After a run of five and a half years I sit here today out of
work again :(
This wasn't unexpected (as explained in the previous post)
but it still feels like a kick in the teeth.
The last three years have been back at the power station
where I previously worked for twelve years during the Nineties and 2000's, this
has been the most enjoyable period of my working career.
The main problem with this job was always the fact that
despite being an important cog in the whole machine, the power station insisted
in employing me through agencies and contract companies rather than employing
me direct?
The reasons for this I've never really understood, why would
you pay a fortune to an outsider "for supplying labour" when you
already had the worker in place? Back in 1995 I got a call from a friend to
apply for the job at the power station, I went for the interview and impressed
them and they told me the job was mine, I asked the relevant questions about
wages, holidays etc and was told I needed to discuss this with "my agency?",
I told them that I didn't have an agency and they said I should sign up with a
specific one they were using for other staff.
I was glad of the job so accepted the situation, the initial
agency weren't too bad to work for and only took 10% of the money the power
station were paying for me, the hourly rates and overtime rate was good and
they paid premiums for night shifts and working 12 hour shifts.
During this period the same agency was responsible for about
60% of the workforce, with the rest (vital staff) employed direct through the power
station. After a couple of years a decision was made to start employing
people direct through the power station (electricians, instrument techs,
mechanics, engineers and secretaries?) but my department was left on the
agency?
Then they decided to dump the agency and me and my
department were told if we wanted to continue working there we would have to
join a contract company they had chosen to run things.
I still cannot understand this choice as the contract
company run by an "Arthur Daley" style character had no experience of
the industry and were charging over 50% more for each of us than the previous
agency, but we were told that our hourly rates would be dropping by a £1 an
hour and night shift and 12 hour shift bonus would be dropped :(
This should have been the point I walked out, but with a
young family and mortgage to support and high unemployment around I swallowed
it and carried on.
The contract company had virtually no input in the daily
running of the job, so were just sitting there getting paid the equivalent of
my wages and the wages of my co-workers wages for spending a couple of hours
doing the wages (with hand written pay slips).
The situation came to a head in 2006 when the power station
finally decided to offer one of us a chance to become supervisor / team leader,
a position that hadn't existed but which I had been doing for a number of
years.
I was told to apply as the job was mine if I did, but
obviously seeing an opportunity to grab another "nice little earner"
the decision was made to appoint an outsider "specialist supervisor"
and I was told that I didn't have the relevant supervisory experience despite
doing the job well for several years?
So in came a guy who had no experience of the industry to
supervise me and my co-workers, over the next couple of years he proved to be
out of his depth and they sacked him. This made no difference to me as I had
"thrown my toys out of the pram" and left the power station, which
for a couple of years seemed to be a good choice until I ran out of money and
options and had to take a lower paid job just to survive.
About 3 years ago “Arthur’s” contract company came
calling asking if I would like to go back, their new supervisor was long gone
and with others leaving they had ended up with a handful of employees who were
just glad of a job but had little experience. I’m guessing the power station
had been less than impressed with some of the staff he had been employing? The supervisor’s
job had been given to one of the remaining workers (a guy I had trained up
seven years earlier) so obviously the "supervisory experience"
requirement had been dropped.
As I was in a good but lower paid job I bit the bullet and
went back, as it turned out it was a good decision as despite the power station
now struggling to survive due to government policies, there was a better
atmosphere around the place.
There had been a large redundancy before I went back getting
rid of a few good guys plus most of the "middle management types" who
as in most companies are a problem, people who have no real work skills but can
talk their way into senior positions by screwing over others, then feel the
need to justify their positions by coming up with new ways of doing established
jobs which never improve anything and by holding lots of pointless meetings?
So after a couple of years enjoyable employment getting my
department running efficiently again after years of having the place staffed by
guys who have just been dragged off the street to keep “Arthur’s” gravy train
running it has finally come to an end.
So know it has been “kick in the teeth time”
As well as my contract being terminated before the power
station actually closed (probably due to the power station paying Arthur double
what I am actually paid), my contract company (Arthur’s) has now decided to
close it’s business as it won’t be getting any more money from the Power
station.
Meaning that he is claiming to be penniless and will not be
able to pay me or my ex co-workers the redundancy pay and owed holiday pay he
is liable for.
During the 18 year period he has been supplying the workers
for the power station he would have earned between 2 and 3 million pounds after
paying the wages, I know some of this would have gone on training, insurance and
employers National insurance but still a very large chunk of that would have
gone straight in Arthur’s pocket., which is not bad considering he must only
spend about an hour a week doing anything related to our employment.
Now as well as having to go through the long winded process
of signing on, I also face several months of form filling and phone calls trying
to get at least some of the money that is owed to me from a government fund
that is available for screwed workers like myself.
Happy new year
