Is it only me???

Jules22

Companies, during a recession, do use bullying and threatening behaviour towards their staff.......because they know people need their jobs more than ever.
the worrying thing is the companies DO get away with it.

This is why Unions are stronger during these times and more needed by staff.

Companies need to outlaw this practise as it does demoralise staff which results in low/poor performance.Not good for anyone!

Horace

I am an ex-branch secretary of Unison, I used to work in the higher education sector. Unions have their place when it comes to dealing with disciplinaries, grievances, health & safety, pay negotiation but there are those unions that want to call strikes because they can. I know that when Unite called a strike and expected us to follow - we didnt because it was better to work to rule than it was to go without pay.

BA's staff were asked to take a pay cut and in some instances work without pay - those on the ground accepted but those in the air chose to strike forgetting that the ground staff didnt have the same perks as them e.g. staying in 5* hotels on stopover with spending money. What has happened is that there is now an us and them situation between all the staff at BA, those who took a pay cut and those that didnt and then went on strike.

It should be remembered that the union personnel who call the strike are often full time paid officials of the union (getting a fantastic salary unlike those that they represent who are on lesser pay), they get paid no matter what but the union member doesnt get paid for striking.

I also remember what it was like in the 70's when the unions brought this country to its knees..miners strikes meaning that we had regular power cuts, bins weren't emptied, the dead remained unburied, our once great car industry - now defunct because of strikes every 5 minutes.

Thankfully, I am no longer in a union and would never join one again, we used to be put under enormous pressure to go on strike in support of the NHS or whoever even though it was not in the interest of our members but it was something that the union wanted us to do.

jdturk

angiebhfx wrote: »

A lot of people are struggling to make ends meet. The company I worked for were squeezing us so much, they took away all our "perks - dress down day on fridays and eating hot food in the workplace"

I worked in Finance which originally had 18 people it now only has 9 but we were expected to do all the work that was there before. We we were expected to work extra without being compensated and people just did it because they thought they were lucky to have a job. They whinged all the time but did nothing about it. I stood up for myself and they singled me out and made me redundant. Because I was in a union they advised me that I may be able to take them to tribunal but I would be better negotiating a settlement and leaving. I had only been with the company 18 months so not entitled to SRP but I managed to negotiate 10 weeks. That to me smacks that they thought I might have a case otherwise the would have paid me nothing.

If you don't tow the line you get stamped on.

P.s I didn't want my colleagues to stand up for me, I wanted them to stand up for themselves. Collectively you have more of a voice as proved by my situation

meant to mention our MD made three people redundant so he could re model his office, dig up the car park to give himself an exclusive parking space, got a top of the range BM and had air conditioning installed, spent thousands and he is only in the office 2 days out of five.

Seems to me that they were reducing staffing levels due to neccessity and maybe they thought that purely just defending themselves may cost more than the extra 6 weeks pay?

jdturk

Jules22 wrote: »

Companies, during a recession, do use bullying and threatening behaviour towards their staff.......because they know people need their jobs more than ever.
the worrying thing is the companies DO get away with it.

This is why Unions are stronger during these times and more needed by staff.

Companies need to outlaw this practise as it does demoralise staff which results in low/poor performance.Not good for anyone!

No unions are not stronger during these times, they are more desperate and resort to desperate measures rather than negotiating and understanding the situation

angiebhfx

jdturk wrote: »

No unions are not stronger during these times, they are more desperate and resort to desperate measures rather than negotiating and understanding the situation

Take for example the BA cabin crew strike. BA have refused to give any concessions because they know that if they don't do the job then their are countless others behind them that will do the job in their place because it is an "unskilled job". Now when the pilots had similar issues they could negotiate with BA because it is a skilled job and one that takes a lot of training so their aren't countless others queuing up to do that job so they have more leverage when it comes to negotiating. So when you are not being listened to you make yourself heard by hitting them where it hurts - the bottom line. But BA would rather vilify it's cabin crew than give it's customers their money back "All these people that have saved up for their holidays and now they can't go". What about the cabin crew that rely on their wage to pay their mortgages the gas/electric bill etc, they fighting for there livelihoods yet they are wrong, probably an empty threat but there was no more said about it just in case.

Tell me what do you do when no one listens, just give up???

The company that I worked for wouldn't negotiate with us on eating hot food ion the premises despite the fact they weren't complying with the H,S&W regulations. They flatly refused and told some people that if they continued to complain about it they would be sacked.

jdturk

angiebhfx wrote: »

Take for example the BA cabin crew strike. BA have refused to give any concessions because they know that if they don't do the job then their are countless others behind them that will do the job in their place because it is an "unskilled job". Now when the pilots had similar issues they could negotiate with BA because it is a skilled job and one that takes a lot of training so their aren't countless others queuing up to do that job so they have more leverage when it comes to negotiating. So when you are not being listened to you make yourself heard by hitting them where it hurts - the bottom line. But BA would rather vilify it's cabin crew than give it's customers their money back "All these people that have saved up for their holidays and now they can't go". What about the cabin crew that rely on their wage to pay their mortgages the gas/electric bill etc, they fighting for there livelihoods yet they are wrong, probably an empty threat but there was no more said about it just in case.

Tell me what do you do when no one listens, just give up???

The company that I worked for wouldn't negotiate with us on eating hot food ion the premises despite the fact they weren't complying with the H,S&W regulations. They flatly refused and told some people that if they continued to complain about it they would be sacked.

I'm not getting into an arguement regarding BA and the management and the unions but suffice to say I disagree with the angle you are aiming your arguement at

angiebhfx

scotsman4th wrote: »

LMAO, and here I thought me, one of my workmates or a member of the public being killed due to cutbacks was important.

My point was that they were trying to make everyone in their employ know that they could do what they liked and their was nothing we could do about it. Eating hot food and wearing casual clothes is hardly a perk is it, I was being ironic. Any company that cuts back on health and safety and through their negligence someone is killed or seriously injured then they have broken the law. Health and safety isn't a perk it's the law and that firm would be prosecuted. Health and safety isn't something that a company can make a cutback on, so I don't really get your point.

The food and clothes thing, it didn't really improve productivity by taking it away it was just to p155 people off. They also made it that if we wanted to take holiday we had to ask our line manager who then got permission from HR who then had to ask the MD if it was alright. The MD didn't know who half of us where and he wasn't interested who we were (from his own mouth), so it was just an exercise to make it difficult for staff to book time off at short notice.

angiebhfx

jdturk wrote: »

I'm not getting into an arguement regarding BA and the management and the unions but suffice to say I disagree with the angle you are aiming your arguement at

Why? not to argue I just want to understand your point of view. We don't have to agree

angiebhfx

Horace wrote: »

I am an ex-branch secretary of Unison, I used to work in the higher education sector. Unions have their place when it comes to dealing with disciplinaries, grievances, health & safety, pay negotiation but there are those unions that want to call strikes because they can. I know that when Unite called a strike and expected us to follow - we didnt because it was better to work to rule than it was to go without pay.

BA's staff were asked to take a pay cut and in some instances work without pay - those on the ground accepted but those in the air chose to strike forgetting that the ground staff didnt have the same perks as them e.g. staying in 5* hotels on stopover with spending money. What has happened is that there is now an us and them situation between all the staff at BA, those who took a pay cut and those that didnt and then went on strike.

It should be remembered that the union personnel who call the strike are often full time paid officials of the union (getting a fantastic salary unlike those that they represent who are on lesser pay), they get paid no matter what but the union member doesnt get paid for striking.

I also remember what it was like in the 70's when the unions brought this country to its knees..miners strikes meaning that we had regular power cuts, bins weren't emptied, the dead remained unburied, our once great car industry - now defunct because of strikes every 5 minutes.

Thankfully, I am no longer in a union and would never join one again, we used to be put under enormous pressure to go on strike in support of the NHS or whoever even though it was not in the interest of our members but it was something that the union wanted us to do.

Thank you. I now understand a little bit more. It's a shame that the ground staff and the cabin crew don't get together and hammer out their differences. People make assumptions about things which leads to hostility and misunderstandings.

People IMO need to ask more questions to better understand things. More debate we don't need to agree but achieve a better understanding. Ignorance isn't bliss it's stupidity.

Diesel44

Health and safety is a big thing these days.
Hourly week limited to 48 hours, with an opt out option.
Safety clothing.
Risk assessment on all jobs.
Food breaks in a proper canteen enviroment.
The correct tools and training for the correct job.
Well it is where I work.