I understand that after four tortious years they are now in profit, so they can probably now afford to give the engineering group a realistic deal.

They probably think that by **** the engineering group they can recover the previous huge losses more quickly.

Perhaps the executive should start at the top by reducing their unjustifyable packages first!!

I think its just gone a little quiet so us engineers can sharpen our spears, we wont be heading anyone off at the pass it will be like the zulus coming over the hill, this is were being a union member counts, they sent us a letter telling us exactly what the state of play is.

I heard whispers Rushlift were on their uppers......maybe someone has been spreading vicious rumours to keep the guys from going?? are there many going over?
its gone quiet again now and not sure whats happening with the ballot for a strike - have they been headed off at the pass?

Looks like their staff reduction plans are working, but not how they conceived it if your good guys change to Rushlift. Making rapidly emerging companies like Rushlift stronger will just kill them quicker.............. Oh dear.

Seems like Rushlift are doing well and looking for staff , If staff aren't happy at Briggs they can all way's apply their. Wonder if this will move Briggs or will they want them to go.

If Briggs are loosing so much money and the senior management are paid so well, when is the bottom of the the US money pit going to be reached?. Everyone else in the industry has felt the pinch over the last few years and made cuts, so who has got what on whom at Briggs? or is it a strategy to just drive a competitor or two out of the lift truck business in the UK and who cares about their own staff? If one or two other companies do go, they can get rid of the so called "militants" or TU members and take their pick of newly available staff.

It seems that the executives at Briggs are only interested in their own interests they will do un told damage to the company then walk a way with a big pay out of there contract and the bonuses. it seems they are getting bonuses for shifting trucks which can be easy when you just say lets under cut every body. But the long term damage will come in five to six years time if Briggs last that long. Briggs seem to have a good business that is a pack of cards built on sand it will soon quickly fall down and leave the engineers and other not so well paid members of staff struggling.

It seems the Briggs executive earn large salaries whether they make a profit or not. As long as Sammons in the US make profit the UK exec are in for big bonuses. mh232 comment about reducing their cost base to match their pricing is spot on. Seems they have managed to reduce the size of the UK business to match the exec performance level yet they still take the big bonus. How about foergoing the bonus and pay the engineers what they deserve!!

I have good understanding of the pay rewards within the industry. I find it remarkable that Briggs have one of the highest paid Director's at 300K circa 100K more than the market leader. I can't imagine there is another tier 2 mhe supplier paying this level of salary.
Briggs are reinforcing one of the biggest problem within our industry, an ageing engineering workforce. If the role is undervalued then new younger entrants will not join.
Briggs under value their product and service in the market place it is not unknown for them to be 15%-30% cheaper than the
Big 3 (Linde,Toyota,Jungheinrich).
Are they really this cheap to maintain I think not!
I think the approach with there engineer's is to get the business cost base to match the price positioning.
This will never work, as to succeed in this industry it is your quality of delivery over the medium term that delivers long term success. Don't get me wrong strong performance management is needed to deliver high quality customer care that delivers a good return.Engineers or anybody infact that feels the world owes them a living are not required within this industry. But high quality engineers that deliver should be rewarded fairly - from what I can see in this forum Briggs need to have a strong re-think on how they view and reward their workforce

Industrial action bring it on, 42.5 hours a week for 9p an hour
less there taking the ****, stand by the union boys they got
british airways a deal, remember united we stand divided we fall.

It looks like the Briggs management are on a damage limitation mission. By airing there views which is OK.To every story there are two sides ,yet what will they do if the engineers do strike. a little piece of advice its better not to lose customers over a strike because it will prove hard to win them back. once you let them down the damage is done. There seems to be a strong indication that a strike might happen. it might be better time spent trying to solve the problems that are there than just putting post on here. what might be a idea is for the management to watch BBC 2 at 20.00 on the 16th of May

I have no dog in this fight, and no concerns, but I do agree with AP that checking [the profile when we see a name we are not familiar with] when someone joined may give a clue about why they joined, which in at least 2 instances here, the posters seemed to have joined to be able to post on this thread, and previously had no concern with communication in this open forum, so it seems pretty safe to assume they joined to participate in this discussion and may not have felt like they had anything to add in any previous discussion, or were some how prompted to join in this discussion.

I wonder if it might be possible to keep this thread about Briggs/Sammons -vs- UNITE and not the general good and/or bad of unions and union memberships (which may be where a number of folks, myself included, would have a tendency to go) ?
I have started a new thread to discuss unions and trade guilds in general and I wonder if it might be possible to ask if your discussion and comments are not about Unite -vs- Briggs UK but is about unions if we could discuss it there as being more appropriate?
I would also hope that should the "pro Briggs/Sammons" arguments or points become about unions in general and not specific to this action, they consider [or be prompted] to move those points to the more general discussion about unions, so as to address the points of THIS action.

"trade unions and/or guilds for the forklift industry" forum/thread.asp?trid=6809

Thanks

PS,
Niles, you most certainly do have every right and it is not a crime to discuss your points. And here is the "but", if you do see both sides, most folks would expect you to have positive and negative things to say about both sides, and not to advocate for only 1 side. (doncha think?)

The reason engineers get their van home is for the companies benefit NOT the engineers, companies employ engineers in areas close to their customers because due to cost/profit reason's they have centralised there structures.
If engineers were to travel from the companies depots to the majority of customers the company would loose more than half an hour a day ,there would be increased overtime due to excessive travel, extra fuel and slower response times and they would have to have a huge car park,so lets no make out the companies are doing the engineers a favour, we are steadily heading back to Victorian employment law in this country.The bottom line is that the forklift industry in this country is saturated and run by idiots who look short term for their bonus and have no respect for their skilled employees , the recession excuse wont be here for ever.

No one should be attacking anybody and i agree as i think everyone else on this forum that everyone is entitled to their views that is why we live in a democratic society and still have freedom of speech.As for seeing both sides i think we all see that which is why we have different opinions. The company is there to make a return on it's investment and we as a workforce should want to see it prosper for job security and hopefully greater financial reward for all, no one is here wanting to see any company fail, what i am saying is i have a contract of employment that i accepted that uses my house as a depot, my drive as a car park and my front door as a clocking in and out machine, i have an agreed rate of pay along with other benefits, the company wish to change this for what to me as an individual will be a poorer salary for the hours i currently work, it is a case of simple mathematics that the company is trying to claw money back from it's biggest group.

i only just registered today.....as i felt quite strongly about airing my views. its not a crime and its not propoganda. why single me out? am i not entitled to air my views ? dont accuse me of being some 'mouthpiece' just becuase i dont agree. i disagree with other things but as they are not the topic - they're not relevant. and actually the outcome DOES effect me directly - doesnt mean i cant see both sides