Redundancies at work....

[KeyboardJockey]

fuck me can you imagine...

couldn't be worse than what we have at present.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

She'll be fine. Her job involves doing constructive stuff that needs doing, and she's cheap. Most companies get rid of the more superfluous staff first - sales, marketing, overpaid middle management, etc.

Ha ha, this is the reason ITV (my company) is going to shit. They seem to get rid of all the cost effective people/elements and essential staff needed to actually continue to make TV programmes/work the equipment (and not just sit around buleskying celeb wrestling or whatever).
Then they have to hire people at freelance rates. Whoops. All the top bods and people with nothing to do seem to keep their jobs.
A few years ago I was made redundant and then re-hired two weeks later for about 20grand extra to refill my position in a new department that had to deal with the gap the loss of my job created. Durrrrr.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

couldn't be worse than what we have at present.

really...

so you've been leading on talks about pay and redundacies and minimising their impact right or about the TUPE which si happening to countless thousands of civil servants right i mean you know this shit like the back of your hand right.

you've represented people at tribunal and been able to form cognative and coherant cases for those staff members have you, based on you know real employment law rather than making it up in your head as you go along.

you can provide the insurance against unfair dismissal, work place bullying, unfair practice and countless other working rights...

right now at the drop of a hat....

no wonder you're always so pissed off at work with that level of personal resource avialble it's no wonder you hate the place and the country....

or could it be like all pronouncements from you that in fact once again you're a clueless fuckwit who likes to do down his own employment working groups and do so in favour of managment.

face facts like most things in life you don't acutally have a fucking scoobie what it is the union do you only think it's not doing what you want it to but haven't even in reality checked up to see if what they are really doing is directly or indirectly benifiting you like some many countless others who sit on their fat arses and do fuck all you are content to moan that it should be different only in so far as you never ever have to exert yourself one iota to be involved or responsible.

tbh people like you are worse than management at least management has to be consistant in dealing with staff you have no such guarenttees...

 

[Guineveretoo]

Thought about it. Approached the rep with plans to increase activity but just got fobbed off so thought fuck them if thats how they treat me why should I bother supporting them and their pisspoorly attended meetings and strikes.

Besides, if the union does fuck all for its members how do I know that they would back me if I got victimised for union activity.

We should be able to CHOOSE our unions on the basis of effectiveness.

Maybe Guiniveretoo should spend some time with me to see the truth about what I speak.

I know that you do not speak the truth on this. I am no longer interested in trying to help you on it, having tried before. I simply wanted people to know that you were lying on this one, in case they might believe you, in their ignorance!

 

[zippyRN]

Whoa, a weeks notice? that can't be right.

I have mine coming up this year at some point, I should be getting some notice and I hope they don't screw me on the payoff by changing the rules (they keep trying).

i suspect they will still be paid their contractural notice + redundancy , but are probably told they have a week to tie up loose ends and pass work on ...

 

[KeyboardJockey]

I know that you do not speak the truth on this. I am no longer interested in trying to help you on it, having tried before. I simply wanted people to know that you were lying on this one, in case they might believe you, in their ignorance!

Lying fuck off. Where are the calls for staff to be involved and speak as one. We see none of it. We never ever see our branch rep anymore on the shop floor.

The only contact I have day to day with the union is the piss poor PCS Review magazine.

Maybe if the union was a bit more proactive and cared about the staff at the bottom and also communicated better then this situation wouldn't arise.

I think that you are mistaken if you believe what I'm saying is wrong.

 

[KeyboardJockey]

Angry ranting snipped....

I TRIED to get involved but got rebuffed and told by the union rep that 'its pointless trying to get people more active'. If that is the public face of a union then no wonder people don't fucking bother. Yes I understand about the negotiations about redundancies but they don't seem to be preventing them. The negotiations are a fucking sham to be honest.

tbh people like you are worse than management at least management has to be consistant in dealing with staff you have no such guarenttees...

Whats worse than management are invisible union officers who perpetuate the impression that the union doesn't give a toss.

 

[i_hate_beckham]

Ive just been told i'm up for redundancy.

 

[Looby]

Lying fuck off. Where are the calls for staff to be involved and speak as one. We see none of it. We never ever see our branch rep anymore on the shop floor.

The only contact I have day to day with the union is the piss poor PCS Review magazine.

Maybe if the union was a bit more proactive and cared about the staff at the bottom and also communicated better then this situation wouldn't arise.

I think that you are mistaken if you believe what I'm saying is wrong.

KeyboardJockey- Are you aware there are 2 types of union? Service (like Unison) and Organising like PCS.

As your union is an organising union basically this means that it needs it's members to be active as well. It relies on members bringing issues to the reps, playing an active part in union activity, participating in AGMs, mandate meetings etc. Do you do all that?

You say that you have tried to get involved but have been ignored. Stand for election then. If you really feel that your branch could perform better then get active.

Another issue (and this may be relevant in your case as Guiniveretoo is clearly aware there is activity in your branch) is that sometimes branches don't blow their own trumpets enough and members don't realise what's going on behind closed doors. We are trying to rectify this with regular updates and newsletters. Maybe you could suggest that if your branch don't already do so. You may be surprised just how much they actually do.

I have to sit there day in day out listening to my colleagues moaning about how the union is doing fuck all for them but I've never seen a single one of them at a meeting or on a picket line. They skulk in through the back door on strike days and don't even read the stuff that I put on their desks. They never come to me with problems so how the fuck am I supposed to help them?

Reps are not there to do all the donkey work for you, a lot of the time their role is to facilitate and support members to get things done.

Frankly, you need to put up or shut up.

Sorry for the derail and I'm especially sorry for those facing redundancy-not a nice place to be if you don't want it.

 

[DarthSydodyas]

There were some concerns here, as Ford sold Land Rover and Jaguar, but internal news suggests continued business for another 7 years. You never know.

 

[Guineveretoo]

KeyboardJockey- Are you aware there are 2 types of union? Service (like Unison) and Organising like PCS.

As your union is an organising union basically this means that it needs it's members to be active as well. It relies on members bringing issues to the reps, playing an active part in union activity, participating in AGMs, mandate meetings etc. Do you do all that?

You say that you have tried to get involved but have been ignored. Stand for election then. If you really feel that your branch could perform better then get active.

Another issue (and this may be relevant in your case as Guiniveretoo is clearly aware there is activity in your branch) is that sometimes branches don't blow their own trumpets enough and members don't realise what's going on behind closed doors. We are trying to rectify this with regular updates and newsletters. Maybe you could suggest that if your branch don't already do so. You may be surprised just how much they actually do.

I have to sit there day in day out listening to my colleagues moaning about how the union is doing fuck all for them but I've never seen a single one of them at a meeting or on a picket line. They skulk in through the back door on strike days and don't even read the stuff that I put on their desks. They never come to me with problems so how the fuck am I supposed to help them?

Reps are not there to do all the donkey work for you, a lot of the time their role is to facilitate and support members to get things done.

Frankly, you need to put up or shut up.

Sorry for the derail and I'm especially sorry for those facing redundancy-not a nice place to be if you don't want it.

I agree with most of this, but not the first sentence about there being two types of unions.

All trade unions rely on their activists, and UNISON is no different from PCS in that respect.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

I TRIED to get involved but got rebuffed and told by the union rep that 'its pointless trying to get people more active'. If that is the public face of a union then no wonder people don't fucking bother. Yes I understand about the negotiations about redundancies but they don't seem to be preventing them. The negotiations are a fucking sham to be honest.

I'm not supirsed has it occured to you that actyualyl you aren't terribly well up on the whole employment rights issue and that what you consistantly say, a bit like the other tory poster numbers, is fantaist wank with no bearing on reality or indeed legislation.

what would you have the union do make it up as they go along ?

lie to you and then allow shit to happen anyway.

you are your union and let's face it we only have to look at the evidence presented here to see what a shower that might be, were you to be involved I cannot think of anyone i'd least have confidnece in being able to win my workers rights back than you except possible norman tebbit... and at least he has some rationality behind him...

you really are thatchers bastard love child aren't you...

Whats worse than management are invisible union officers who perpetuate the impression that the union doesn't give a toss.

doesn't do what you want it to do which by all accounts appears to be to go beyond the law and into the relems of looncy and so they must be managment lickspittles...

you must be a joy to work with ....

and absolute pleasure...

 

[Looby]

I agree with most of this, but not the first sentence about there being two types of unions.

You know a lot more about this than I do but during my reps training they focused a lot on the fact that PCS were an 'organising' union rather than a service union which recruited members based on offers and discounts and what they could do for them.

I'm in the midst of an essay so I'll come back to this tomorrow. I'll find my training materials to help me clarify what I mean.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

erm it's different funding manners i think and different operational criteria but what Guineveretoo is sayign is in terms of staffing rights and responsiblites and all the thigns that count there's no difference there's some minor differneces but it's like supermarket own brand vanilla ice cream and named brand ice cream the differences aren't signficant...

 

[Guineveretoo]

You know a lot more about this than I do but during my reps training they focused a lot on the fact that PCS were an 'organising' union rather than a service union which recruited members based on offers and discounts and what they could do for them.

I'm in the midst of an essay so I'll come back to this tomorrow. I'll find my training materials to help me clarify what I mean.

I think you will find that was a bit of inter union spin!

UNISON is exactly the same as PCS in the way they organise, and in the offers and discounts they offer to recruit members!

 

[Badgers]

Oddly we are trying (and failing) to recruit new people...

Had one senior member of staff leave a month ago.
One on her last day today
One about to give his notice in today
Another at second interview and determined to be gone soon

We are fading away

 

[Biddlybee]

Any news boohoo?