The grumpy thread

[Cleon-Fonte]

if you don't like it, find a new fucking job.

 

...with another employer offering virtually identical pay and conditions to your current one.

[AlabamaShrimp]

Well some people seem to have overreacted at this but I'll answer it with an honest "I did exactly sod all" as for a start it's my wife's job and, as it seems others have thought, I thought that you paid a subscription so they fought these things for you in an organised, civil and united way for everyone involved.

 

Other than supporting the union reps, voting and going on strike/stand outside places can you explain to me exactly how individual workers who don't know the insurance and outs on the system assist the union?

 

But in contrast, can you also tell me why she's not had a wage rise of more that around 1% for the last few years, now has to do the job of two other people as well as her own and is now technically going to get paid less for the same hours?

[AlabamaShrimp]

Yes, you get the benefits of the hard work of the stewards and representatives for FREE!

 

What you pay for is the backup of legal advice and representation if required.

 

Now tell me you know a lawyer who works for free.............

I was in the union in a job and I needed legal advice, they said no. I rang the regional office and they said no too. Said I had to go through my rep no matter what.

[Tamworthbay]

Well some people seem to have overreacted at this but I'll answer it with an honest "I did exactly sod all" as for a start it's my wife's job and, as it seems others have thought, I thought that you paid a subscription so they fought these things for you in an organised, civil and united way for everyone involved.

Other than supporting the union reps, voting and going on strike/stand outside places can you explain to me exactly how individual workers who don't know the insurance and outs on the system assist the union?

But in contrast, can you also tell me why she's not had a wage rise of more that around 1% for the last few years, now has to do the job of two other people as well as her own and is now technically going to get paid less for the same hours?

How does she get involved? Just ask the rep, they will be ecstatic that someone wants to help.

 

Why is shit even though there is a union? Because the tories have mercilessly eroded the rights of ordinary people to stand up for themselves.

 

When I started working people went on strike to get better conditions, now they have to fight just to keep the status quo.

[Louise2cv]

"go and get another job"

 

Would be fine if there were loads of decent jobs available, with good bosses and benefits. As there isn't quite often the unions and action such as striking is the last option to prevent this race to the bottom and back to the flipping 19th century.

 

People need the wages but that can't be a green light for the poor treatment of those people, just because they have no other option (and quite often they don't).

 

"if you don't like it leave your van keys on the table and f*ck off, plenty of other people want a job" is what my manager at a "UK TOP 20 BEST EMPLOYER" said to us in a team briefing. Great management SKILLZ. Thankfully employment law and unions limit what knobs like this can do with that kind of ultimatum. FOR NOW.

 

Be careful what you wish for. And don't rely on always being an "I'm alright Jack" either. 

​Not saying anyone is perfect, nor that all employers are bad, but we all have a lot to thank the unions for.  

[Cavcraft]

Isn't that just like following the line at work, though? You get a complaint you tell your supervisor, then escalate it 'higher' as per chain of command?

 

 

Anyhow, have read one or two people's comments on here, I'm fucking glad I don't work with them if that's their view on unions.

[Louise2cv]

 

 

"if you don't like it leave your van keys on the table and f*ck off"

 

His face when just a couple of weeks later I did, though

 

 

 

​I'm just lucky to have an amazing supportive partner who took on full responsibility for our finances, and that he was in a position to do so. It's not stretching it too far to say that my OH probably saved my life.

[Negative Creep]

ON the jobs subject I had an interview on Friday, said contact me on Monday by the latest but they never bothered. Nothing I can do about it now but at the very least a thanks but no thanks email or feedback on what I did wrong would have been nice

[Captain Furious]

...with another employer offering virtually identical pay and conditions to your current one.

That's your lookout, you have one time when you're in a position of power for negotiating terms and conditions, that's when they make the initial offer

 

I want happy with the pay at my last place, lobbied for a pay rise at review time, didn't get it, was told that's the going rate blah blah blah. Clearly it wasn't because within 3 months they had my notice and I had a new job on £10k more, which now, 2 years later is more like £15k more. When I decide I'm no longer happy with the terms here, I'll see what the market has to offer again, no point trying to negotiate here, that ship sailed when I signed the contract

 

Far as I'm concerned you make your own fortune in this world.

[alcyonecorporation]

Holiday bollocks and first world problems.

 

Trying to transfer photos from one phone to another and nothing's working because the wifi is shit.

 

Family are more or less like the iPhone mafia and it's ny fault that airdrop doesn't work (because I have an android phone O GOD SO WRONG) and dropbox won't work either despite it being a useless pile of fucking shit that everyone despises (and which never worked in the first place).

 

Yeah, and stop fucking taking chunks out of me because I've done things differently to you, while we're at it.

 

I can might just fuck off on my own for a bit, actually.

[saucedoctor]

Try Bluetooth? Very slow, but might actually work.

[chaseracer]

That's your lookout, you have one time when you're in a position of power for negotiating terms and conditions, that's when they make the initial offer

 

I want happy with the pay at my last place, lobbied for a pay rise at review time, didn't get it, was told that's the going rate blah blah blah. Clearly it wasn't because within 3 months they had my notice and I had a new job on £10k more, which now, 2 years later is more like £15k more. When I decide I'm no longer happy with the terms here, I'll see what the market has to offer again, no point trying to negotiate here, that ship sailed when I signed the contract

 

Far as I'm concerned you make your own fortune in this world.

 

Yeah, cheers for that, Charles Darwin.  Have you considered that not everyone "in this world" has your obvious confidence and negotiating ability?

 

But fuck them proles, eh?  At least you're all right.

[Captain Furious]

I don't have tremendous confidence or negotiating ability, just a realistic sense of how the world works. I know people that have spent years getting bitter and twisted about the job they're in, fighting the company at every turn, clinging on in a life of misery just on the hope that they'll get redundancy and a pay off to go.

 

Decided that I wasn't gonna play that game any more, got some decent qualifications to back up my experience, put together a decent CV, put it on every job site going, applied for 10-15 jobs a week...never heard anything from most of them but eventually it paid off and here I am.

 

You can fuck off laying the guilt trip on me for that!

[EssDeeWon]

Yeah those bloody 16" Unions.  I prefer the Crowns myself.

 

[twosmoke300]

I don't have tremendous confidence or negotiating ability, just a realistic sense of how the world works. I know people that have spent years getting bitter and twisted about the job they're in, fighting the company at every turn, clinging on in a life of misery just on the hope that they'll get redundancy and a pay off to go.

 

Decided that I wasn't gonna play that game any more, got some decent qualifications to back up my experience, put together a decent CV, put it on every job site going, applied for 10-15 jobs a week...never heard anything from most of them but eventually it paid off and here I am.

 

You can fuck off laying the guilt trip on me for that!

Well said

[Guest Hooli]

Meanwhile, back in the real world...

 

That is the real world.

 

Where I work we have two workshy incompetent wankers who make everyone's life worse. Oddly they are also the only two union members & guess who manges to get away with a lot more than anyone else ever does when fucking things up? The best thing the union could do for the workers is to help get these two fired so everyone else's conditions improve. If they did the rest of us would respect the union a lot more and might even consider joining.

 

My experience of unions is always that the wankers who deserve firing are union members & use it to hide behind. Unions once served a purpose, but it's not the 19th century anymore so they have nothing useful to do. Out of a building of approx 15 people, 12 of us told the union rep that when he came scouting for members. It didn't do any good though, he carried on being useless & agreeing to our terms n conditions getting fucked up provided one of the wankers wasn't performance managed.

[Craig the Princess]

That is the real world.

 

Where I work we have two workshy incompetent wankers who make everyone's life worse. Oddly they are also the only two union members & guess who manges to get away with a lot more than anyone else ever does when fucking things up? The best thing the union could do for the workers is to help get these two fired so everyone else's conditions improve. If they did the rest of us would respect the union a lot more and might even consider joining.

 

So the union should work to get their only two members fired so people who can't be arsed to join may consider joining???

[chaseracer]

Unions once served a purpose, but it's not the 19th century anymore so they have nothing useful to do.

 

Wrong.  Open your eyes.

[LC Torana]

Yeah those bloody 16" Unions.  I prefer the Crowns myself.

 

I've got the Contour myself.  Always thought it was the nicest.

[Craig the Princess]

Wrong. Open your eyes.

Spot on, especially while politicians are trying to "decrease the burden of red-tape on business".

[Guest Hooli]

So the union should work to get their only two members fired so people who can't be arsed to join may consider joining???

 

Unions claim to work for everyone members or not. When there is an obvious cause of a lot of the stress & unnecessary extra work then if they did what they claimed they'd try to address that.

[Guest Hooli]

Wrong.  Open your eyes.

 

My eyes are open. In over 20 years of working I have NEVER seen a union do anything useful anywhere I've ever worked. Indeed most of the things I've seen them agree have made life worse, often worse than the original management suggestions would have been.

[MarvinsMom]

i've never been in a union, and i never will be.

here's why, my father got made redundant from his post as a local council officer. he was, at the time a firm believer in unions, but wasn't following this debacle, now the reason for this was the council had been obliged to take on a shear of Cleveland Councils staff after Blair dissolved it. and not before time too, as Cleveland Council was the pits. they had, amongst other things blown £1.5million on putting "nuclear free zone" on the signs at the start of the district, ignoring the fact that Hartlepool (which was within the counties border) is home to 2 large AGR reactors.......

so, to reduce the staff numbers, and also increase the councilor's "expenses" and "allowances" jobs were cut. those marked for redundancy had their pay grades reduced by 2 or 3 increments, so as to reduce the payout that the council was liable for, and which is of course illegal. the day after the 1997 election which saw labour, or the "transit mafia", given that they were all ex. transit bus drivers take control of middlesbrough council, they were all in the accounts department at 7.30am going through the books.

unison took the council to court, BUT as the union had made such a piss poor job of preparing their case, the judge threw it out, including in his remarks that the employee's did have a case, but as it was presented so poorly, he had no choice but to find for the council. and if that wasn't bad enough, the leader of the council, and the "chief convenor/shop steward/head gob-shite" were seen leaving court laughing and having a right old time amusing each other. turns out that, shock horror, they belonged to the same labour club.

prior to that, i'd had a summer job in the post room at the civic centre. the best job i've ever had, dead easy, open the post, sort it, put it in my little cart and then take it round the town hall, civic centre, guney house and vancouver house, then do the reverse trip in the afternoon to collect the days out going post. its the best job i've ever had. the real eye opener was watching the unison bloke trying to get one over on GMB, and vise versa.

 

they couldn't give two hoots about their members, it was all for their own glory, and hopes of getting nominated for election in some safe labour ward. wankers too a man....

[Captain Furious]

If it wasn't for the odd white highlighting wrecking my eyes, I'd like that twice

 

(your reasons, not how the unions screwed your old man, obvs)

[Craig the Princess]

Unions claim to work for everyone members or not. When there is an obvious cause of a lot of the stress & unnecessary extra work then if they did what they claimed they'd try to address that.

They clearly aren't going to try and get their members fired. Perhaps if you were in the union they would listen to you.

[Bren]

I was a health and safety steward when I was welding - I did get some things improved but it was a thankless task.

 

As a public sector emoloyee who has had nothing but misery since this government came into power what I will say is this - once the public sector has been dismantled attention will be turned to the private sector especially post brexit - minimum wage, paid holidays etc will be under threat - mark my words. Anything to help business - bollocks to the people actually doing the work. Plenty more where you came from.

[Guest Hooli]

They clearly aren't going to try and get their members fired. Perhaps if you were in the union they would listen to you.

 

If they'd ever done anything to improve my lot then I'd consider joining. As it stands we get fucked over because they don't do what they claim to do & we don't even get a voice about it as non-members. So why should I pay in for them to make things worse?

[Tamworthbay]

I was a health and safety steward when I was welding - I did get some things improved but it was a thankless task.

As a public sector emoloyee who has had nothing but misery since this government came into power what I will say is this - once the public sector has been dismantled attention will be turned to the private sector especially post brexit - minimum wage, paid holidays etc will be under threat - mark my words. Anything to help business - bollocks to the people actually doing the work. Plenty more where you came from.

Well said. Reminds me of this:

 

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

 

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 for me.

[chaseracer]

...we don't even get a voice about it as non-members.

 

Well, duh.

[Captain Furious]

"Plenty more where you came from."

 

Unfortunately, that is the sad truth of it, no matter how indispensable or undervalued you think you are, your company could replace you ten times over tomorrow, and no amount of union shakedowns are gonna change that

 

I think it was Next, who have long held themselves up as the bastions of valuing the workforce, were asked why they refused to pay their retail staff the living wage - the answer, we have over 20 applications for every job, we don't have to

 

If nothing else I admire their honesty