BT is cutting 13,000 managerial and back-office jobs and plugging its pension black hole,

[gintonic]

Anecdotal I know, but my retired BT engineer next door neighbor and his chums tell me that much of the infrastructure is on a knife edge, and that planned and preventative maintenance programmes have simply been abandoned to cut costs.

that view is supported by my next door neighbour who was a BT Engineer. He was made redundant by BT years ago, but his skills and function is still in demand by BT. The redundancies spawned a raft of small companies who BT then contracted in to fill the role of the engineers.

But the engineers are now on zero hours contracts with few benefits and no pension

The result was a comms nightmare between BT a myriad of companies and a bunch of effectively freelance engineers who are the ones being shafted.

My neighbour tells me last week he had to drive from here S Herts to Slough to pick up parts from a BT supplier to fit for a job in Peterborough. He says it is so chaotic that BT can no longer manage to get the parts in the same place as the engineer at the same time. Companies contracted to BT often don't sign off jobs - so when my neighbour gets to a site he finds the job completed by someone else, and since he is effectively self employed and paid per job he is wasting his time.

 

[Mike Reed]

One wonders why he bothers in these circumstances without some kind of safeguard.

 

[merlin]

Mortgage?

Mouths to feed?

To be honest Mike, I'm amazed at how complacent so many of us are - and I include myself there.

It truly has become a slave economy out there and is only set to get worse once our right wing friends have freed themselves of the shackles of EU Human Rights legislation.

 

[gintonic]

yes and yes

 

[Mike Reed]

To be honest Mike, I'm amazed at how complacent so many of us are - and I include myself there.

It truly has become a slave economy out there and is only set to get worse once our right wing friends have freed themselves of the shackles of EU Human Rights legislation.

You're probably quite right, Merlin, but sometimes I wish I could be a bit more complacent, but there are too many complications to senile citizen life(largely self-initiated, others tell me) to be so.

I do think employment has changed over the decades, but some seem to welcome this freedom; others to fear the insecurity. Not at all sure what this has to do with Brexit or the human rights legislation, though, as it's been with us for some time. Think this 'zero hours' business came from over the Pond but I don't know any younger people, incl. my children, who are not employed in the old-fashioned way. Still, this is Norfolk after all !

 

[Still]

I know!

But not so sure about the timing.
Waaaaaay back in 1979 the conditions of my first job (theatre) were 0 hours/casual, had be available to work any hours/days as required, no holiday/sick pay, etc.

 

[Minio]

Kids I know these days can work three casual jobs to buy a house.

That wouldn’t be so easy in London as the houses just aren’t affordable.

Another guy gave up working for BT to be a postman, which would have been a backward step in my day!

 

[Cav]

Spare us the tyranny of anecdotes which do not inform any discussion of employment practice.

The fact is that despite the hard won rights the Unions achieved, and the Eurpoean Working Time Directive, the Tories allowed a return to the 19th century where workers had no rights at all. Zero Hours Contracts? Slavery at, effectively, less than minimum wage.

 

[Minio]

19th century or 2018.

Which is best?

Only one way to find out !!

 

[Seeker_UK]

 

[Still]

Only one way to find out !!

Unfortunately google fight is still down.

 

[Mullardman]

It is neither a good nor bad thing. Why do you care who owns it as long as the trains run on time?

Possibly difficult for you to compute.. but I really don't want my cash being used to subsidise Foreign Govt owned companies....

Do you actually remember British Rail, Mull? Filthy trains, cancelled trains, late trains, dirty, underinvested stations, falling passenger numbers, frequent strikes, and all running at a huge deficit.
You are right, other countries seem to manage publicly owned railways well. The U.K. Signally could not.

Chris

Have you ever travelled on (privatised) Northern Rail Chris? Filthy trains, cancelled trains, late trains, dirty, underinvested stations, rising passenger numbers, frequent strikes, and all running at a huge profit.

 

[lordsummit]

Possibly difficult for you to compute.. but I really don't want my cash being used to subsidise Foreign Govt owned companies....



Have you ever travelled on (privatised) Northern Rail Chris? Filthy trains, cancelled trains, late trains, dirty, underinvested stations, rising passenger numbers, frequent strikes, and all running at a huge profit.

I die a little inside whenever a bus train pulls into the station...

I attach the link because whenever I venture to more Southern climes I’m impressed by the modernity of the rolling stock.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacer_(train)

 

[gintonic]

we enjoy our journeys on Northern Rail, especially the Pacers. For us It is a bit like visiting one of those living museums where they keep old stuff operating in the way it used to be.

Oh and don't for one minute think that poor rolling stock (although things are getting better), dirty trains and strikes are a thing unique to northern.

 

[Mike Reed]

...... but I really don't want my cash being used to subsidise foreign gov't owned companies....

Here's me thinking you were a man of the world, Mull; not a rampant nationalist !

 

[Seanm]

I know!

But not so sure about the timing.
Waaaaaay back in 1979 the conditions of my first job (theatre) were 0 hours/casual, had be available to work any hours/days as required, no holiday/sick pay, etc.

Some of the sociological stuff on modern work argues that industry learned a lot from employment practices in the arts sector. Casualised, individualised, demanding, poorly paid/unpaid, feudal work relations - and you put up with it for the pleasure of being creative. Certainly how it was for me years ago when I was making a living doing photography - also how it is for me now as a lecturer.

 

[Still]

That's interesting and makes sense ime - that theatre was owned and run by the LA.
The building manager + deputy, stage manager, box office manager and caretaker were all full time w/pension/holidays/ect.
But the rest (a large majority) were all 0 hrs casuals like me.