managements stance in this dispute. The gutless Govt. shouldnt have let it get this far though. They should have outlawed their right to strike a long time ago. They arent normal employess doing a job for a private business. They are paid from my taxes to stop people from dying in fires etc. People providing a service to the public such as that should nt imo be able to strike and play games with peoples lives. The police and armed forces arent allowed to strike 0 dont see why firefighters are different.
Its nothing to do with workers rights etc. The issue involved is to petty to play that card. Its about protecting a rather cosy system and a dtermined mentality to beat the management come hell or high water.

[geoffr70]

No.
And I can confirm that I support managements stance in this dispute. The gutless Govt. shouldnt have let it get this far though. They should have outlawed their right to strike a long time ago. They arent normal employess doing a job for a private business. They are paid from my taxes to stop people from dying in fires etc. People providing a service to the public such as that should nt imo be able to strike and play games with peoples lives. The police and armed forces arent allowed to strike 0 dont see why firefighters are different.
Its nothing to do with workers rights etc. The issue involved is to petty to play that card. Its about protecting a rather cosy system and a dtermined mentality to beat the management come hell or high water.

They are still people, still employees, and still have rights.

It's everything to do with workers rights, give an inch, take a mile.

It is the management of LFB playing games with peoples lives, the firefighters lives, and the lives of the public by forcing them to do this.

Anyway, you say playing with peoples lives, I bet most people would be shocked at the double standards, when a brigade allows the level of cover to drop to a certain level just for it's own ends (money), yet for any other reason it's not acceptable.

And it doesn't matter what system they are protecting or whether you think it's cosy or not. Both parties signed up to that so it can't be that cosy. It is about the disgraceful, arrogant and contemptful way the LFB are treating its staff.

[albitz]

I dont think we are ever going to agree or convince one another of the other point of view on this issue Geoff.