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  1. #1
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    Sep 2009
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    Default JAYZUS. You think it's complicated that side of the pond.

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    OK so here's the craic from Ireland
    most of you guys on here know a bit about me. But the older I get the more I despair .
    So came back to Ireland after working away.for the last 10 or 12 years. Doing all sorts of line jobs.
    Anyway I want to work closer to home had enough traveling to last me a life time.
    So I gets the " opertunity " to work back in Ireland ... Ain't proper linework but close enough.. Installing fibre optic on pole lines. Any way this is where it gets complicated.
    I was just gonna be a cable installation guy but ended up running four crews.
    Heres the complicated bit.
    We are installing the cable for a major Irish telecom company . All four teams are made up entirely of Romainians ,
    the company that employs us is owned by an irish woman
    this company has offices in the uk and Germany
    we are working through the German company.
    But the people that work in the German branch are mostly Croatian.
    I know you guys over in the states probably don't get the whole European thing .

    Thats was the easy part ... Now get your heads around this.

    We...the Romainian and myself signed a contract ..normal contract. Promising us so much a month " flat rate" plus so much per meter pulled.
    After a month they decided they weren't going to pay us the meterage until we,d cleared the amount offered as the flat rate.
    In other words .....to make it easy I will simplify
    for instance if you worked for 1 month you get $1000 plus a dollar for every yard of cable pulled between the crew. So if you pulled 3000 yards you'd expect $3000 between the 3 in the crew. So $1000 per man plus the 1000 bucks flat rate...
    But they changed this .....so they only got anything over 3000 yards basically they didn't get any money for yards pulled until they'd done 3000 yards between them.
    Sorry Im probably not explaining it very well.

    Then they changed again. And are just paying the guys a flat daily rate. Because the Irish telecom company couldn't keep up with the supply of cable needed there were a lot of days the guys had no cable to pull.
    In europen law. It states
    ALL WORKERS MUST BE PAID FOR PUBLIC HOLIDAYS. AND HOLIDAYS..... ( annual leave we call it) normally entitled to around 20 days holiday per year.

    Now the the irish owned ,German based, run by Croatians company refuses to pay for the Romainian guys ( and me ) any holiday pay. " which as I said was in breach of European law"

    ENTER THE UNION. last week .

    Awaiting the outcome.

    A bit of a fucking novel ......I'm sorry if it's confusing .

    But what I lacked in quality I made up for in quantity

    I will let ya know how we get on.

    Thanks.....Bren.
    Last edited by bren guzzi; 06-19-2017 at 02:43 AM.
    IF IT WASN'T FOR BAD LUCK WE WOULD HAVE NO LUCK AT ALL. !

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    Geez Bren, that was simple😋
    "It is not the critic who counts:The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena" Teddy Roosevelt

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Florida in the winter Canada in the summer.
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    Default

    Irish, German, UK, Croatian, Romanian. Sounds like the perfect scenario to hide money and f--k the worker.

    Maybe I am just cynical.

  4. #4
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    Sep 2009
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    Default Fact

    Quote Originally Posted by US & CA Tramp View Post
    Irish, German, UK, Croatian, Romanian. Sounds like the perfect scenario to hide money and f--k the worker.

    Maybe I am just cynical.
    Your absolutely corect . Why would you employ " Romainian " guys ..? Because it's cheaper.

    Why don't you pay them what they are entitled to ?
    Because you think you can get away with it...

    what is the point of a union.?
    To stand up for exploited workers rights.

    Z Germans are now claiming that they are paying " ABOVE THE MINIMUM WAGE". And are therefore covering the guys while on " holiday. "

    BULLSHIT... Bulllshit .... Bullshit.

    The euro to Dollar exchange rate today is one euro = 1 dollar 12 cent. The guys are on 93 euro a day. So about 100 bucks a day. Before tax.. Hardly a fortune.
    IF IT WASN'T FOR BAD LUCK WE WOULD HAVE NO LUCK AT ALL. !

  5. #5
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    Mar 2003
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    Jersey
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    Quote Originally Posted by bren guzzi View Post
    Your absolutely corect . Why would you employ " Romainian " guys ..? Because it's cheaper.

    Why don't you pay them what they are entitled to ?
    Because you think you can get away with it...

    what is the point of a union.?
    To stand up for exploited workers rights.

    Z Germans are now claiming that they are paying " ABOVE THE MINIMUM WAGE". And are therefore covering the guys while on " holiday. "

    BULLSHIT... Bulllshit .... Bullshit.

    The euro to Dollar exchange rate today is one euro = 1 dollar 12 cent. The guys are on 93 euro a day. So about 100 bucks a day. Before tax.. Hardly a fortune.


    $100 a day? Slave labor?
    "It is not the critic who counts:The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena" Teddy Roosevelt

  6. #6
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    Sep 2009
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    ireland/ Dublin
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    Default Exact ( Romainian for exactly )

    Quote Originally Posted by Orgnizdlbr View Post
    $100 a day? Slave labor?

    Yeah but 100 a day in Romaina is a great wage....cost of living is much much cheaper than Ireland ..
    One of the guys was a teacher in Romainia he was on GOOD MONEY... About €1000 ( $1100 ) PER MONTH... So in their minds they are on good money... Earning twice as much per month as a teacher would in their own country.
    IF IT WASN'T FOR BAD LUCK WE WOULD HAVE NO LUCK AT ALL. !

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
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    Ontario, Canada
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    Whatever happened to 'when in Rome do as the Romans'? The dang bean counters are constantly looking for ways to cheat the average joe. The younger fellas are too chicken to stand up for what's right. It tends to take the balls out of the union. Shortly after we won our grievance over an unfair layoff that same company fired 3 guys (a crew) for a couple of screwups. Last I heard the union stepped in and had it reversed pending an investigation. Sorry to hear about the cluster f*** Bren . But the fellas are going to have to stand up to the company and make it right.

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