(14 Sep 2023, 12:41 pm)Ambassador wrote The PR is so weird. The 'regions largest bus operator' - why is it in there?! It's irrelevant. The statements make me utterly cringe and I'm not sure who they're aimed at. The public have zero trust in the organisation and you're not going to a bus operators site to read a PR statement on strike action. They're more than happy to front up on this but not on the actual horrendous service levels they currently offer
The attack on terms and conditions is often a deal breaker vs actual cash (which is what we're seeing in the railway strike)
It's a bizarre way to conduct industrial relations. We all know that there'll be internal comms that come out during a dispute, and that's an employer's prerogative, but it's mind-blowing to see one played out in the public domain. They should really stick to responding to comment from the media, rather than writing their own tabloid-style press releases.
Being on the TU side, I've never been adverse to reviewing terms and conditions, but those talks almost exclusively never came to fruition. Most employers, in my experience, only ever want to talk about driving down terms and conditions, without looking on the other hand of where they could improve things. A workforce is never going to accept an erosion of terms and conditions for nothing, which is why unscrupulous employers try and tie changes into pay deals.
Looking at the paid meal break example. If say someone is working 260 shifts a year, and they've got a 30 minute paid meal break, then that's a cut of almost £1,600 to them on that £12.83p/h figure. That 9.1% pay increase suddenly doesn't sound so generous.
(14 Sep 2023, 12:51 pm)mb134 wrote The wording of the statement ("Bosses at the firm") reads much more like something you'd find in a tabloid than an official communication from a company.
It's quite an aggressive way of writing in third person. "Bosses at the firm", when signed off by the boss of the firm?
(14 Sep 2023, 4:59 pm)Rapidsnap wrote Count themselves lucky, I don't get my breaks paid at work, and I'm lucky if I manage to take my full break as I'm normally interupted during them to answer a phonecall or to solve an issue because the newer member of staff aren't sure how to sort it or it's a customer being a general pain in the arse and not accepting the word of the newer staff member and wants to hear it from someone who has worked their longer.
It's not a race to the bottom though, is it? You might not want to fight for decent rights at work, but others do.
Depending on how long your shift is, you likely have a right to an uninterrupted break: https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work