Where is this militant arm of the union? are there secret meetings taking place with dark plans being hatched, i am a briggs engineer who is a member of unite the union and the reason for that is the very reason we are having a discussion on this post, i would like to protect what i have as a contract, am i passionate about what i do, yes, do i care about the company i work for, yes, am i a militant, far from it, do i respect the manager i have, yes, however there comes a point in time that human nature takes over and the defences go up when you are under attack, why should my terms be eroded. I appreciate that the staff and management do not get paid to travel to work but i'm sorry guys but my contract says i do, staff have been offered a revised offer of 2.5% for no change at all, i have been offered what will become a loss on my annual salary for the hours i work, and who benefits from this, that answer is obvious and i'm not stuck in the loss making past either, it is very easy to shout from the back and condemn others when the outcome does not affect you, and as for the new lady members where would you be without the person who stood her ground and chained herself to those railings all those years ago, this topic is about standing up for what we have thats all.

Good call AP. Looks as if the 'management' are being used as the company mouthpiece. Not hard to imagine who 'Daphne' and 'Niles' are!!!

FO -Don't let the management intimidate you.

If Sammons can afford the £20m losses at Briggs UK surely they can afford to pay proper wages to their UK workers.

'honesty' from bitter 'n twisted staff / ex staff who are stuck in the grim loss making past & think the world owes them a living no matter what?
That type of honesty we can do without.
The vast majority would rather stand up for the company that pays their bills and recognise Briggs as a decent place to work. Plenty of worse places to be.

honesty is probably the best propoganda where Briggs is concerned....You will only get the honest version on boards like this because the staff are frightened to tell it as it is......why is that?

Its aways worth a look to see when contributors have first registered. This helps (sometimes) filter the honest from the propaganda.

i guess they get more money but that goes with the territory, you're reposnse shows that you thik the vast majority are worth extra money???? bonus???? dont engineers get a bonus if they achieve targets? so thats the same either way. and if you think management don't get challenged for poor business performance, you'd be very wrong. just because they dont get a public flogging....... I think the engineers in the main are a hardworking, committed team who DO care about the business. but i have to disagree with letting the miltant arm of the union drag them down to this level.

Most Briggs managers are brilliant and represent the business for all the right reasons just like the engineers...The question is, who is getting more money, bonuses, better terms and blaming everyone for the business performance?
Answers on a postcard...........

breaking news.....managers haven't had a pay increase for 3 years either.....they dont get paid to travel to work.....they don't get paid overtime, yet alone double pay for weekends or late nights.....they care passionately about making a profit. why not use your energies to try to solve this issue as oppose to harming the company that employs YOU!

I thought Jungheinrich would be in the 'Top 3' certainly in terms of Rental?

Davelift misses my point. Cheap Chinese trucks do not in themselves make them the lowest price rental offer. Labour rate and residual value have a significant impact on the rental rate. That is why Briggs are trying to get more for less from their engineering group.

I was comparing the top four who probably account for 70% of the total UK rental market.

Millreef pointed out that price is king, this can't be the case if it was just down to price then every body will just go for the cheaper Chinese made trucks. The top four companies in the world Toyota Linde (Kion) Ect are not the cheapest trucks but yet they still sell quite a bit of equipment most of Linde sales come from Europe. Service play's the most important part of all this and if Briggs can think that they can just put out cheap trucks using financial tricks to make them look good value then in five years time they are going to make huge looses with no service engineers

Well said close call, I could not agree more. Time for the Yanks to put their house in order now before it is too late.

Well said closecall, and how much more will be wasted with the company running it's own ballot to the engineers to see who is interested, save the costs guys and dont bother because none of us are. Does the law not even bother them in relation to having a recognition agreement with the union, they are just fuelling the fires of their own demise, and as for values a subway mugger has more.

What is happening at Briggs, a company of values it preaches.....Take a look at the 2010 accounts and it shows one director earning 55% more than the previous year £300K+!!! yet the staff get nothing but reduced terms and the blame for everything that goes wrong.....Peel Ports, Fraiken and remember the Thunderbirds and VMLE....Oh don't forget the training and that cost over £500k......then the other spongers "consultants" that pretended to be mates with the MD and got paid a fortune. UPDATE....Another one just about to get a chunk of money.........The market is picking up and the good people, plenty of them in Briggs, will have lots of offers to go and work for someone who appreciates them....Got to show those Americans you cannot treat people like this because the BOD certainly aren't strong enough but are happy taking their big bonuses and stripping the T&C's of everyone else.

Service undoubtedly matters in a rental business but price is king, especially in difficult economic times. How often do your best customers give you the business because your price is 10% higher than everyone else?

I would suggest in todays 'dog eat dog' rental market, never.

The customer assumes that as he has a rental contract he will get the service as specified in the contract, especially if he is choosing between the four big players Linde, Briggs, Barlow and Toyota.

More often than not he will give you the business again if you match the lowest price.

Service is assumed as a given in a rental market but price is always the deciding factor.