ESB vote to strike over gold plated pensions as winter arrives

Busted Flat. · 20-11-2013 12:45PM

Frankie5Angels wrote: »

I think someone needs to sit with you and explain the difference between a bill payer and a tax payer.

Do taxpayers not have to pay their bills.

Frankie5Angels · 20-11-2013 12:55PM

Busted Flat. wrote: »

Do taxpayers not have to pay their bills.

I'm not sure where you're going with this?

Taxpayers have to pay bills like everyone else. Not all taxpayers have to pay bills to ESB, though.

hansfrei · 20-11-2013 01:02PM

Frankie5Angels wrote: »

I'm not sure where you're going with this?

Taxpayers have to pay bills like everyone else. Not all taxpayers have to pay bills to ESB, though.

Should you be targetting your customers do you think, or targetting the people the ESB employ to look after their pensions?

Frankie5Angels · 20-11-2013 01:45PM

hansfrei wrote: »

Should you be targetting your customers do you think, or targetting the people the ESB employ to look after their pensions?

A loaded and presumptuous question and I'm not sure I see the relevance one way or another, given events of the past couple of days.

hansfrei · 20-11-2013 01:53PM

Frankie5Angels wrote: »

A loaded and presumptuous question and I'm not sure I see the relevance one way or another, given events of the past couple of days.

Its not loaded. Presumptuous maybe, but I'm not "in" on this discussion. I only pay the bills and am looking forward to getting screwed by the government and the ESBs unions simultaneously for doing so.

Pity about me. Pity about the elderly too huh?

Frankie5Angels · 20-11-2013 02:11PM

hansfrei wrote: »

Its not loaded. Presumptuous maybe, but I'm not "in" on this discussion. I only pay the bills and am looking forward to getting screwed by the government and the ESBs unions simultaneously for doing so.

Pity about me. Pity about the elderly too huh?

Pity about everybody. IF the power did go out, it's not just you and the elderly that would be affected, it's everyone - including those in the ESB. I caught the tail end of the Last Word yesterday when Matt Cooper said Ogle stated anything of the sort wouldn't be done over Christmas or the cold (open to correction on that though, as I didn't hear the full interview).

ixoy · 20-11-2013 02:18PM

Frankie5Angels wrote: »

Pity about everybody. IF the power did go out, it's not just you and the elderly that would be affected, it's everyone - including those in the ESB.

Okay but some people might not be able to work (either not be able to get into work or their work place can't function) and they won't receive strike pay as the ESB workers would.

20-11-2013 02:18PM

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Tough shít, many, many private sector workers don't have and can't afford the luxury of a nice pension fund nest egg. And I'm sure many of those among the ranks of the unemployed, would gladly swap places for their generous salaries.

Typical AH opinion. Begrudge the s*it out of anyone who earns more, has better benefits, better pension etc etc etc. Its laughable.

Frankie5Angels · 20-11-2013 02:29PM

ixoy wrote: »

Okay but some people might not be able to work (either not be able to get into work or their work place can't function) and they won't receive strike pay as the ESB workers would.

Again, that's assuming there will be cuts. I'm also ignorant of the notion of strike pay, thankfully, so I'll have to take your word for that.

I'm not naive enough to think there'll be no blowback if something does happen. There will be, no doubt. And it will be fierce. But it's still an 'if' at this point. Ogle will posture (as he likes to), but he has to.

I'm not really contributing to the thread to get in a row with anyone - I'm aware of the merits and demerits of any potential action. All I've attempted to do is point out the inaccuracies of some posters who are clearly ill-informed and posting opinion instead of fact.

jack presley · 20-11-2013 02:52PM

ixoy wrote: »

Okay but some people might not be able to work (either not be able to get into work or their work place can't function) and they won't receive strike pay as the ESB workers would.

You do realise that strike pay comes from union funds don't you? And that union funds come from union members? How dare they use their own money to pay themselves!

Andrew_Doran · 20-11-2013 03:18PM

Boombastic wrote: »

meh, let them.
I got the fire, gas oven, candles, a generator and chargers in the car, I can hold out longer than they can!

I have paraffin lamps, gas stoves, candles, all left over from the 80s and early 90s when the unions turned off the lights whenever they felt like it. Here we go again...

animaal · 20-11-2013 03:48PM

The ESB can afford to pay very generously, because they have a monopoly on the infrastructure, a regulator that likes the easy life, and a customer base that will lie back and think of their country.

If they make enemies of the people, it will eventually bite them. Any of the above factors can be changed.

Of course, by then the current senior ESB guys may be retired or close to it, so they won't care. And as we know, the favoured approach of the unions is to take care of the senior guys, then pull up the drawbridge behind them.

end of the road · 20-11-2013 04:53PM

Busted Flat. wrote: »

EG. When short of cash they up the bills, whose bills the tax payer and everybody else.

that is what happens with a service provider both public and private if their short of cash prices go up

end of the road · 20-11-2013 04:56PM

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Tough shít, many, many private sector workers don't have and can't afford the luxury of a nice pension fund nest egg. And I'm sure many of those among the ranks of the unemployed, would gladly swap places for their generous salaries.

the poor little private sector worker whataboutery again, just because others can't afford and don't have a nest egg, doesn't mean others shouldn't be entitled to one, some people will get something in life that someone else can't, so i'm afraid its tough **** back at you

end of the road · 20-11-2013 04:59PM

ixoy wrote: »

Okay but some people might not be able to work (either not be able to get into work or their work place can't function) and they won't receive strike pay as the ESB workers would.

yeah, strike pay from union funds it seems, shocking stuff, how dare the unions spend their own money

P_1 · 20-11-2013 05:13PM

end of the road wrote: »

yeah, strike pay from union funds it seems, shocking stuff, how dare the unions spend their own money

Well yes, but how will the people who need electricity to work get paid when their means of working is taken away from them by the strike?

Hootanany · 20-11-2013 05:20PM

And that folks is why we have one of the highest Power charges in the developed world to pay these Leeches.

end of the road · 20-11-2013 05:30PM

Hootanany wrote: »

And that folks is why we have one of the highest Power charges in the developed world to pay these Leeches.

ireland one of the highest Power charges in the developed world? yeah right, pull the other one

oldyouth · 20-11-2013 05:38PM

Don't know if it was mentioned earlier but Matt Cooper on the Last Word discussing the 55% staff discount the ESB workers get on their electricity :eek:

This country is a shambles

neiphin · 20-11-2013 05:40PM

Hootanany wrote: »

And that folks is why we have one of the highest Power charges in the developed world to pay these Leeches.

your wrong there compadre

the esb, were turning a profit, albeit a small profit, becaause that was their mandate, to provide cheep electricity to the irish household
it was not profitable to external suppliers to compete with the esb, so it was decreed from on high that the esb would have to push up its prices so that a price would be arrived at that would encourage international suppliers to enter the irish market, there by pushing down prices again
the unit price of electricity is not set by the esb but by the government appointed regulator

20-11-2013 05:47PM

oldyouth wrote: »

Don't know if it was mentioned earlier but Matt Cooper on the Last Word discussing the 55% staff discount the ESB workers get on their electricity :eek:

This country is a shambles

Yeah because nobody in any other job in the country gets an employee discount. I'd be shocked if they weren't getting a good discount, why shouldn't they.

neiphin · 20-11-2013 05:50PM

oldyouth wrote: »

Don't know if it was mentioned earlier but Matt Cooper on the Last Word discussing the 55% staff discount the ESB workers get on their electricity :eek:

This country is a shambles

i believe tesco have a staff discount scheme

oldyouth · 20-11-2013 05:54PM

Fully private companies can give 100% staff discount for all I care. This concept of giving State money away as if it was their own is disgusting in my opinion

Boombastic · 20-11-2013 05:55PM

oldyouth wrote: »

Don't know if it was mentioned earlier but Matt Cooper on the Last Word discussing the 55% staff discount the ESB workers get on their electricity :eek:

This country is a shambles

sure they're entitled to it....scroungers

20-11-2013 05:57PM

oldyouth wrote: »

Fully private companies can give 100% staff discount for all I care. This concept of giving State money away as if it was their own is disgusting in my opinion

You are easily disgusted, I'd have no problem with it at all, as I said if I heard they didn't get a good discount I'd think it was very strange.

People need to get over the fact that there are people who get paid more than them and get better benefits etc.

tayto lover · 20-11-2013 06:29PM

kylith wrote: »

Yes, it is a job with huge responsibility, but that doesn't give them the right to turn the power off. How many elderly people die of cold over the average winter? How many more will die this winter if the electricity is turned off?

Their strike isn't a minor inconvenience, it could be genuinely dangerous. Without electricity people can't cook food, they can't heat their homes, they can't heat water to wash, and they can't call for help if they need it.

What's the point in having a protest that effects nobody?
You would be laughed at.
To work strikes have to effect people.
I don't want to see it happening and have no connections with these workers but I can see the logic of their protest and also their grievances.

srsly78 · 20-11-2013 06:32PM

Is staff discount subject to benefit in kind tax? Surely getting half-price electricity is a huge benefit.

awec · 20-11-2013 06:35PM

end of the road wrote: »

the poor little private sector worker whataboutery again, just because others can't afford and don't have a nest egg, doesn't mean others shouldn't be entitled to one, some people will get something in life that someone else can't, so i'm afraid its tough **** back at you

aren't you one of the people who is always giving off about high salaries for executives etc?

awec · 20-11-2013 06:36PM

neiphin wrote: »

i believe tesco have a staff discount scheme

of 55% ?

Tesco are not a state owned company.

oldyouth · 20-11-2013 06:37PM

Jett Nervous Pen wrote: »

People need to get over the fact that there are people who get paid more than them and get better benefits etc.

People should always be paid what they are worth to an organisation, public or private sector. To give a 55% discount on a State commodity, which is not performance related, is just not right

ESB vote to strike over gold plated pensions as winter arrives

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