Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

:shocked:

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

That sounds much more sensible.

Why did you link to a thread about bisexuality :confused:

I am not employed by VM. Unfortunately, due to reasons of corporate confidentiality, I am unable to elaborate any further.

I am not in a VM focus group, nor connected to the CWU. The last time I had any involvement with trade unions was a long time ago. It was at the TUC conference in Brighton when Tony Blair was prime minister and Gordon Brown the chancellor. I had a brief chat with Gordon Brown after his speech. In the evening, I attended a dinner organised by the PFA (followed by a free bar :D) at which both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were present, but I didn't get chance to speak to them.

I spent much of the following day talking to the General Secretary of AMICUS (now part of Unite.) He was called Derek Simpson, he had a union credit card for expenses :cool: and went on to take part in a TV series following professionals at work (IIRC called "A Day In The Life Of") narrated by Adrian Chiles.

This was at the hotel where the IRA tried to blow up Margaret Thatcher, I can't remember it's name.

Would you like to see the CWU merged with Unite?

PMSL

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

The Hotel was the Grand at Brighton - I was in the Victoria Bar when it went off, and we all came out covered in plaster.

We got off lightly.

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

Good heavens, you were lucky not to get injured.

Yes, it was The Grand. We were staying at a hotel to the left facing away from the sea and were only there for the Professional Footballers Association dinner. We weren't allowed to actually stay at The Grand due to security reasons, as Tony Blair etc and all the living ex Labour Prime Ministers were staying there as they meet up at this time every year for dinner.

Were you there when you worked in the armed forces Hugh?

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

No, afterwards - I was active in Politics in the 80s and 90s, then got a life....:D

You can have a career, a family, and be active in politics - but usually only two out of three; I choose my career and my family - in hindsight, a very good choice...;)

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

No the have completely different views and deal with completely different workforces and I do not see anywhere that they could overlay each other as they are to diverse.

I have been a member and branch official of both unions by the way and know what their aims are, I have also been a member and branch official of USDAW as well.

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

OIC, I thought you might have been protecting the Government along with the police.

Well, unions have grown progressively weaker since the Thatcher laws of the 80's. Mr Cameron is reported to be intending to bring in more anti union legislation. Things may get interesting with this, the public spending cuts/job losses/pay freeze in the public sector and the dismantling/weakening of employment rights legislation.

Following the merger, Unite is now the largest union in the UK, whereas previously it was Unison.

I was thinking along the lines of there's "strength in numbers", but, if they are worlds apart, it probably wouldn't be possible.

Isn't USDAW the shopworkers union?

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

Sainsbury's and B&Q warehousing covered by USDAW.

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

The staff I feel sorry for are the ones who feel the need to go to Swansea especially considering the way they have been treated, the are many positions locally and I could never trust that company to be honest and offer any long term positions.

I expect that the ones thinking of going have no real ties up here such as relationship wise or mortgages plus they will have to stay there for at least 2 years or pay back any moving fees.

Most people have had no issue getting employment locally so moving to Swansea should never really have been necessary.

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

Perhaps those who have accepted a position in Swansea particularly wanted to stay with the company??

The way that many businesses are having to make efficiency savings in order to simply survive, in light of the worst economic times in living memory, unfortunately, means that employees will be required to be ever more flexible. Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures.

Expect to see more zero hours contracts, forced unpaid leave etc.

The next, more palatable, big thing will be homeworking. Large office buildings like Albert Dock, are very expensive to run. Think of how much it costs VM to pay the rent, NNDR, fuel, heating etc. It can cost thousands of pounds a year to maintain even one workstation space and that's before anybody has even been paid a wage!

If employees work from home a huge amount of time and money is saved.

With modern communication technology, web cams etc, the fantasy can become reality.

The employee gains by not having to pay travel costs and has more quality time, with journey times being cut. There are environmental/traffic congestion benefits too.

Why should people travel into the centre of Liverpool, when they can have a lie in, get ready and take a leisurely walk into their home office to complete their tasks?

It's a win, win, win situation!!!

There are some issues that will need to be ironed out, such as local authorities wanting to designate the offices as non domestic, therefore making them liable to Business Rates, employees may expect something towards their heating/lighting etc, customer confidentiality issues, insurance etc.

What do VM staff feel about, say, call centres like Albert Dock being run in this fashion?

The Government (DWP) and certain private sector companies (mainly in the communications field) are currently running low key trials.

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

I would not have gone as I did need feel the need to go due to my circumstances, many more will feel the same.

It is also a question of trust,could you ever truly feel safe with a company who are willing to make 435 people redundant and lose the accrued knowledge in that workplace which can never be replaced.

Try reading some of the answers the new 2nd line guys ( join dates November 2011 onwards ) are giving on the community forum, they are answers you would not even expect from an agent just out of Grad bay and even the members are questioning some answers given.

If they are the future expect many more disgruntled customers either leaving or seeking help elsewhere.

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

yes I want to see more of this.

could this be done with call centre work? probably but companies like VM likely want to directly supervise their staff which I think is the main barrier.

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

It can be done quite easily this company already does it but it is a Zero hours contract and you earn your holiday money as you go which is on top of the basic wage.

You just need a hard wired computer and a home office with a phone line, you incur no costs as it is all computer based and they have team managers remote listening and call stats, so it is just a virtual call centre.

Re: Virgin Media Closing Albert Dock
 

Some are really shocking, I agree.