Brighton bus drivers ballot to strike

[pastafarian]

What IS illegal is a bus company's failure to run the advertised timetable. The penalties are severe.

No one has ever cared what the penalties are,its a pointless exercise dreamt up by jobsworths .....people only care if your bus doesnt turn up

 

[Thunder Bolt]

really? is it illegal?
i genuinely didnt know this....

i get people go sick ,we muddle through initially,after a few days i give them a polite call and ask how are you feeling,coming back soon etc? if not hope you get better,all the best and then phone an agency to cover that day......repeat process daily.

i never realised it was illegal to phone up an employee and find out how they were doing so you know how to bring in cover

You are covered for the first 7 days with self certification. After that, a doctors note is required. If you need to contact the sick person, it has to be in writing. You can request, in writing, for the person to be contacted by phone, but they don't have to talk. After a while on a medical note, it can be requested in writing, to visit the sick person.
Writing can be an email or letter.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

It seems fairly clear that one of the things that has followed on from the loss of traditional trade union rights is the growth of alternative ways for workers to get their own back in disputes with their employers. Sickness absence is one such option.

The solution seems obvious to me. Restore the rights of the trade unions.

Alternatively, of course, the government could put limitations on the rights of workers to take sick leave. But we'd have to leave the EU for that to happen.

Oh.

Exactly. Workers' rights are important.

 

[Surf's Up]

Same parent company

...with shit for brains and appalling employee relations.

 

[pastafarian]

You are covered for the first 7 days with self certification. After that, a doctors note is required. If you need to contact the sick person, it has to be in writing. You can request, in writing, for the person to be contacted by phone, but they don't have to talk. After a while on a medical note, it can be requested in writing, to visit the sick person.
Writing can be an email or letter.

jesus what a load of bollocks.
ill ignore that crap then

are there any rules for real people in the real world where the employee doesnt give a toss if the boss phones up and asks if you are feeling better?

 

[Gullflyinghigh]

jesus what a load of bollocks.
ill ignore that crap then

are there any rules for real people in the real world where the employee doesnt give a toss if the boss phones up and asks if you are feeling better?

It's a load of bollocks until you end up with an employer who decides to regularly harrass someone when they're off, make them feel irrationally guilty and try to force them back into work.

I don't imagine many people would use those rules to get work to back off if they've a good relationship with their employer but if you're stuck with a cockwomble then you'd think they'd be fairly handy.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

jesus what a load of bollocks.
ill ignore that crap then

are there any rules for real people in the real world where the employee doesnt give a toss if the boss phones up and asks if you are feeling better?

You may write it off, but that is employment law. I worked for 50 years in the real world before retirement. I'm glad I didn't work for you.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

It's a load of bollocks until you end up with an employer who decides to regularly harrass someone when they're off, make them feel irrationally guilty and try to force them back into work.

I don't imagine many people would use those rules to get work to back off if they've a good relationship with their employer but if you're stuck with a cockwomble then you'd think they'd be fairly handy.

I know of an instance where an employee fell, when the bus they were on, had an accident (not in Brighton). They broke their leg. They couldn't work because the employers' insurance wouldn't cover someone on crutches leaving a building in a fire.
The boss didn't believe they had broken their leg, and were discovered at the end of the employee's road with a camera, trying to take a photo of said employee.
As the employee was claiming for damages from the bus company, they had a lawyer. This lawyer wrote a very strong letter to the employee's company, warning them, that spying on employees broke employment law.
That boss was disciplined.

 

[Gary Leeds]

Don't forget as well that legally a driver can only work so many driving hours over a period of time so they can't always do overtime if it is offered.

B&H buses have had a driver shortage for at least 5 years, from what I have heard its not just a case of being 1 or 2 short but closer to 40-50 drivers needed just to cover the standard route timetables. They even borrow drivers from Metrobus in Crawley who have no idea on the routes they are covering (same parent company and same management team now) when things get really bad.

I also know from a good SAUCE that since Roger French left and Martin Harris took over staff moral has dropped massively especially amongst the longer service staff. He seems to see drivers as nothing more than a value in the costs field on the profit and loss account, rather than as an asset. If staff were treated better then I'm sure they would not mind putting extra in when asked rather than almost being told its a duty to work extra hours. But the same goes for any company, treat the staff with respect and they will respect the bosses.

The pay from what I have been told is good for a driver outside of London but because of the reputation B&H have nobody wants to work for them. This time the strike is not about pay or cuts, just a case of people being treated like people

 

[Gary Leeds]

What IS illegal is a bus company's failure to run the advertised timetable. The penalties are severe.

And because of this and the fines that go with it B&H will do anything to get a bus running including having drivers working when they are not well enough to be in control of a bus full of passengers. B&H are the most profitable company in the Go Ahead group and they want to stay that way

 

[The Albion Roar]

Where is the next Maggie to make strikes illegal and benefit the nation not just a few union men.

Hard to know where to start with such a stupid post.

 

[The Albion Roar]

Maybe we could get all the zero hour contract people in Brighton & Hove to train as bus drivers and they could fill in when the bus drivers are tired or when they are off sick (just don't phone up the sick driver to find out when they might be back to work or we could have a mutiny on our hands).

Did you read what their grievance is? Evidently not.

Maybe we could get all the zero hour contract people in Brighton & Hove to train as bus drivers and they could fill in when the bus drivers are tired or when they are off sick (just don't phone up the sick driver to find out when they might be back to work or we could have a mutiny on our hands).

 

[bhachris]

It's illegal. Of course the unions are going to do something about it. Two wrongs don't make a right.


Edit to add - If you had a union where you work, perhaps your conditions wouldn't be something to complain about.

I'm not complaining and its not illegal.

 

[Notters]

No time off in lieu for overtime? What like a normal job?!

 

[pasty]

No time off in lieu for overtime? What like a normal job?!

What's overtime?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

All of these vile companies seem to treat employees as an irritating annoyance that dilutes the bottom line, rather than the front line providers of the services that generate the profits that go straight in the pockets of the directors and the shareholders. More power to the workers that dare to stand up to these shits.

 

[Gullflyinghigh]

No time off in lieu for overtime? What like a normal job?!

If I'm asked to work for more hours than I'm contrcted for (I don't mean 20 minutes here and there either) I don't get paid any extra, but I accrue time off for it instead.

Jobs are different apparently.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Where is the next Maggie to make strikes illegal and benefit the nation not just a few union men.

I don't see this as political. It's more regular and decent hard working people being shafted by a company which has previous in this department. If what I've read it true then they are being royally ****ed over by their employer.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I'm not complaining and its not illegal.

The accident lawyer that represented a colleague of mine stated that it was. That was why the boss who did was disciplined.

 

[Notters]

What's overtime?

By overtime I obviously meant doing more work without getting paid any more.