Industrial action in a recession

[FROSTY]

hey folks I must be missing something. I'm seeing this year a fair few people taking industrial action for pay rises. Given the number of companies that have pulled the pin Im kinda scratching my head over that.
I'da thought that workers would apreciate that companies genuinely are struggling.

[Sidewinder]

hey folks I must be missing something. I'm seeing this year a fair few people taking industrial action for pay rises. Given the number of companies that have pulled the pin Im kinda scratching my head over that.
I'da thought that workers would apreciate that companies genuinely are struggling.

people are retards and gready, thats about it realy. not like driving a bus is a high class job or anything

[Swoop]

Good on them!
Prices, interest rates and petrol took a massive hike in the early stages of the so-called "recession" and wage rates have not kept up.

STRIKE!

[Mully]

Seems to me it should be called "Industrial Inaction......

[Flatcap]

people are retards and gready, thats about it realy. not like driving a bus is a high class job or anything

Nah - the retards are just led astray by the communist agitators in the unions. They have to justify their existance somehow

[munster]

good on them, shit wages, shit job. Bosses keep getting pay rises, MP's get holidays, businesses are on the up but are still using the recession excuse to deny people fair wage rises.

Eg. in recession people use cars less due to fuel costs and use public transport more i.e buses are getting more passengers which is more profit for the bus company, but they still trying to screw their drivers.

Well fuck 'em, I support them all the way.

[p.dath]

good on them, shit wages, shit job. Bosses keep getting pay rises, MP's get holidays, businesses are on the up but are still using the recession excuse to deny people fair wage rises.

Eg. in recession people use cars less due to fuel costs and use public transport more i.e buses are getting more passengers which is more profit for the bus company, but they still trying to screw their drivers.

Well fuck 'em, I support them all the way.

So what happens when the recession is over the bus patronage drops? Will they take a pay cut?

[Icemaestro]

And physio's are getting pay cuts...sometimes I wonder why I work in the health profession...should go drive a bus...

[munster]

So what happens when the recession is over the bus patronage drops? Will they take a pay cut?

will the bosses?

What you'll find is that a certain % will stay on public transport or the fares will go up. Most likely, they'll go back to piss poor pay rises for a while. i.e Firemen who got nothing for over 10 years!

and just to be clear, I'm not some pinko commie unionist, but was senior management for a number of years and saw just what companies do to workers in the name of profits.

[smoky]

Told us at work that there was no money for pay increases, fair enough, no one was pissy about it - until we found out the GM and CE gave them selves 4.5%. And they waste money on trips over seas, buy a new car ....... bla bla bla

[ready4whatever]

I think most people are happy to have a job at the moment and pay rises arent the first thing on their minds. I wasnt happy with $15 an hour, but boy i wish i had that now because its better than nothing at all.

I support strikes for pay rises... only if the employer is absolutely milking it and paying crap, and keeps telling you that the company is broke

[Robert Taylor]

will the bosses?

What you'll find is that a certain % will stay on public transport or the fares will go up. Most likely, they'll go back to piss poor pay rises for a while. i.e Firemen who got nothing for over 10 years!

and just to be clear, I'm not some pinko commie unionist, but was senior management for a number of years and saw just what companies do to workers in the name of profits.

DRAMATIC OVERSTATEMENT. Not all businesses and bosses are tarred with the same brush. A good deal too many small businesses operate on low margins and abysmal net profit. REALITY. They cannot afford to pay higher wages.

[pete376403]

The average top New Zealand executive now earns $1.29 million - 29 times the median income of full-time salary and wage earners of $44,200.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/management/news/article.cfm?c_id=59&objectid=10566178

Little wonder that when the average wage earner sees that, he or she feels that a bigger slice of the pie is deserved

[FROSTY]

I was senior management for a number of years and saw just what companies do to workers in the name of profits.
Perhaps quoting you out of context here (if i am i'm sorry) What I'm reading here is that to make a profit is a sin. The thing is a fair few people i know are weighing up their options. Pull the pin and sell up or carry on.
They could comfortably live on the interest earned on their investments. So if it isn't worth while for them why would they carry on in business??
Investors in a company expect a return on their investment or they also pull the pin.

[JMemonic]

I guess when you work for major corporations and see you managers and supervisors getting pay rises or bonuses at you expense you might fell a tad aggrieved. I have work for corps that pay managers bonuses for saving money or increasing productivity, saving money can be things like changing the coffee in the staff room or not doing some maintenance job, or encouraging you not to work to rule or policy then when there is an accident they us the fact you were not working to rule as their out.

When its you and the boss you kinda feel involved in the business, not so though some company that despite the recession continues to make reasonable profits, raise senior management payouts and bonuses, then tell you that they cant afford to give you .20cents per hour or cuts your staffing numbers, then complains that jobs/tasks are not getting done or shift are not filled, expects individuals to make up the difference by working up wards of 70 hours a week or outside of their legal obligations.

If you have been lucky enough to avoid all that stick with what you are doing, oh and hows this for a kicker, getting called to a meeting re some excuse on your day off to walk in the door and find some lawyer who bills thousands per hour sitting there with the boss telling you that its you fault the company is losing money even though they posted a profit as a result you job will be disestablished and you can reapply for the new job at a lesser rate, with more hours, doing the same work.

[JMemonic]

DRAMATIC OVERSTATEMENT. Not all businesses and bosses are tarred with the same brush. A good deal too many small businesses operate on low margins and abysmal net profit. REALITY. They cannot afford to pay higher wages.

Yeah you are right there Robert but I bet those businesses are smaller operations without 1 manager per 15 people etc.

They have 20-30 people max and the boss has a beer with the staff on Fridays, everyone knows where the stand and they are good places to work.

[Swoop]

Back to the bus drivers. There is a requirement that they cannot work a certain amount of hours (5-6?) without having a break and rightly so... who would want to be in a vehicle driven by a fatigued driver! They are forced to work split-shifts to get around this "little problem". So you have someone who realistically cannot go home for an hour or so and is left having to stay at work until the next shift. Paid for that time???:rofl:


you job will be disestablished and you can reapply for the new job at a lesser rate, with more hours, doing the same work.
There is PLENTY of that sort of shit going on at the moment!:bash:

[JMemonic]

Back to the bus drivers. There is a requirement that they cannot work a certain amount of hours (5-6?) without having a break and rightly so... who would want to be in a vehicle driven by a fatigued driver! They are forced to work split-shifts to get around this "little problem". So you have someone who realistically cannot go home for an hour or so and is left having to stay at work until the next shift. Paid for that time???:rofl:

Yeah and they got locked out for working to the companies rules and regulations, go figure. The way some folks see it they don't care that the drivers have to take this break or understand how much concentration it takes to drive for those sorts of times on congested roads. as when they do it it takes them at most a couple of hours driving in the worst traffic so it seems no big deal, if they had to do it all day I suspect they would see things a little differently.



There is PLENTY of that sort of shit going on at the moment!:bash:

:yes: And from companies that claim they cant afford pay increases yet can produce decent profits.

My best jobs have been in small outfits where its the boss and maybe four of five staff, you feel an ownership in the business and its small niche in the system. Wont say what my worst have been,

[munster]

A good deal too many small businesses operate on low margins and abysmal net profit. REALITY. They cannot afford to pay higher wages.

But I'm not talking about small businesses, Bus Drivers were mentioned, striking for better wages from a very large multinational transport company trying to pay third world wages in NZ.

I agree most small businesswes would struggle in current climate to give pay rises, but as has been said in this thread already, most small businesses would have better morale anyway and beers with the boss on Fridays.