Hiya Gang,
Just thought i would add a further contribution given the gravity of this topic.
The first point i would like to make is wouldnt all of the staff that work overtime like to spend more time doing what they want to,not what the employer does? Such as spending time with family (Playing in your Fronty?) not ceaslessly toiling away because the basic is crap?
Soldiers and traffic wardens are poorly paid but according to your logic why dont they just leave as the money is so bad?
I applaud the work soldiers do and am grateful to them but i might be correct in thinking that danger might have been mentioned to them at the Army careers office just before they signed up!
Miners/rig workers/builders/ scaffolders know the risks and choose their jobs but also have to negotiate fair renumeration for that role.
If i might further add that driving for an employer records the highest number of deaths per year of any employment and that includes far surpassing all of the known "dangerous" jobs put together. (Figures from HSE).
The right to withdraw your labour (i.e Strike) is not taken lightly and i understand that the drivers union has negotiated long and hard however i do agree with the point made about not buying shell fuel as this may well hurt the company which may cause them to influence this dispute in favour of the drivers.
One final point, just leaving or walking away doesnt tackle the issue of low pay or poor basic however negotiation might and last resort strike at least tackles the matter in the open as opposed to the employer merely employing someone else on the same crap money knowing full well they will have to do overtime to make ends meet. (Thus you are right it saves the employer all those NI contibutions when obviously he doesnt have the correct number of employees to fulfill his order obligations).
I have an image in my mind of Bob Cratchett but as we all know Scrooge was still getting richer
My coat is on, can you forward my hat?
Skywalker













