Bord Gais increase bills by 12% whilst spending 100k on chairs!!

ScumLord

TheZohan wrote: »

You probably wouldn't tbf. Those chairs are great, nearly bulletproof too. They'll last a long long time.

Also they're not €900 over here, you'd pick them up for around €660 (+ VAT which they can claim back). If they were buying in bulk I have to agree with Yakult, they'd get a better price on them.

They've still bought top of the range chairs when they're supposed to be on a budget.

We get all our chairs at work from http://www.vikingdirect.ie/a/bb/Office-Chairs/Ergonomic-Office-Chairs/N=3+1289670/ half the price we've had some of them for probably 10 years and I'm sure they'd get a bulk discount.

Chairs are very important in an office job but these people do seem to like to treat themselves to the best rather than just get something that will do the job.

Dionysus

skelliser wrote: »

Bord Gais increase bills by 12% whilst spending 100k on chairs!!

"whilst" - is "while" not good enough?

Dionysus

chin_grin wrote: »

Rabble rabble rabble rabble rabble rabble.

Well, isn't that an original response in Afterhours. :rolleyes:

Hal1

Ah sure they can't sit on the floor now. :rollexeys:

Dionysus

skelliser wrote: »

Bord Gais increase bills by 12% whilst spending 100k on chairs!!

PS: The impending Bord Gáis increase is more in the region of 22%.

BartM

Temptamperu wrote: »

Why is it ok for execs and not for the "mickey mouse" as you put it?

Cause that's how it works - with a certain job position you get certain privileges. But an executive who makes a decision to generously waste a lot of money on fancy chairs for everyone in the office should be getting the most raw wooden chair so that he can feel the physical pain of his stupidity. In fairness would any regular BG employee care what brand and how much did their chair cost? It should be comfortable and durable - that's all.

trackguy

bnt wrote: »

I had an Aeron chair at the company where I worked before. They are flipping expensive, but they are built like tanks, and last forever as long as they're maintained properly. They also have a decent resale value too i.e. it's not an entirely sunk cost.

Re-sale value is non-existent, even for an Aeron, in office furniture. I work in the area.

As for the cost of the chair, BG would have been getting a considerable discount for buying the quantity that they did. I'm surprised that is only to the extent of around €100 per chair.

I know for a fact that many companies tendered for this sale and that most of them would have been proposing chairs that were significantly cheaper and of a very similar standard ergonomically.

A fussy architect....difficult unions, pure greed and dis-regard for the current climate are all at play here

listermint

BORD Gais staff who are demanding 'disturbance money' to move just three kilometres to plush new offices will have their own private gym and a 'trolley service' delivering light refreshments to their desks as part of a new 'quality restaurant service'.

Tender documents seen by the Sunday Independent reveal that the luxury facilities will be put in place at the new five-storey landmark building overlooking the Grand Canal, just 10 minutes from Grafton Street.

Details of the costly new facilities will anger Bord Gais customers who will have to pay nearly 22 per cent more for their home gas supplies from the start of next month.

The Commission for Energy Regulation, which has approved the price rise, said it understood that an increase of such a magnitude would cause hardship for many consumers, given the difficult economic circumstances.

In February, just as Bord Gais was seeking expressions of interest to fit out its new offices, the company was also lodging new tender documents, seeking the provision of "third-party debt-collection" services to chase monies from residential and commercial customers who are more than 120 days behind in paying their gas bills.

Last week, it was revealed that Bord Gais had spent €150,000 on Aeron chairs designed by Herman Miller, which carry a retail price tag of about €650 plus VAT.

The chairs have been judged such a design icon that they are on permanent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and have been praised for offering "unparalleled comfort and aesthetically pleasing lines".

Bord Gais's new headquarters, which will replace its current office in Dublin's Foley Street, was designed by the award-winning architects Henry J Lyons.

The new building, 1 Warrington Place, boasts an oversailing bronze canopy roof. On the forecourt there is a fluid bronze sculpture by artist Michael Warren.

Bord Gais sought tenders for a number of contracts to deliver facilities for staff.

In June, it sought a supplier for "a quality restaurant catering service". It had already sought suppliers to fit out the restaurant and gymnasium.

According to the documents, the successful tenderer will be required to provide a quality restaurant service, Monday to Friday, including trolley service, hospitality service, free tea and coffee stations and vending machines.

The staff restaurant will also supply soup of the day, salad bar, a choice of three main courses, plus accompaniments and dessert. The winning tenderer also has to cater for late-evening dinner receptions on an ad hoc basis, the annual barbecue and supply catering for 12 functions a year in the board dining room.

Unions at Bord Gais Energy are seeking compensation for staff to move to the new offices.

They want a payment for the extra costs and travel time involved in making the move, although the new offices are adjacent to the Luas line and the location is well serviced by buses.

It is understood that the issue is likely to go to a third party for adjudication.

Yesterday, it was revealed that ESB staff enjoy a sparkling array of perks and pay allowances on top of their basic pay, overtime and pension contributions.

Individual allowances can be worth up to €6,000 a year and include extra cash for "availability" and being "on call", plus "oil tanker attendance", as well as "first aid" and "qualification" allowances and bonuses for some grades.

The average ESB salary, excluding pension contributions, stood at €85,000 last year. This makes ESB workers among the highest-paid industrial workers in the country.

Last week, ESB union chief Brendan Ogle narrowly avoided suspension after describing his members as "spoilt" at a speech to a meeting of the republican group Eirigi.

Mr Ogle's salary of more than €80,000 is paid by the state-owned company.

And on it rolls, As if a brand new office facing Grand Canal, A New Gym and rolling desk lunch service wasnt good enough.....


And yet 'disturbance money' is still on the cards. Infuriating stuff. Bloody unions they havent been the preserve of the common man for decades.

4leto

I was looking at a programme "The secret life of buildings" and it was about how your office space and its architecture influences us. Its amazing the result when a space is designed for people rather then the penal like space and buildings we all seem to work in.

So if a company invest a little extra in their staff the results are telling from a productivity and moral point of view,

So why do I get the impression everyone here would be happier if Bord Gais employees worked in a monks cell in an austere 10th century monastery type building. Like even if they did I doubt very much it would lead to cheaper bills.

Ireland has some very real economic and social problems, so why do we always focus on the trivial like what type of chairs bord gais are sitting on and the usual Joe Duffy crap.

listermint

4leto wrote: »

I was looking at a programme "The secret life of buildings" and it was about how your office space and its architecture influences us. Its amazing the result when a space is designed for people rather then the penal like space and buildings we all seem to work in.

So if a company invest a little extra in their staff the results are telling from a productivity and moral point of view,

So why do I get the impression everyone here would be happier if Bord Gais employees worked in a monks cell in an austere 10th century monastery type building. Like even if they did I doubt very much it would lead to cheaper bills.

Ireland has some very real economic and social problems, so why do we always focus on the trivial like what type of chairs bord gais are sitting on and the usual Joe Duffy crap.

I get your post, but what has that got to do with the unions and 'disturbance money' all of which you so kindly glossed over....


If my company were moving to an all new mod cons building up the road with this sort of facilities id be over the moon.

4leto

listermint wrote: »

I get your post, but what has that got to do with the unions and 'disturbance money' all of which you so kindly glossed over....


If my company were moving to an all new mod cons building up the road with this sort of facilities id be over the moon.

It really is because they can, its the unions brief to get a better deal for their members, its an old state company with old state unions. So the company has a choice, pay the workers something or lose millions in bad industrial relations. It sucks but it is the way it is.

Thatcher swept them all away in Britain and that is one of the reasons why. Would you like a similar thing here?

listermint

4leto wrote: »

It really is because they can, its the unions brief to get a better deal for their members, its an old state company with old state unions. So the company has a choice, pay the workers something or lose millions in bad industrial relations. It sucks but it is the way it is.

Thatcher swept them all away in Britain and that is one of the reasons why. Would you like a similar thing here?

Yes I would, Unions have done nothing of worth for the past 10 years. Bar pay internal members crazy wages and instil any insane status quo in the public service. Infact they have been shown to be useless to members in the lower pay of the PS. Maintaining and increasing the luxuries of the members in higher grades.

Unions!! more like a cosy cartel...

4leto

listermint wrote: »

Yes I would, Unions have done nothing of worth for the past 10 years. Bar pay internal members crazy wages and instil any insane status quo in the public service. Infact they have been shown to be useless to members in the lower pay of the PS. Maintaining and increasing the luxuries of the members in higher grades.

Unions!! more like a cosy cartel...

To be honest it is sickening especially to those out there (and these days there are many) who are suffering. It would be nice if the unions would adopt a more socially minded policy, but that is not their job.

Perhaps privatisation of the semi state (and that is what it would take) would be a better thing for the public, but as in Britain only for the short term.

But that will happen sooner or later with IMF anyway, so the unions are biding their time.

In general I agree with you it is sickening.

4leto

I get the impression Unions have become an industry in themselves with their high paid CEOs, secretaries, PR and admin staff.

The union industry should form a union (sarcasm).

listermint

4leto wrote: »

I get the impression Unions have become an industry in themselves with their high paid CEOs, secretaries, PR and admin staff.

The union industry should form a union (sarcasm).

If Carlsberg could make jobs......


It would be super. High paid, do very little, loads of perks and get get sacked unless you murder someone.

My name is URL

lol.. you'd imagine it would be difficult to outdo the chair thing, but Bord Gais may have just managed it

Bord Gais Energy today confirmed it has secured a commercial partnership with the Grand Canal Theater's owners to rename the facility as the ‘Bord Gáis Energy Theatre’. The deal (which will cost Bord Gais €4.5 million) takes effect next year.

http://www.thejournal.ie/bord-gais-secures-naming-rights-to-grand-canal-theatre-262408-Oct2011/

listermint

My name is URL wrote: »

lol.. you'd imagine it would be difficult to outdo the chair thing, but Bord Gais may have just managed it



http://www.thejournal.ie/bord-gais-secures-naming-rights-to-grand-canal-theatre-262408-Oct2011/

And people wonder why i was giving out so much about the chairs!! Because it wont stop. If they get away with little stuff like office Chairs and opening up brand spanky city central offices that could have been moved to the outskirts for a fraction of the cost.

Now this, a completed unrequired branding of a building to the tunes of millions so some director of Bord Gais can satisfy the feeling of self importance and gift free tickets to staff and pals (i dont buy this customer crap) and frankly people are more concerned about high bills than getting a ticket to a show.


All nonsense, and anyone who defended the 'Chair gate' decision defend this..............