Nolanger wrote: » I've met people from Kilkenny/Mayo/Cork/Kerry/Donegal who brag where they're from and say great things about their county. Never met anyone from Waterford who does that.
dashboard_hula wrote: » Does anyone know who this "Joan Kwirk" wan is who is posting such shíte on that "Public Meeting for TalkTalk" page? From the looks of it, she seems to be about 27, a bit thick, and totally unable to get the hint that the TT lads would prefer to work things out between the staff and management first before resorting to the socialists for help, if ever. The bull that she has written on FB would be hilarious if she wasn't so serious, but all it takes is for one national media source to pick it up, even as speculation, for the redundancy negotiations to be seriously put at risk. Also I don't think Richard Boyd Barrett would appreciate his name being tossed around so cavalierly and being used to promote a politically stupid stunt like this. Rant over. I'd have posted it on the relevant FB page itself if I didn't think it would get deleted.
Joan Kwirk workers of the world unite you have nothing to loose but your chains
abouttobebanned wrote: » Is the word lose that difficult to spell?
honeybadger wrote: » link
Flyer1 wrote: » We all saw it coming. Anyone with half a brain could.
chelloveks wrote: » Has this been posted yet? It's a blog from Robert Butler in the Cork University Economics Dept. It is pretty interesting. Since January 2009 Waterford and the South-East region have be dealt some shattering employment blows. The disastrous closure of Waterford Crystal, following the sale of Waterford Wedgewood, was the final chapter in the long story of crystal manufacturing in the city. Despite the gradual winding down of crystal manufacturing in Waterford since the mid-1980s, the tale of crystal production in Waterford is laden with stories of success. The Time Square Millennium celebrations and the factories continued presence among the top tourists attraction in Ireland until its closure, rank among the top achievements for a brand that had incredible prestige attached to it both nationally and internationally. These successes make its closure even harder to swallow, not to mention the critical economic blow that the plant’s cessation caused to the city and region. 670 direct jobs were lost when the factory finally shut in early 2009. The closure of Talk Talk last week saw another 575 jobs leave the city. This can be added to the Waterford Crystal job losses and those announced by Teva Pharmaceutical (315) and ABB Transformer (178) in the last two years. Another 130 redundancies are being made in Glaxo-Smith-Kline in Dungarvan. Since the turn of 2009 1,868 people have become directly unemployed in Waterford city and county. Countless other people had been made unemployed, and sadly due to the nature of their work, be it through self-employment or with SMEs, nobody will report on their termination of employment.
dazftw wrote: » Well lads I'm looking to put together a short documentary with video/images on some of the families who have been hit hard with these recent job losses. Maybe 5 or so families to answer 2 - 3 questions. If you know of anyone or you've affected yourself and wouldn't mind answering a few questions send me a pm on here or you can get my contact details from my website in my signature.
Finnbar01 wrote: » Don't mean to be rude but I've had enough of these sob and whinge stories to last me a lifetime.
dazftw wrote: » You're not being rude at all. That's just your opinion which is fine. Doesn't have to be a sob story though, these people could have also got opportunities to work elsewhere which is always good. What I meant by hardest hit families were people who have more than 1 child or a single parent. I could have worded it much better. As much as it's a ****ty situation it should be brought up. It's still important you know.
Minstrel27 wrote: » Don't watch it so.
MitchKoobski wrote: » We all got an email at 12 o' clock saying one of the directors will be presenting us with "an update on strategy to all employees" at half 3. Getting a bit frantic but depressing in here. Some are ready to let rip, some are upset, most sensed something like this was coming for a while. One of the lads found the report on RTE, WLR then pasted it out again. Still no full confirmation on whats going on, but word going around is that its the exact same email Sligo got before they shut them down.
MitchKoobski wrote: » They have projects lined up here too, and theres a huge company party in england on saturday just as an extra kick in the stones. Just doesn't add up that they would announce job losses now, but tbh its not as if boards of directors care.
MitchKoobski wrote: » Gone by October. "We propose the closure of Waterford with all roles being moved to the UK" "There will be 30 days for consultation and transition starting tomorrow" Option to move your role to england IF it is a required role He seems to be doding around actually saying "We are closing Waterford" Just keeps saying support is available Sending us all home for the day. Wouldn't answer questions. Any questions will be dealt with within the next 30 days.
MitchKoobski wrote: » They had to have had this planned for at least a month. Pisses me off that even at 11:55 today we, including managers, had no idea anything was happening.
Talk Talk criticises Irish MEP's statement The telecom company Talk Talk has written to an Irish MEP accusing her of "negligent misstatement" after she raised the company's plan to close its Waterford call centre in the European Parliament, which will result in the loss of 575 jobs there. Earlier this month Labour MEP Phil Prendergast asked EU Employment Commissioner Lazlo Andor to consider if the closure of the facility at one month's notice was in breach of any EU directives. She also asked if sanctions could be taken under EU rules against companies behaving in such a manner. Talk Talk has written to the Ireland South MEP to ask her to immediately retract her statement. She has accused them of double-talk and says the letter amounts to a "thinly veiled threat" of legal action. The letter says employees had not yet been given notice, and that this would not happen until a 30 day consultation process had concluded, or until 30 days after the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation was notified of the proposed redundancies. It added that if the closure goes ahead employees would receive their full legal entitlements.
Two weeks’ ago, I raised the issue of Talk Talk’s plan to close its call centre in Waterford with loss of up to 575 jobs in the European Parliament. Because of this, the company’s head of human resources Nigel Sullivan saw fit to write to me demanding a retraction of what I said in the Parliament. His letter contained a thinly veiled threat of legal action against me if I did not jump to his tune. He also demanded that I retract what I said in parliament and copied his letter to the EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Laszlo Andor. I expect he will be disappointed by my response. I was furious at such arrogance and such ignorance. Public representatives have a duty to raise issues of public concern. Forums such as council chambers and parliaments are places where the representatives of the people can say things in the public interest that might otherwise be subject to defamation action without fear of legal reprisal. This means that big money cannot be used to buy big lawyers as means of stifling debate and consideration of matters of public concern. Representatives, of course, have a duty to use this privilege responsibly and almost always do. What I said in the parliament was not remotely close to defamation. In fact, I made no accusation, just a normal inquiry to the appropriate Commissioner – another day at the office, you could say. Much worse has been said about Talk Talk in the media, yet I get a letter accusing me of “negligent misstatement” and a demand for a retraction. Through this letter, Talk Talk has exposed itself as a corporate bully hostile to democracy. Trying to prevent a public representative from raising an issue of widespread concern in parliament is another low for a company that has treated its loyal Waterford workforce in an appalling way. It’s all the more astonishing, considering the husband of the company’s CEO is a minister in the UK government. There has been widespread shock and condemnation at the speed with which the company is trying to close its call centre. I simply asked Commissioner Andor to examine whether the company’s actions are in line with EU law. For this, I get thinly veiled threats just for doing my job and using the Parliament for its intended purpose. Talk Talk has shown itself to be not just a corporate bully but a corporate hypocrite too. Just last May, the company baldly stated that the British High Court and the British Government were wrong in its interpretation of EU law. By Talk Talk’s reckoning, it is entitled to make this type of statement about a High Court judge but when I simply raise a question over its compliance with an EU directive, making no accusation, it sees fit to threaten me. The Irish public knows Talk Talk stands for double talk but now we know it stands for double standards too. They should have the courage to stand over their position in public rather than try to hide behind thinly veiled threats. If the company is to salvage something from the wreckage of this corporate image car crash, it must offer its Waterford workforce exceptional and unprecedented redundancy terms and make a considerable contribution to the community.
KevIRL wrote: » This crowd would seriously want to get a grip and deserve every piece of negative publicity they've gotten and will hopefully still get.
Kotek Besar wrote: » The thing is, the negative publicity is in the Irish press, and TalkTalk no longer operate in Ireland. The UK media had virtually no mention of the proposed closure of Waterford, apart from perhaps a single Daily Mail article. Perhaps, at the end of the day, this isn't a UK issue for the British public to be too concerned about.
Buford T Justice wrote: » Mitch, If you've had any dealings with the Staff in Manila you'll know what i mean. The team leaders and sme's were shall we say, challenged in taking up tasks we handled on a daily basis.
KevIRL wrote: » Agreed. They do get plenty of negative publicity in the UK press though as well, not about the situation in Waterford granted but rather their overall shoddy operation.
BlaasForRafa wrote: » When the redundancy money is safely in peoples accounts they will be able to tell all as regards all the stuff that talktalk gets up to.
Media999 wrote: » Any more news on the redundancy after the meeting on Wednesday/Thursday?
Talk Talk won't budge on staff redundancy offers TALK TALK is refusing to budge on a redundancy package for 575 staff that is almost half what was offered in a voluntary scheme last year. Employee representatives at the call-centre firm had been pushing for seven weeks pay per year of service -- the amount offered to 50 employees as part of a package last year. However, the company has insisted that its final offer will be just four-and-a-half weeks per year of service, including statutory redundancy. Those with less than two years' service had previously been offered a three-week flat rate. But they will now get the same terms as other workers. All staff will get a €1,600 ex-gratia payment while team leaders will get another €500. The company, which came in for criticism for announcing it was pulling out of Waterford with just 30 days' notice, said it would pay staff their notice periods in lieu of actual notice. There are no union members at the firm but representatives are being advised by UNITE. Employee representative Tom Phelan said staff handling the negotiations had told management they were disappointed, but it was now up to workers to decide if they would accept the offer or not. Meanwhile, Talk Talk has come under fire from Labour MEP Phil Prendergast who accused the company of trying to "gag" her. A row erupted after she claimed the company may not have followed legal procedures in consulting and serving notice on the workers. However, the company has written to her requesting that she retract her "negligent misstatement". Ms Prendergast said yesterday that, through its letter, Talk Talk had exposed itself as a "corporate bully hostile to democracy".
