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Scrooge - better than many employers |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: The garden of earthly delights
Posts: 4,506
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Scrooge - better than many employers
I remember as a kid watching A Christmas Carol and being a bit horrified at how Scrooge treated others, but now in 2016 he does not seem so bad - almost nice in fact.
For instance Bob Cratchit at least had a job to go back to after Christmas (many of my colleagues were made redundant this Christmas with no redundancy pay and only two weeks notice) - told not to come back. Bob is not on a zero hours contract and he is able to support his quite large family - many these days are relying on food banks. There is some warmth in the office at least - many places I visit (warehouses) are windowless and unheated tin sheds - with longer hours than Bob's 9 to 5 and more staff disposability. Scrooge is uncharitable, but so are many these days and it is a rarity that any employer gives out money - usually charity is done by the staff with collection tins. Buying your own works Christmas lunch is now the norm and also it is in your own hours - employers give as little as they can and it is accepted. Some of Scrooges arguments seemed quite 'reasonable' and almost something you could expect a manager to say - which is sad in a way. We need a new take on a Christmas Carol with an even harsher Scrooge! What do you think? |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 17,242
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Not sure about your points but the thread title did give me a laugh
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#3 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Mid Wales / Canolbarth Cymru
Posts: 37,475
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Says a lot that draconian Dickensian Britain is not unlike Tory Britain of 2016.
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#4 |
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: The Green Hills of Earth
Posts: 80,418
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At least Cratchit didn't have to travel to work on Southern Rail.
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#5 |
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: 'Dales
Posts: 9,623
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Would you like us to dress up as ghosts and haunt your employer?
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: The garden of earthly delights
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Quote:
Would you like us to dress up as ghosts and haunt your employer?
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 8,501
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Don't know about Scrooge, but in the 1970s in England New Year Day was not a bank holiday.
Now due to employers and customer expectations how many stores open New Years Day? Home delivery services like Amazon operate? Is it Tories (Cop put expression IMO), Employers or Consumer greed scared stiff that they may miss something if they don't shop every opurtunity? How is Credit Card Britain? |
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#8 |
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 3,019
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Quote:
Says a lot that draconian Dickensian Britain is not unlike Tory Britain of 2016.
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#9 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Lancashire
Posts: 25,819
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I know of a local firm laying most of their staff off about a week before Christmas.
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#10 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: North East
Posts: 12,253
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In places like shops, They need extra people before Christmas but do not need them after Christmas.
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#11 |
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 4,461
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Amazon is particularly harsh. One time they let go dozens of people in the early hours and put them outside the building. This was a December in Scotland and some had no transport. Chilly! Makes Bob's candle seem a luxury!
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,721
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My daughter works for a posh company and no one gets a Christmas bonus.
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#13 |
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 5,654
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An employee of John Lewis in Edinburgh DIED outside the shop yesterday. Despite churning billions in profit, today and the mans funeral will be business as usual. Might aswell have chucked the body in the skip and put the clothes on the sale.
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#14 |
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: colchester
Posts: 15,350
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Quote:
An employee of John Lewis in Edinburgh DIED outside the shop yesterday. Despite churning billions in profit, today and the mans funeral will be business as usual. Might aswell have chucked the body in the skip and put the clothes on the sale.
We've had loads of people die but we have never shut up shop and no one have ever suggested that this was callous. They made 223.2M profit in the year ended Jan 2016 not Billions. |
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Brackley, UK
Posts: 16,654
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Quote:
An employee of John Lewis in Edinburgh DIED outside the shop yesterday. Despite churning billions in profit, today and the mans funeral will be business as usual. Might aswell have chucked the body in the skip and put the clothes on the sale.
I can imagine in a few, unusual cases, it might be applicable but in general it is assumed that only the death of a close family member requires time off. A good employer will also allow unpaid time off (or vacation time on short notice) for a friend but I see no reason to go any further than that. Death happens. Life goes on. There's no need to make a big deal of it unless you have a very close emotional attachment. |
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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2002
Location: GL51 0EX
Posts: 14,088
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Quote:
An employee of John Lewis in Edinburgh DIED outside the shop yesterday. Despite churning billions in profit, today and the mans funeral will be business as usual. Might aswell have chucked the body in the skip and put the clothes on the sale.
Quote:
Every employee is a Partner in the John Lewis Partnership, and has an opportunity to influence the business through branch forums, which discuss local issues at every store, and the divisional John Lewis and Waitrose Councils. Above all these is the Partnership Council, to which the Partners elect at least 80 per cent of the 82 representatives... Hardly a Scrooge company in fact a model that I'd love to see used far more widely
The Partnership Council also elects five directors on the Partnership Board (which is responsible for the commercial activities), while the chairman appoints another five. The two remaining board members are the chairman and the deputy chairman. Every non-management Partner also has an open channel for expressing his/her views to management and the Chairman. The John Lewis Partnership has a very extensive programme of social activities for its Partners, including two large country estates with parkland, playing fields and tennis courts; a golf club; a sailing club with five cruising yachts, and three country hotels offering holiday accommodation for the Partners. Partners are also enrolled in a very favourable pension scheme, are covered by death-in-service insurance, and are given very generous holidays. In addition to this, upon completing 25 years of service for the company, Partners are given a paid six-month break, known as "Long Leave". Finally, every Partner receives an annual bonus, which is a share of the profit. It is calculated as a percentage of salary, with the same percentage for everyone, from top management down to the shop floor and storage rooms. The bonus is dependent on the profitability of the Partnership each year, varying between 9% and 20% of the Partners' annual salaries since 2000. |
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#17 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 8,097
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Quote:
I remember as a kid watching A Christmas Carol and being a bit horrified at how Scrooge treated others, but now in 2016 he does not seem so bad - almost nice in fact.
For instance Bob Cratchit at least had a job to go back to after Christmas (many of my colleagues were made redundant this Christmas with no redundancy pay and only two weeks notice) - told not to come back. Bob is not on a zero hours contract and he is able to support his quite large family - many these days are relying on food banks. There is some warmth in the office at least - many places I visit (warehouses) are windowless and unheated tin sheds - with longer hours than Bob's 9 to 5 and more staff disposability. Scrooge is uncharitable, but so are many these days and it is a rarity that any employer gives out money - usually charity is done by the staff with collection tins. Buying your own works Christmas lunch is now the norm and also it is in your own hours - employers give as little as they can and it is accepted. Some of Scrooges arguments seemed quite 'reasonable' and almost something you could expect a manager to say - which is sad in a way. We need a new take on a Christmas Carol with an even harsher Scrooge! What do you think? Thatcher's government with the aid of a right wing press spent years dismantling what the unions had achieved. Workers were told they didn't need the power of the unions and this trend still carries on today. Cameron's government continued on where Thatcher left off. A recent survey of young people revealed they believed themselves to be 'middle class' and that unions were an anachronism which belonged in the past. With that daft attitude today's workforce have only themselves to blame. I have little sympathy - sorry. |
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#18 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Brackley, UK
Posts: 16,654
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Quote:
With that daft attitude today's workforce have only themselves to blame. I have little sympathy - sorry.
Unions cost this country too much money and tried to hold back progress for too long. I'm glad we're keeping their wings clipped. |
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#19 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 619
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Quote:
The trade unions helped trigger that change by trying to hold the country to ransom - sometimes over the pettiest of things. Meanwhile with the rise of the service industries and reduction in public ownership the number of people who never would have joined a union increased in proportion. And speaking as someone who (just) remembers the 1970s and certainly remembers the miner's strike I can only say 'meh'.
Unions cost this country too much money and tried to hold back progress for too long. I'm glad we're keeping their wings clipped. Nothing wrong with unions looking after their members interests Problems start when they start to believe that they are the government or government in waiting |
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#20 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Brackley, UK
Posts: 16,654
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Quote:
Nothing wrong with unions looking after their members interests
Problems start when they start to believe that they are the government or government in waiting |
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#21 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: You Any Good At Directions?!!
Posts: 1,064
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Quote:
The trade unions helped trigger that change by trying to hold the country to ransom - sometimes over the pettiest of things. Meanwhile with the rise of the service industries and reduction in public ownership the number of people who never would have joined a union increased in proportion. And speaking as someone who (just) remembers the 1970s and certainly remembers the miner's strike I can only say 'meh'.
Unions cost this country too much money and tried to hold back progress for too long. I'm glad we're keeping their wings clipped. With the introduction of "New Labour" the lower ranks in society had no one to represent / speak on their behalf, hopefully, time are changing, those who need representing will find a voice loud enough to speak for them. |
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#22 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 10,271
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Quote:
The trade unions helped trigger that change by trying to hold the country to ransom - sometimes over the pettiest of things. Meanwhile with the rise of the service industries and reduction in public ownership the number of people who never would have joined a union increased in proportion. And speaking as someone who (just) remembers the 1970s and certainly remembers the miner's strike I can only say 'meh'.
Unions cost this country too much money and tried to hold back progress for too long. I'm glad we're keeping their wings clipped. |
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#23 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 8,097
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Quote:
The trade unions helped trigger that change by trying to hold the country to ransom - sometimes over the pettiest of things. Meanwhile with the rise of the service industries and reduction in public ownership the number of people who never would have joined a union increased in proportion. And speaking as someone who (just) remembers the 1970s and certainly remembers the miner's strike I can only say 'meh'.
Unions cost this country too much money and tried to hold back progress for too long. I'm glad we're keeping their wings clipped. |
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#24 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Kent but ex Sarf London
Posts: 26,526
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Quote:
My daughter works for a posh company and no one gets a Christmas bonus.
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#25 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Devon
Posts: 12,830
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"There is a Maggot in this country and it's called Socialism" - Margo Leadbetter
![]() Never mind Robert Maxwell, Philip Green, Starbucks et al, eh? |
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