Strike?? outside House of Waterford Crystal

thomasm

Any idea what’s happening here. About 40 - 50 mainly guys in yellow safety vests waking in a circle in front of Crystal plant on the mall since I drove past it this morning. No one carrying a placards or signs saying what it's about

http://www.waterfordcity.ie/cam/index.htm

mecco

I was just about to start a similar thread

I heard they are against GPS devices being fitted in the city councils fleet of vehicles. Can't find confirmation of that anywhere yet.

IMHO, its a bit cynical that they are outside the House of Waterford Crystal and not outside there depot in the Northern Industrial Estate, or at least across the road where the city councils reception is. That visitor centre is probably one of the few things bringing money into the city at the moment.

Anyone know the official status of the strike?

dayshah

thomasm wrote: »

Any idea what’s happening here. About 40 - 50 mainly guys in yellow safety vests waking in a circle in front of Crystal plant on the mall since I drove past it this morning. No one carrying a placards or signs saying what it's about

http://www.waterfordcity.ie/cam/index.htm

Hmm, I passed by and they are still there. Usually a strike would have pickets, but maybe its a spontaneous thing.

What type of workers there would be wearing high-vis jackets?

mecco

dayshah wrote: »

Hmm, I passed by and they are still there. Usually a strike would have pickets, but maybe its a spontaneous thing.

What type of workers there would be wearing high-vis jackets?

I should have said..apparently its city council workers and not waterford crystal people. Still havent found a confirming link though!

nkay1985

The old ESB building is now City Council offices I think so that'd be why they're protesting there. Not much of a protest though if they don't have so much as a sign telling people what they're giving out about!

dayshah

mecco wrote: »

I was just about to start a similar thread

I heard they are against GPS devices being fitted in the city councils fleet of vehicles. Can't find confirmation of that anywhere yet.

IMHO, its a bit cynical that they are outside the House of Waterford Crystal and not outside there depot in the Northern Industrial Estate, or at least across the road where the city councils reception is. That visitor centre is probably one of the few things bringing money into the city at the moment.

Anyone know the official status of the strike?

There are laws against picketing businesses that have nothing to do with a strike.

Maybe W Crystal are offering 50% off to anyone who dresses as a road worker?

mecco

dayshah wrote: »

There are laws against picketing businesses that have nothing to do with a strike.

Maybe W Crystal are offering 50% off to anyone who dresses as a road worker?

And 75% to anyone who walks repeatedly in circles!! As nkay said, city council have offices in there.

pocketvenus

Well I was passing today and a group of 10 tourists stopped me to ask could they go in WC and had tired before and were hesitant to go past group as they were sort of blocking the door. They thoughT it had to do with WC

I mean city is bad enough but if I was working in WC I would be pretty annoyed if these guys were stoppping tourists from coming in / putting them off

ziedth

I'm in City Square, I'll float down now and give you a boards scoop

ziedth

Does anyone have a link for tgat webcam that looks down on it?

Edit: just saw the OP

nkay1985

ziedth wrote: »

Does anyone have a link for tgat webcam that looks down on it?

In the OP Ziedth.

wellboytoo

http://www.waterfordcity.ie/cam/index.htm

wellboytoo

Nobody consulted me when the government gave the banks a shedload of our money , who can I picket?

thomasm

pocketvenus wrote: »

Well I was passing today and a group of 10 tourists stopped me to ask could they go in WC and had tired before and were hesitant to go past group as they were sort of blocking the door. They thoughT it had to do with WC

I mean city is bad enough but if I was working in WC I would be pretty annoyed if these guys were stoppping tourists from coming in / putting them off

Thats well out of order, WC should have them moved on if its nothing to do with them

pocketvenus

thomasm wrote: »

Thats well out of order, WC should have them moved on if its nothing to do with them

Exactly as hanging about the entrance to the buliding or slowly walking past it is going to deter people from going in. They have enough intelligence to know this. No doubt if they are questioned about this they will say they weren't doing anything.

I saw 2 bus loads pulling in there on my way down to Tower hotel and you could see the tour operators and guides looking and wondering if they could get in and what was it all about.

AdMMM

Striking over this?! What next? Striking because they change the scent of the air freshener in the cars?

Yes Boss

Striking because they don't want anyone to know they are skiving off!! Lovely...Actually, what a joke - Bring on Public Sector Reform....

seanybiker

Stupid reason to strike. There can't be any logical reason to object to this. I think its a good idea.

ziedth

It's standard practice for delivery drivers AFAIK. Tools IMHO.

Joey leBlanc

Yes Boss wrote: »

Striking because they don't want anyone to know they are skiving off!! Lovely...Actually, what a joke - Bring on Public Sector Reform....

They are scared that their open secret (skiving) will get out. I happen to be in the Northeren Ind Estate most mornings.. should see the speed any of the WCC vans drive at.. 5/10mph at a push. There is always a line a traffic behind them all the way in the Cleaboy Rd.

dayshah

Pity they don't put those things on buses, and then link it to a website or Android App and have electronic signage.

Joey leBlanc wrote: »

They are scared that their open secret (skiving) will get out. I happen to be in the Northeren Ind Estate most mornings.. should see the speed any of the WCC vans drive at.. 5/10mph at a push. There is always a line a traffic behind them all the way in the Cleaboy Rd.

Whats the speed limit in the estate?

JackM_79

This is a joke IMO, alot of private sector fleets have these devices these days, if they are doing their jobs surely they have nothing to worry about.

nkay1985

Not a sign of them on the webcam now. Must have come to their clocking out time!

Still no word on what it was about then?

ziedth

nkay1985 wrote: »

Not a sign of them on the webcam now. Must have come to their clocking out time!

Still no word on what it was about then?

I was down there and a friendly fellow across the road told me it was indeed the GPS tracking.

Kracken

There reason to strike is crazy, they are obviously trying to hide were there vehicles are or how fast they get there.

I would hazard a guess as to say they are using the vans for personal reasons and now if they are tracked they can't and can get caught.

jayboi

As far as i know the council workers are striking because when they showed up for work this morning that all the vans etc were fitted out with gps without consultation with the staff.

Also its an unofficial strike so far thats why theres no plackards.

Id imagine they picked waterford crystal as there are council offices there and the impact is bigger

mike65

Public sector showing itself up again.

AdMMM

Why would they need to be consulted? While I obviously don't have knowledge of the specifics of their contracts, I'd imagine that these devices don't pose a safety risk to the drivers and don't require any additional training to use.

Strikes and actions over minor issues like this is what dilutes the impact of legitimate strikes i.e. action taken to protect jobs or highlight a gross breach in employee rights.

ex_infantry man

this is standard practice as far as i know now for all heavy goods vehicles or a vehicle that has a tachograph system to have these installed, there is one on my 2011 truck at work and only found this out yesterday when my transport manager was goin through the technicals of my truck on his laptop, they aint used for watching the driver as such but for vehicle management and in a worse case scenario for crash forensics if in an accident, as i hit the brakes hard on monday to avoid a collision and he was able to tell me the date,time and even show the location of where it happened on his laptop!!!

danjo-xx

I think all Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann have em, it is 2011 after all, must get one for my old banger in case its stolen.:D

seanybiker

danjo-xx wrote: »

must get one for my old banger in case its stolen.:D

Better ask her permission first

danjo-xx

seanybiker wrote: »

Better ask her permission first

I see you've met her:p

seanybiker

danjo-xx wrote: »

I see you've met her:p

Hahaha easy known she isn't on here

darrersbag

Jesus these lads are unreal. When are we going to get pubic sector reform and get shot of the union mickymen behind this carry on.

seanybiker

darrersbag wrote: »

Jesus these lads are unreal. When are we going to get pubic sector reform and get shot of the union mickymen behind this carry on.

Ah jaysus. Well bud how ya

inlikeflynn86

AdMMM wrote: »

Striking over this?! What next? Striking because they change the scent of the air freshener in the cars?

Dont paint them all with the one brush there were probably fellas there who didnt want to be there, scared of being called scabs and whatever else,

chelloveks

Let the fookers find another job if they have a problem with it!

julias_jewel

chelloveks wrote: »

Let the fookers find another job if they have a problem with it!

Yeh cause its as easy as that with the amount of jobs out there.

fbrophy

The action is limited to the outdoor workers represented by SIPTU. The rest of WCC staff (represented by IMPACT & LAPO) were at there desks as normal this morning and have nothing to do with this unoffical action.

The action is indeed over the fitting of GPS devices to WCC vehicles.

ex_infantry man

are they that thick that they think there goin to be watched! ! All the council are doin is fleet management by fitting them! It gives them all the tech info of the vehicle

BlaasForRafa

ex_infantry man wrote: »

are they that thick that they think there goin to be watched! ! All the council are doin is fleet management by fitting them! It gives them all the tech info of the vehicle

they SHOULD be watching them... at least the serial skivers anyway

next

Looks like their back out there again today

deise blue

darrersbag wrote: »

Jesus these lads are unreal. When are we going to get pubic sector reform and get shot of the union mickymen behind this carry on.

Unfortunately when Management neglect to consult accredited employee representatives on changes to work practices this is what happens.

As for Public Sector reform - that is what the Croke Park Agreement hopes to deliver .

Max Powers

NO SYMPATHY for this strike what so ever. GPS on company vehicles is normal practice, its also an excellent safety device which aid location in the event of an incident. These lads are afraid they will get caught with their company vehicle parked up outside their house for a few days, complete wasters.

Also, striking and detering tourists from entering Waterford Crystal is a disgrace, they dont give to hoots about the people of the city and just want to cover their own patch, its disgusting. I saw a couple of UK tourists hanging around outside the area, im pretty sure they were wondering is it safe to go in.

next

Just watching the web cam, why do they have to walk in front of the building why not walk up in front of the offices it looks very messy with buses parking, I'm sure tourists getting off the buses must feel intimidated seeing a group of men standing beside their bus

BlaasForRafa

deise blue wrote: »

Unfortunately when Management neglect to consult accredited employee representatives on changes to work practices this is what happens.

Absolute and total bull***t, this entails no change to work practices....aside from possibly stopping them from goofing off. This kind of attitude is one of the many reasons that Ireland is f**ked.

deise blue

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

Absolute and total bull***t, this entails no change to work practices....aside from possibly stopping them from goofing off. This kind of attitude is one of the many reasons that Ireland is f**ked.

Of course it's an amendment to current work practices.

I'm quite sure that there is a Union/Employer code of practice in this particular case where all such changes must be introduced by consultation , something the Employer seems to have neglected to do in this case.

Two sides to every story !

ToxicPaddy

deise blue wrote: »

Of course it's an amendment to current work practices.

I'm quite sure that there is a Union/Employer code of practice in this particular case where all such changes must be introduced by consultation , something the Employer seems to have neglected to do in this case.

Two sides to every story !

99% of private fleets in the country have GPS tracking, many of the public service fleets have them so why are these guys so special?

Kindly explain how a GPS tracking device on a vehicle is an amendment to work practices??? What consultation is required exactly?

Some people obviously do not have enough to do in their work as they have time to think of up this bullsh*t!!!

Typical mindset of some members of the public service. No wonder the public who's taxes are being used to pay their wages have had their fill of this sh*te :mad:

The fact that they are not holding placards showing the general public what exactly they are protesting about says it all, they are ashamed of such petty bull and using it as an excuse to take a day off.. :rolleyes:

thomasm

Listening to 11am news on WLR and apparently some workers have returned to work. Council getting an injunction against the others to protect their investment in viking triangle and WC.

Workers asking why is money getting spent on this area and not fixing broken windows in Larchville. Seems like they are trying to distract from the GPS issue

Deisekickboxing

next wrote: »

Just watching the web cam, why do they have to walk in front of the building why not walk up in front of the offices it looks very messy with buses parking, I'm sure tourists getting off the buses must feel intimidated seeing a group of men standing beside their bus

To get maximun publicity ??

Surely there's more issues on the table than just the trackers
What's the camera for anyway, big bro deise style?

Max Powers

deise blue wrote: »

Unfortunately when Management neglect to consult accredited employee representatives on changes to work practices this is what happens.

Thats bull in fariness, GPS is normal practice, why the hell should management need to ask employees permission to fit a safety device for their benefit which also prevents them from sitting on their a$$ all day at home pretending to work. We pay for these morons, the union should be ashamed and it is this kind of bull that leads to everyone hating the public service when there is a lot of people doing good work.

They should be forced away from there