Industrial action in a recession

[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???

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!

[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???

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!

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.