This binman strike...

[Stat Brother]

This will be Royal Mail next.

To be honest.
For the unskilled work that we do, we are very well paid.
But to listen to the 'lifers', most of whom are unionised, you'd think we were curing cancer and operating on brains.

There's comparatively massive amounts of money available on overtime, as the managers are pressured to clear everything.
While utilizing a workforce that will either crack on too finish, or belligerently 'fight' the notion of work every step of the way.
Safe in the knowledge they are 'untouchable' from weak management.

I'd hazard a guess this is what's happened here.
The problem being currently management are holding the aces.
They weren't 5 years ago, and they probably won't in 5 years time but economically and in the current climate, they have room to flex their muscles, so why shouldn't they?

 

[Garage_Doors]

You asked that already. And I already told you. A not very good wage.

What is that as an hourly rate?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

What is that as an hourly rate?

As I posted already, £8 an hour

 

[bha100]

How much do they get paid?

Binmen are grade 4

 

[withdeanwombat]

Many, many, many, many, years ago I did this job, and was part of the in the house collections mentioned in one of the posts. We also went up fire escapes to get bins from flats, and carted bloody great zinc bins to the cart to tip them in. No wheelie bins. Basements ? No problem. Health and Safety at work ? Que ??

Payday hurt. There was only one a week when my body knew I'd earned at least five paydays. Conditions were , shall we say, poor.The job was saved by the camaraderie. Many of the "customers" viewed the bin men with as little regard as the contents of their bins, and this seems to be an ongoing issue. Refuse collectors are also people, people who do a manky job that many "sack the lot of ,em" folk wouldn't do in their wildest nightmares.

Are there simple solutions ?

Not without a change of political philosophy. It's easy to cut when that cut doesn't directly affect you. How about a 3% rise in council tax ? Oh,yes, that would be a vote earner . How about improving the grant from central to local government ? Erm, I refer to my previous answer.

Bugger, Isn't it ?

 

[driller]

Good shout. I'll unload a few sacks tomo.

Phnarr phnarr

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

This will be Royal Mail next.

To be honest.
For the unskilled work that we do, we are very well paid.
But to listen to the 'lifers', most of whom are unionised, you'd think we were curing cancer and operating on brains.

There's comparatively massive amounts of money available on overtime, as the managers are pressured to clear everything.
While utilizing a workforce that will either crack on too finish, or belligerently 'fight' the notion of work every step of the way.
Safe in the knowledge they are 'untouchable' from weak management.

I'd hazard a guess this is what's happened here.
The problem being currently management are holding the aces.
They weren't 5 years ago, and they probably won't in 5 years time but economically and in the current climate, they have room to flex their muscles, so why shouldn't they?

Once RM is privatised the sh*t will really hit the fan.

 

[Adsgull]

In these economic times it makes me laugh that people strike. I my line if work my wife and I had to take 3 days work a week less so that equals to a 40% pay cut this went on for 3years and we didn't strike I'm lucky to have a job. Bin men don't do their job very well anyway only deciding what rubbish they will and won't pick up. Also the complete inability to acknowledge any other user of the road. Their job is unskilled and although it is hard on the body so is all manual labour. I can't sympathise with people who strike whatever their chosen profession at least they have a job unlike so many in the private sector.

 

[Stat Brother]

Once RM is privatised the sh*t will really hit the fan.

Yeah I know.

Everything's going to get ramped up to 11.

I'm sure there's going to be loads to hate about privatisation but I do take solace in the fact I'm going to hate it a lot less than some of my more 'challenging' colleagues.

 

[yxee]

Like 15K is going to go very far to support a family in this now-dormitory town of Londoners inflating everything to crazy levels - apart from wages in the town. Maybe you expect public sector workers to commute to their bin depots from miles away. Shameful.

£15,400 plus benefits for a 37 hour week seems extremely fair for unskilled labour.

 

[Tubby-McFat-Fuc]

As I posted already, £8 an hour

What a complete cretin you are.

As Barrel of Fun already posted you mean.

Even though you label "slags" as lazy, you didn't even know the details yourself, other than not very good wage, until Barrel of Fun done the work for you, so try not to claim credit at the expense of others

Personally I think £8 an hour to pick up bags of rubbish is an excellent wage, when you consider the minimum wage is just over £6.

 

[bha100]

In these economic times it makes me laugh that people strike. I my line if work my wife and I had to take 3 days work a week less so that equals to a 40% pay cut this went on for 3years and we didn't strike I'm lucky to have a job. Bin men don't do their job very well anyway only deciding what rubbish they will and won't pick up. Also the complete inability to acknowledge any other user of the road. Their job is unskilled and although it is hard on the body so is all manual labour. I can't sympathise with people who strike whatever their chosen profession at least they have a job unlike so many in the private sector.

Great attitude that, are you top of the star chart? be careful if you ever remove your tongue.

 

[Tubby-McFat-Fuc]

As far as I can muster from the Internet...

http://thelatest.co.uk/brighton/201...uncil-chief-speaks-out-about-binmens-dispute/


Of the 1,000 staff who are affected by the changes, the council said that about 550 should be better off and 450 are expected to be worse off.The average gain is about £1,100 and the average loss is about £1,000. Compensation is based on the amount likely to be lost over three years.

So for a worker expected to lose £1,000, the compensation payment would be £3,000.Street cleaners and binmen currently earn £15,444 at £8 an hour for a 37-hour week. This will not change.

Some receive up to an extra £4,800 a year. Most of those who lose out will be between £600 and £2,000 a year worse off.All the numbers are best estimates, not least because they are based on allowances for things such as overtime and car mileage which can vary widely from week to week.

I wonder if the 550 who will be better off will be joining the strike?

 

[banjo]

I think your all talking rubbish. I'll get My coat.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Yeah I know.

Everything's going to get ramped up to 11.

I'm sure there's going to be loads to hate about privatisation but I do take solace in the fact I'm going to hate it a lot less than some of my more 'challenging' colleagues.

Your "more challenged" colleagues will be doing their conkers after a while and moaning about not being able to take redundancy because they cannot reach the productivity targets

 

[Stat Brother]

Your "more challenged" colleagues will be doing their conkers after a while and moaning about not being able to take redundancy because they cannot reach the productivity targets

I will be running around the office having to hold my willy, because I will be pi$$ing myself laughing.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Without knowing if the hourly rate is being cut to bring them into line with other council workers its difficult to draw a conclusion.

Not so. This particular group of council workers are having their pay cut to bring it into line with other particular groups of council workers who are, for the most part, women workers in low-paid jobs. Extending low pay to more of the workforce is no solution to the inequalities that exist in society.

As for other particular groups of council workers ... significant numbers remain much more highly paid than CityClean workers.

Cutting CityClean pay will also have an effect on the going rate in a lot of non-council jobs - so more people will suffer.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Seeing as how the slags are too lazy to look it up before jerking at the knee...

'Street cleaners and binmen currently earn £15,444 at £8 an hour for a 37-hour week. Some receive up to an extra £4,800 a year. Most of those who lose out will be between £600 and £2,000 a year worse off.All the numbers are best estimates, not least because they are based on allowances for things such as overtime and car mileage which can vary widely from week to week.The GMB has said that its members would lose between £5 and £95 a week. The union has also said that some members – thought to be as few as three people – would lose as much as £4,000 a year. The biggest group to lose out is based at Cityclean. Of about 270 workers there, most will be worse off'

Like 15K is going to go very far to support a family in this now-dormitory town of Londoners inflating everything to crazy levels - apart from wages in the town. Maybe you expect public sector workers to commute to their bin depots from miles away. Shameful.

The last bastion of left wing militancy in Brighton has been the bin men, and for about 30 years. Somehow they have been bypassed by Thatcherism, market forces, and the notion that the 70"s are history.

From what I can summise, the basic wage of a bin man is not being lowered, but overtime payments and travel allowances are being reduced. Oh well, that's life, at least it would be for most of us. Our lefty bin men think not, well maybe their bluff is finally being called. In reality its a bit like anyone else whinging that they didn't get a Xmas bonus, while in reality it should be remembered that a bonus is a bonus, not an automatic right. Perhaps the council should employ more bin men in future, cutting the need for overtime and bank holiday working, and thereby reducing the cost to the taxpayer.

PS Anyone who has a car and still puts their rubbish in their bin at the moment is an idiot, take it to the tip, and maybe take your elderly neighbours rubbish too, and just for once maybe take the students next doors rubbish, stops it cluttering up your street?

 

[wellquickwoody]

Not so. This particular group of council workers are having their pay cut .

For the love of Chablis, they are NOT having their basic pay cut!

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Not so. This particular group of council workers are having their pay cut to bring it into line with other particular groups of council workers who are, for the most part, women workers in low-paid jobs. Extending low pay to more of the workforce is no solution to the inequalities that exist in society.

As for other particular groups of council workers ... significant numbers remain much more highly paid than CityClean workers.

Cutting CityClean pay will also have an effect on the going rate in a lot of non-council jobs - so more people will suffer.

So the council basically wants to lump the binmen in with the dinner ladies instead of clerical assistants ?