26-10-2013, 03:15 PM
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Grangemouth Deal - a good thing?
I noticed that the Grangemouth saga ha been resolved with UNITE having to do a major climb-down which included agreeing to changes to pension arrangements, a three-year pay freeze and a promise not to strike for three years.Although I think that under the circumstances saving 800+ jobs was the right way to go in this dispute, I can't help feeling that this could herald an upsurge in similar, almost forced deals going through rendering Union Representation a killing blow and - possibly - the further erosion of worker's rights in the near future.
Recently I discovered that a local, foreign-owned supermarket retailer seems to have shed itself of a lot of local staff and now has almost all new foreign staff; many Eastern Europeans or recent legal immigrants.
The pay offered has actually gone down too from £6.78 per hour in late 2012 to £6.50 and I believe that another major warehousing chain with several warehouses locally has also reduced the starting rate of pay.
Where I work, a British concern - we had to wait for 2 years for a pay rise and then only got 1.4% but it seems we were relatively fortunate compared to the norm where I live now, which all boils down to one thing IMHO - the reduction in Workers Rights & Remuneration is on the increase at a time when, apparently, the economy has made a minuscule recovery.
Do you think that, for the ordinary working man, things will continue in the present vein for sometime yet to come while we all sit here watching the pay of the bosses going up continuously for no apparent reason that makes strong economic sense in a post-recession environment?
To me the PM has a damn cheek in claiming we're all in this together when the opposite seems to be more and more true! stevmk2
26-10-2013, 03:43 PM
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Re: Grangemouth Deal - a good thing?
The problem with the grangemouth dispute was the workers were on really good deals anyway, they are paid far and above other workers in the area and instead of being in any way grateful bit the hand that fed them. They have done a lot of harm to Unions in this country IMO very sad.26-10-2013, 03:44 PM
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Re: Grangemouth Deal - a good thing?
Originally Posted by Julie1962
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The problem with the grangemouth dispute was the workers were on really good deals anyway, they are paid far and above other workers in the area and instead of being in any way grateful bit the hand that fed them. They have done a lot of harm to Unions in this country IMO very sad.
26-10-2013, 04:05 PM
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Re: Grangemouth Deal - a good thing?
Originally Posted by Julie1962
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The problem with the grangemouth dispute was the workers were on really good deals anyway, they are paid far and above other workers in the area and instead of being in any way grateful bit the hand that fed them. They have done a lot of harm to Unions in this country IMO very sad.
Unless you have worked in a chemical works, like I have you don't appreciate the conditions.
26-10-2013, 04:11 PM
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Re: Grangemouth Deal - a good thing?
Originally Posted by Wrinkly
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They are indeed on a good deal, but they do work in a dangerous enviroment, si in my opinion they deserve a high wage.Unless you have worked in a chemical works, like I have you don't appreciate the conditions.
26-10-2013, 04:30 PM
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Re: Grangemouth Deal - a good thing?
I am not saying they don't deserve it just in times when some people have seen real losses in their hourly rates and no pay rises at all for 6-7 years and pensions disappearing into the ether they should possibly have picked a better time to fight.
26-10-2013, 05:00 PM
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Re: Grangemouth Deal - a good thing?
I have been watching this on the news and I did feel sorry for them that there were going to be changes to the pension provision and, given the pathetic state pension, I can understand they weren't happy about accepting those changes.It was claimed that the company was running losses of a fair bit - was that down to bad management? I have no idea but it is the management's responsibility to oversee profit margins and where it's going wrong and can it be fixed without hitting employees too hard.
I'm not a huge supporter of the unions but in this case, I do feel it was a climbdown that should have been avoided and it will have dealt a blow to the trade union movement.
As you say Steve, local people are slowly being replaced by foreign workers and it's something that has been mentioned on here a few times lately; it would seem there's isn't much we can do about it either.
26-10-2013, 06:25 PM
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Re: Grangemouth Deal - a good thing?
I personally felt they were banging their heads against a brick wall.Lots of other companies have stopped the end of work wages to pension thing.
I would prefer to have a job for the next 15 - 20 years they have now been given than the dole. I felt that they pushed a billionaire too far
and he did seem to advise them so. I have never been in a Union
but having seen what happened to the Coal Miners who were apart from
the Port Workers the strongest.
To me its a now and do what you can World, its not the old fashioned I
worked for 50 years at the same job and get a pension time.
Not everyone will reach pension age as they will be dead, so live now
pay later isn't the best but if you have a mortgage and bills to pay its is
the best.
We can no longer live in the past.
27-10-2013, 11:17 AM
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Re: Grangemouth Deal - a good thing?
I think the Union were duped. McCluskey should have called the employers bluff, because that was what it was - a bluff. No way were the employers going to close the entire site - it was profitable!!! - McCluskey, could have called on his members to occupy and run the site (like they did at Govan shipyards) as a workers co-operative!!!|
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