Strike - Moral Dilemma?

[grumbledoak]

at Citizen Smith, here.

[fido]

BOR said:

If the BBC management can bring in people who can work through the strike, then what little leverage the strikers have is destroyed.

Erm, sounds like exactly the situation that many private employees face .. so yes i'd say cross the picket lines!

[remedy]

BOR said:

Do not ever, ever, cross a picket line. If you disagree with the strike, take it up with the strikers rather than sucking down on management cock.

If the BBC management can bring in people who can work through the strike, then what little leverage the strikers have is destroyed. Do you want to be responsible for that? The balance of power will shift wholly to the corporate wes who run the BBC, and they will be able to treat the employees however badly they like, if you give them that power.

Are you going to give them that power ?

Boo fking Hoo.

[SystemParanoia]

BOR said:

Do not ever, ever, cross a picket line.

BWAAAAHAAHAHAHHAAHAH!!!

i used to do agency work for a local council years and years ago.

unison called a strike.

i crossed that line every day that week, clocked in, and surfed the web all day as there was no new work for me to attend to.

i dont care if they want to strike, but i sure as hell wasnt going to miss out on a weeks pay for them.


so to echo everyone else on this thread... fk EM!

[TuxRacer]

[AndrewW-G]

What dilemma? if you dont belong to a union and it wont have any impact on your future earnings with the beeb, then it's not your problem . . . . . . . . . . . when the tube bods strike, do you refuse to use all forms of public transport out of solidarity?

If you feel guilty, take them some coffee and donuts

[ninja-lewis]

Check it's legal though - especially if you're being brought in to do the work of the strikers rather work you'd normally do anyway. There are one or two rules about who employers can and can't use to break strike (I think employment agencies are the main ones who aren't permitted). It'd probably only be the employer in hot water, not you, but you'll want to avoid the possibility of the contract falling through at the last minute due to legal technicalities.

[croyde]

So a quite overwhelming vote for my decision.

Having been self-employed/freelance at whatever I have done most of my working life ( over 30 years now ) I have not had sick pay/pensions/paternity leave etc and have little sympathy, right or wrong, with staffers and their constant moaning about conditions.

I have had years when my work has been ok but plenty more when it has been dire, especially the last couple and no BECTU or similar came out in sympathy when I was chucked out of my rare time as staff at BSB when Sky took over.

I have said yes to the work and, as it is always these days, it's a PENCIL so no definite job and it can go away the day before with no cancellation fee.

BTW when we had that cold snap last winter, it was amazing how many staffers could not make it in yet every freelancer managed the journey to work as no show = no pay.

Joke is that apart from about 8 amazingly overpaid and underworked staff all the others at the Beeb that do what I do are all Freelance anyway.

Cheers all.

[dilbert]

croyde said:

I am Freelance and one of my regular clients has asked me if I can work certain dates that the staff will be on strike.

I have not talked to them yet and I won't say what I think but I just wondered what the PH collective thought.

It's BBC workers striking over pensions BTW.

Surely this depends solely on your membership of the union.

If you're not a member of the union, then you have to carry on, or you jeopardise your job. Otherwise, it's between you and your union rep.

[NoNeed]

It's crazy that they are even thinking about striking IMHO. It is definately a case of All aboad the gravy train. When they find out they may have to get off and catch a bus for the last two stops they want their ticket price refunded, despite having travelled along way in luxurious comfort.

[croyde]

I'm sure that they will back down. The high end staff that us guys replace, know that they are on a Gravy Train and that they would be daft to rock the boat.

[Somewhatfoolish]

croyde said:

So a quite overwhelming vote for my decision.

Because, of course, most PH'ers understand that money comes from employers, and employees should be grateful for it.

We would never outlaw strikes. We would, however, make it perfectly legal to sack any employee who went on one

[superlightr]

BOR said:

Do not ever, ever, cross a picket line. If you disagree with the strike, take it up with the strikers rather than sucking down on management cock.

If the BBC management can bring in people who can work through the strike, then what little leverage the strikers have is destroyed. Do you want to be responsible for that? The balance of power will shift wholly to the corporate wes who run the BBC, and they will be able to treat the employees however badly they like, if you give them that power.

Are you going to give them that power ?

Power to the people Brother. Are you a throwback to the late 70's ??

Go on suprise me - what do you do for a living??

Edited by superlightr on Friday 24th September 20:43

[BOR]

What's it to you, Iceman ?

[28V6]

Somewhatfoolish said:

croyde said:

So a quite overwhelming vote for my decision.

Because, of course, most PH'ers understand that money comes from employers, and employees should be grateful for it.

We would never outlaw strikes. We would, however, make it perfectly legal to sack any employee who went on one

Might have trouble running the railways if that was applied,

It takes about 6 months to train a signaller from scratch for and about 18 months to train a driver. Not sure how long it takes to train a guard though, probably about 12 months.
And about 90% of signallers, drivers and guards are members of a union.

Edited by 28V6 on Friday 24th September 20:48

Edited by 28V6 on Friday 24th September 21:01

[anonymous-user]

croyde said:

I am Freelance and one of my regular clients has asked me if I can work certain dates that the staff will be on strike.

I have not talked to them yet and I won't say what I think but I just wondered what the PH collective thought.

It's BBC workers striking over pensions BTW.

So you are being called in to replace the striking workers, like strike busting? I wouldn't do that, fair enough if you work there anyway and are just continuing your normal work but to actually go in because they are on strike isn't just strike busting it's making money out of their situation.

It's not a case of supporting their strike or not it sounds like you'll be benefiting from it. If by "regular client" means you work there normally then that's fair enough.

[SystemParanoia]

i have NO problem with strike busting.

if they didnt go on strike, i wouldn't have the opportunity to benefit would i?


as far as im concerned.. money in my pocket > some unions ideals

[bga]

Somewhatfoolish said:

croyde said:

So a quite overwhelming vote for my decision.

Because, of course, most PH'ers understand that money comes from employers, and employees should be grateful for it.

We would never outlaw strikes. We would, however, make it perfectly legal to sack any employee who went on one

I am happy to say that without my employees I would not make much money. Without me they would be unlikely to be paid so much. We cannot exist without each other and that alone should be enough reason not to try and screw each other over.

[Pupp]

Corsair7 said:

Fuk them, seruiously, the tax payer funds their pension. Fuk them.

Er, no they don't. The licence payer does (there's a difference)

But fuk 'em anyway

[ewenm]

There have been strikes at one of my major clients, I still went in. Not everyone at the site is a member of the union so half the permies were in anyway. It didn't bother me.