Future Information (Non Footy)

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

I wasn't familiar with Mr Souter so I googled him. I can well understand why he's unpopular, however I have to say the only political party he appears to have any link to is the SNP, so I'm unclear as to why you're also having the standard pop at the Tories. As far as I can tell they've nothing to do with either him, or the position his company is taking which is causing you and your colleagues such obvious grievance. That said, you clearly know a lot more about him than me so you'll be able to tell me if I'm wrong?

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

£9 a hour for driving a bus full people is generous. WTF. Here they come,surprised it took so long, it'll not be long now, greedy so and so this, lazy so and so that, get back to work, should be ashamed of yourself for wanting so much money. Don't you realise how many are on min wage. I just cannot comprehend why people accept the **** they are fed by Dave and his cronies. We are all in it together, oh, except all my mates in the top 10% of the country and they can continue shafting you lot so they can have their 49% rise in wages.

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

Would love to give my reasons why i'm not looking for another job but stagecoach do have people scouring internet forums and reading papers etc. beleive it or not

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

Oh I believe it, the company I worked for used the league of st george ( i think thats what it was called ) a right wing organisation that Thatcher approved of back in the 80's to weedle out union activists,labour party members etc. when vetting people for jobs. Panorama did an expose on it, made the hairs on my kneck stand up.

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

I accept that£9 per hour could be considered generous for this area, as I said in an earlier post this is after 2 years service, the starting rate at the moment is in the region £6:50 for doing exactly the same job and usually finding it much more difficult due to having to learn routes, ticket machines, multitude of passes and which is valid where etc. when you consider Arriva are on £10 plus an hour then shift allowances and enhancements we lag quite away behind.

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

You are trying to compare two companies salaries in two different demographic areas. Arriva in west xorkshire dwarfs the feeble efforts of stagecoach in barnsley.

Ultimately at the end of the day stagecoach barnsley can only pay a wage what's supported by that aspects of the businesses balance sheet. They are a business there to make profit for the shareholders etc

Its not a dig at you its just my observations as to some extent I am in the same boat. I get paid for what I do just under the going rate for the job in sheffield. If I worked in leeds or Manchester at a rival company then the going rate is around four or five grand a wear more.

 

Using that argument...

..and combining it with the oft heard mantra " paying the going rate to attract the best talent in a competitive market" does that mean all Stagecoach drivers are crap when compared to Arriva drivers? I think not. I dont understand your comparison here. Surely bus fares/ running costs are comparable regardless of the scale of operation here since most of the costs are running - fuel, maintenance, taxes so economies of scale are not as applicable as , say an industry where raw materials etc are a higher proportion of expenditure. I dare say arriva could buy vehicles cheaper but the since the buses seem to have a long life and depreciation is written off to tax that again does not really enter the equation. There is no reason the margins for a small operation need to be much lower than a large scale operation.

 

Also:....

"They are a business there to make profit for the shareholders etc"

WRONG WRONG WRONG!!... Agree that a puiblic company should make money for shareholders. However. this is where the whole thing falls down IMHO. Successive governments have sought to privatise public services
in a bid to "improve efficiency". Private companies running public services exist to do just that. Provide a service in an effincient way. Maing a profit for shareholders is desirable but should NOT under any circumstances be achieved at the expense of the public.
Wages based on the 'going rate' (except apparently for management and CEOs) and dividend/profit maximisation means a drive for the bottom which, in the context of say, care homes, education and the NHS is a recipe for disaster.

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

You describe Stagecoach's efforts in Barnsley as feeble and that ties in nicely with the widely held belief within Stagecoach employees that the only reason they bought Yorkshire Traction was to get their hands on the Sheffield operation because if you consider in the few years they've been in the area, they've sold Huddersfield Depot and its work, closed Doncaster and Shafton Depot's closed the Barnsley & District operation closed Coaching and Private Hire and closed the Travel Link travel agencies. That leaves Barnsley,Rawmarsh and 2 Sheffield Depots at Ecclesfield and Holbrook which certainly seem to be getting the bulk of new investment re buses. So i would agree Arriva's operation in W Yorkshire certainly puts Stagecoach firmly in the 3rd division.

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

As an ex-tracky employee with over 14 years service I have kept an eye on the National Bus industry since Thatcher sold it off for peanuts.

A guy who use to work at Barnsley Depot was alleged to have walked away from First Bus with £58 million.

Deregulation is something we are all having pay for and Souter stepped in an exploited it.

So blame Thatcher.

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

biggest party in s/york's when that witch pops. no danger

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

Why should he look for another job?

Stagecoach needs to give the welfare of it's workers priority not it's share holders.

Stagecoach is the main reason the bus industry needs to be re-nationalised.

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

Wondered how long it would take before thatchers name got thrown into the thread. Suprisingly its not from the normal suspects.

Although I agree with aspects regarding the government running public transport employee welfare and getting the going rate for what they do I am of the opinion that £9.35 an hour is a generous rate for the area in which they serve and outside of the fact they both involve buses you cannot compare stagecoach south Yorkshire to arriva in say wakefield.
Buses in wakefield to my knowledge start everyday at around five am and run right up close to midnight especially the main routes hence the more attractive pay packet. In barnsley a few routes aside there seems to be very little before half part six seven am and the same is true once it goes past half nine at night.
Regardless though ultimately the aspect of the business has to make money in order to pay its staff a higher rate of pay. If the money isn't there then how can a wage increase be justified? I am more than happy to be corrected but my understanding of stagecoach buses in sheffield is largely subsidised by the government and this money has been cut quite steeply in recent months. Is the same true in barnsley?
At the end of the day everyone wants to be paid a higher wage for the job they do on a par with rival companies but sometimes you just have to accept it isn't always a viable option.

that's my last post on the matter as although I have enjoyed putting my points across and sharing those of others I suspect this thread is going to degenerate down the lines of the normal abusive lines. If it doesn't I may well carry on.

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

So to be clear, we are talking about a process of deregulation which, during their 13 years of government, that beacon of hope for the working man that is the Labour Party did nothing to reverse? That still doesn't explain how what Souter did makes him a Tory, when he clearly seems to have different political leanings?

Read this board for long enough and it becomes apparent that there's nothing bad or negative about our town that can't be somehow blamed by one of you on Thatcher. I'll be honest, it's embarrassing, and worse than that, it's possibly the main reason this town is stuck in such a time warp. As for the suggestion on one of the other posts that we all ought to celebrate when someone who is by now a frail and very poorly old woman finally dies, that's nothing short of shameful, but unsurprising given the poster.

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

It was me who called him a tory and if you read my second post I clarify what I meant, his commercial tactics are pure old style mill owning toryism, if he lived in England he would be a tory no doubt about it, he doesn't so he backs the party he can influence up there, did you read the part where he donated money to the snp who then dropped an election pledge to re-regulate the buses. Don't under any circumstances think that what posed as the labour party for 13 years in office bears any likeness to a labour party that looks after the working man, cos it doesn't. Blair made Heath look like a commie. And as for Thatcher don't get me started, haven't got the time,going to bed, up early in the morning, a nice 20 mile walk on the moors beckons, got to get them in before Dave sells em to his mates.

 

Have you had a new offer Gloucester...

15 November 2011 Last updated at 13:37
.Stagecoach bus workers in South Yorkshire plan strikesFour days of strike action are planned by bus staff in South Yorkshire if a pay dispute is not resolved by Friday.

Members of union Unite who work for Stagecoach South Yorkshire would walk out on Friday, next Monday and on 2 and 3 December.

Barnsley, Rotherham and the Dearne Valley would be affected by the strike.

Stagecoach said it would run a "near-normal" service between 07:00 GMT and 18:00 GMT on strike days and all school services would operate as normal.

'Poor relations'

John Evans, of Unite, told BBC Sheffield that the strike would be a last resort.

"Our members are looking for parity with their colleagues in other companies because they are in a sense the poor relations within South Yorkshire," said Mr Evans.

"There has been another offer put on the table and we're looking at that at the moment."

He said Unite had been in discussion with the company since April, but they had not been able to resolve the issue.

Stagecoach said more than 100 relief drivers would be drafted in from other areas to minimise disruption to passengers.

Services in Sheffield and Chesterfield, including route 265 to Barnsley, and those operated by Stagecoach East Midlands in south Rotherham and Doncaster would run as normal, the company said.

 

sadly the result of your strikes will be similar to P i s s i n g into the wind mate

all you will achieve is a pay packet with the amount of days you were on strike for deducted. That simple. I work for Royal Mail now and we have over the last couple of years been through pay disputes, as I am sure you may be aware. The company took jack S h i t notice of the strike action and the unions were ignored or "back handed"..I believe the latter. All our strike actions achieved was a day/s pay less in the pay packet.

 

Re: sadly the result of your strikes will be similar to P i s s i n g into the wind m

Tell thi what DT...the thing I found most interesting from that report, was that Stagecoach are allowed to bus a 100 strikebreakers in....when is it, only about 6 pickets are allowed ?....f00king disgrace that...

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

http://www.stagecoachbus.com/serviceupdatedetails.aspx?Id=3890

 

Re: So why are stage coach barnsley refusing to pay back pay?

http://v2.barnsleyfc.org.uk/showthread.php?159337-Future-Information-(Non-Footy)