refrigeration engineers to strike?

[dill]

I have just been on the fridgeman.com web site and it has gone ballistic over a proposed engineers strike on the 20/09/04. Seems the engineers of one of the biggest refrigeration companies in the uk are up in arms over trackers being fitted to their vans. They are getting support from engineers of other companies but if it comes off or not I have my doubts. I will keep you posted. Dill.

[rbartlett]

most on that site are afraid to post under their own names -so i doubt it will come to anything

I wish them well but trackers are here to stay and company bosses know we're all only two wage packets from bankruptcy


cheers

richard

[FreezerGeezer]

I also wish them well.
The trouble with trackers is that the companies concerned never seem to do anything to allay the technician's concerns that they'll be spied on. Frankly, I would not want one on my company vehicle, purely because I would not trust the person that would be monitoring the information to treat is as confidential, let alone innocent until proven guilty!
That's not to say that I am always where I say I am, or taking the obvious (to the office, anyway! ) route. Back when I did commercial fridge, we often were not where we were supposed to be. Why? Because we were lending each other a hand, instead of staying religiously on our own sites!
I expect that Roger is right, as if implemented professionally trackers can be good for business. But I have yet to meet anyone in service or accounts in this industry who I feel I could trust to use it professionally rather than as a Technician-Bashing-Tool.

[Latte]

Trackers are here to stay - GET OVER IT.

Big brother IS watching, everyone has mobile phones so it's easy to trace what area you are in anyway.

If you are not doing anything wrong then you nothing to hide or fear. If fitting you vehicle witha tracker knock's a few thousand off your'e companies insurance bill then that's better for you and the company.

If people are that worried, just look in the jobs section of this site or in any fridge magazine, there are loads of jobs go and get another one.

I am afraid to say his is one thing that REALLY infuriates me . If people don't like the job or the company MOVE !. Just stop winging and get on with it.

Regards

Fatboy

[FreezerGeezer]

Perhaps I wasn't very clear - I think that, carefully & professionally implemented trackers are a good idea. I'm fed up with hearing that our techs. are passing each other on the motorway because our deployers have no geographical savvy! However, I've never met (in person) anyone who advocated trackers who I'd trust not to use them to make the tech's already frustrating work day even worse! Can you imagine some of the jobsworths; " why didn't you go through London instead of around it?" or; "Why didn't you go to the HRP 5 miles away instead of the D&W 7 miles away?" ROFL (at least, I would, if it hadn't already happened to me!!!)
If my co. told me that they wanted to fit a tracker to my vehicle, and could satisfy me that the facility would not be abused (and that includes not accessing it out of normal working hours!), then I'm all for it. I want my car (& hopefully my tools) back if they get nicked.
& if I were back on the tools, maybe it would prevent me from driving in to london while the guy who lives round the corner from site is driving out past my house!

[Peter Croxall]

Hi Freezergeezer,
After reading the threads on the “Fridgeman.com” site, although the engineers are pissed off with having trackers fitted, their main gripe seems to be that they have not been given the promised pay rise. (now that rings a bell, can anyone say that the same scenario hasn’t happen to them ?)

As for the trackers, I don’t know what type they have fitted. I looked into the possibility of fitting a tracker to my old Jag some time ago and believe me it isn’t cheap. The cost of installation is high, added to which you pay for every access to the receiver. There is an American company which gives you 15 free accesses and thereafter you pay. The thought of a company accessing data willy nilly just does not make business sense, the cost would outweigh the benefits. Of course, I could be wrong, it could be another type of tracker involved.

It is just my opinion, but going on strike in a service industry like ours, is not a good career move ( Where every service manager knows every other one, one's reputation spreads by word of mouth, GOOD or BAD ) If the engineers are not happy, the sensible move would be to not say anything, look around and jump ship. Most service companies would soon take stock if all their good engineers started leaving for their rivals.

[WebRam]

It would be interesting to know if there has ever been a strike by Refrig engineers in the UK or for that matter the world?

anyone?

[FreezerGeezer]

Well, apparently Carters haven't gone on strike. It's odd, really, that fridgies are forever grumbling, but when it comes to the crunch & getting something done about it, we all seem to back off.
Oh well, good luck to the Carters guys getting the rise they were promised.