How are strike breakers treated in your office?

[Pegman]

even then I'm lucky if i take home more than £250

I'm FT and I barely take home much more than that (£260 is my net pay) plus, you're very unlikely to get a better contract with RM these days so if you need more money then it might be better to look elsewhere (most OT has been cut from my office and I'm sure it'll be the same in many offices).

I only get that if I work six days,

As for getting another job, there are 14 applying for every job around here, I'm 52 and was very lucky to get this, even if I only work 5 days, and do no extra's Iam still over the threshold by £5 a week for benefits !!!

[DGP1]

even then I'm lucky if i take home more than £250

I'm FT and I barely take home much more than that (£260 is my net pay) plus, you're very unlikely to get a better contract with RM these days so if you need more money then it might be better to look elsewhere (most OT has been cut from my office and I'm sure it'll be the same in many offices).

I only get that if I work six days,

As for getting another job, there are 14 applying for every job around here, I'm 52 and was very lucky to get this, even if I only work 5 days, and do no extra's Iam still over the threshold by £5 a week for benefits !!!

Maybe I should have been a bit clearer, in the very near future you will only be getting your basic (22½ hours) and no extra if RM get their way. I understand your reluctance to go on strike because you've only just started and don't want to cause trouble but the current management will see that as weakness on your part and try to put extra work onto you without paying you for it (happens to the strike breakers in my office) and if you're right about the lack of jobs in your area then you may want to think about how you respond to the current (and proposed) IA because you may be in this job for a lot longer than you can envisage (I took this job because I was out of a job and it was something to tide me over Christmas and I'm still there 7 years later ).

[spilie]

even then I'm lucky if i take home more than £250

I'm FT and I barely take home much more than that (£260 is my net pay) plus, you're very unlikely to get a better contract with RM these days so if you need more money then it might be better to look elsewhere (most OT has been cut from my office and I'm sure it'll be the same in many offices).

I only get that if I work six days,

As for getting another job, there are 14 applying for every job around here, I'm 52 and was very lucky to get this, even if I only work 5 days, and do no extra's Iam still over the threshold by £5 a week for benefits !!!

this is the reason for going on strike the big money men in all companies including the so called government running RM want a workforce that will accept anything, and be grateful for any work so if you think your circumstances are bad then blame employers not employees and strike for better conditions

[steven100]

there will be 20 or so in our office is time around. c***s. They will be treated differently. Wont talk to them at all. Yet they happily take the improved terms and conditions they get. w*****s

What improved terms and conditions???? Going Part-time

[Pegman]

I grew up through the winter of discontent, I was in Wales during the miners strike, my parents gave money to support their strike.

But what happened, the pits still closed, miners still lost jobs, whjo's to say that if RM is as corrupt as you think it is that the same wont happen to us

[baldrick]

there will be 20 or so in our office is time around. c***s. They will be treated differently. Wont talk to them at all. Yet they happily take the improved terms and conditions they get. w*****s

What improved terms and conditions???? Going Part-time

We've got people who were PT and got FT contracts because the CWU Branch pushed
for PT to be made up to FT (this was a few years ago admittedly), but they still come
in during strikes. They have go to be braindead. I certainly wouldn't talk to them.

[Pinky 1]

I grew up through the winter of discontent, I was in Wales during the miners strike, my parents gave money to support their strike.

But what happened, the pits still closed, miners still lost jobs, whjo's to say that if RM is as corrupt as you think it is that the same wont happen to us

The pits did close, and the miners lost their jobs. But things move on and most of those same people now have jobs in completely different industries. The strikers still have their dignity intact, and are looked upto by the youngsters as people who would always stand up and fight for what they believed in. It was not easy, but they still walk tall.
The strikebreakers, blacklegs, strike breakers or whatever you wish to call them are not. In my hometown, they are still ignored by the vast majority of the community, as are their families. This has also followed them into their new workplaces, which in turn leads to most of them moving away.
Now no one is saying that this dispute will be as bitter as that one, and i don't think it could be, but the morality is the same.
You do not cross your own member's picket line ......... full stop.

[DirtyHarry]

I grew up through the winter of discontent, I was in Wales during the miners strike, my parents gave money to support their strike.

But what happened, the pits still closed, miners still lost jobs, whjo's to say that if RM is as corrupt as you think it is that the same wont happen to us

Pegman, it seems pretty clear that you were a beaten man from the day you were born. Scab away, but please, spare us the defeatist code you live by.

[DirtyHarry]

I grew up through the winter of discontent, I was in Wales during the miners strike, my parents gave money to support their strike.

But what happened, the pits still closed, miners still lost jobs, whjo's to say that if RM is as corrupt as you think it is that the same wont happen to us

The pits did close, and the miners lost their jobs. But things move on and most of those same people now have jobs in completely different industries. The strikers still have their dignity intact, and are looked upto by the youngsters as people who would always stand up and fight for what they believed in. It was not easy, but they still walk tall.
The strikebreakers, blacklegs, strike breakers or whatever you wish to call them are not. In my hometown, they are still ignored by the vast majority of the community, as are their families. This has also followed them into their new workplaces, which in turn leads to most of them moving away.
Now no one is saying that this dispute will be as bitter as that one, and i don't think it could be, but the morality is the same.
You do not cross your own member's picket line ......... full stop.

Well said, Pinky.

[your_postie]

And if those strike breakers have thrown in the towel and walked away from the union when they need them most?

[Pegman]

I grew up through the winter of discontent, I was in Wales during the miners strike, my parents gave money to support their strike.

But what happened, the pits still closed, miners still lost jobs, whjo's to say that if RM is as corrupt as you think it is that the same wont happen to us

Pegman, it seems pretty clear that you were a beaten man from the day you were born. Scab away, but please, spare us the defeatist code you live by.

I think you need to read the whole thread and the rest of my posts before you comment on me like that, you don't know me as a person, you have no idea of my resolve or intentions.

Where have I said I will cross the picket line ?

defeatest no, realist yes, because if RM want to push these measures through, they will, no matter how long and how often we strike.

[97gaz]

[

[andy2007]

I've only been with RM for about 12 weeks, before that I was unemployed for three months.
I've lost my home because I couldn't afford the rent, and have had to move to a small flat with my wife and two teenage sons.
I'm on a 28 hour contract, but on Sept 21st that will be reduced to 22 1/2 hours a week, I've not been offered any extra duty this week, and SA's are snapped up by fulltimers on 40 hrs before the sheets are even put up, (One actually complained he didn' clear £400 last week) I even work my day off to make the pay worthwhile, even then I'm lucky if i take home more than £250
Now I am being asked to go on strike, lose a days pay, over issues that were raised before I joined RM, and issues I will not benefit from from what I can see.

If I go on strike my missus will make my life hell.

If I don't my mates at work will make my life hell.

Some times it's better to suffer three hours a day of s**t from your work colleagues, and look for another job, than 7 days a week form your missus.
That's the line, which made DirtyHarry think you were going to cross the lines.

Everytime someone explains to me why they are going on stike, different reasons are brought, and to be honest I don't think anyone knows for sure, not even the Union Reps in my DO.
The reason for the differences in the reasons people are giving are twofold:
1) The current Strikes are about local disputes. Some are directly linked to the National Ballot, and some aren't.
2) There are several issues which are being addressed by the National Ballot. Not everyone will neccessarily agree with everything in it. Although it's what the majority have asked for. They may be simply "plugging" the aspects which they feel passionately about.

As for your Reps, not knowing the reasons for the Strike. That's disgraceful!
Didn't you get a leaflet over the last couple of days, explaining it all?

In short Strikebreakers may have reaons for being at work, not all of them can afford to go on stike.

Just my two pennorth

[andy2007]

I understand why so many people treat Strike Breakers so harshly. But when are you going to realise that if you alienate them, they're unlikley to change?
Has it never occured to you, to try to reason with them?

There are a lot of people, who are too scared of the short term financial hardships, or hassle from their Families. What we need to do, is try to explain the long term damage that they'll do, if they cross the lines. Not just to their own situation. But to that of their Children, when they start work.

Just look at the difference between our working conditions, and those experienced by so many others, without the backbone to stand up for themselves. Now, I'm not talking about pay here (although it is one of several issues to be addressed by the Ballot). But how we're treated in work, and the quality of the service were ALLOWED to provide to the Public.

If we fail: Future Generations will suffer for it!

I just hope that we can somehow get a negotiated settlement, before the Strikes go National. Or if not, soon after it goes National. Because of the problems it'll cause for those who rely on our service. It's unlikley to happen. But that's no reason to give up hope, is it?

[DirtyHarry]

I grew up through the winter of discontent, I was in Wales during the miners strike, my parents gave money to support their strike.

But what happened, the pits still closed, miners still lost jobs, whjo's to say that if RM is as corrupt as you think it is that the same wont happen to us

Pegman, it seems pretty clear that you were a beaten man from the day you were born. Scab away, but please, spare us the defeatist code you live by.

I think you need to read the whole thread and the rest of my posts before you comment on me like that, you don't know me as a person, you have no idea of my resolve or intentions.

Where have I said I will cross the picket line ?

defeatest no, realist yes, because if RM want to push these measures through, they will, no matter how long and how often we strike.

My apologies if you've no intention of crossing a picket line, but your post wasn't exactly a morale booster, was it? And it seemed as if it was made by a man just moments away from throwing in the towel. My mistake, obviously.