BMW sack 850 workers with immediate effect...

Sooty

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...and no redundancy. But...they are agency workers. Surely if you work for an agency, your T&Cs of employment are with the agency, not the company that uses the agency? I feel sorry for anyone who loses a job, but I can't help but feel that BMW has acted within its rights and is paying even agency workers for weekends when the factory is closed. It's all about blame these days.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7891913.stm
 
Completely agree with you Sooty - if you do agency work then no matter how long you work somewhere you don't have the same rights as direct employees of the company. Fees from agencies are high - the agency I worked for one summer charged companies £12 an hour for my time and I saw minimum wage. The reason companies use them is precisely so they can axe jobs like this with little consequence/cost to themselves. If people work via agencies then they should be aware that job security is not exactly going to be brilliant!
 
. . . I don't understand the "blame" culture at all. It's case of supply and demand . . no demand therefore no supply. Interesting to see the piece on BBC Breakfast this morning where they interviewed several of the people affected . . . all foreign . . . .
 
Unions have got to complain.

It's the whole purpose of their existence.........
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And it certainly can't have come as a suprise to anyone !
 
Shame about the job less but 'dem de knocks' when you are a temp. Some days you have a job others you don't. The fact you temp for 4 years means nothing, you can still get sacked at the drop of a hat.

Good on BMW for making a seinsible change, yes they could maybe have announced it to staff in a better way but no one wants to hear 'You no longer have a job' so even if you put it on a love heart sweet, wrapped it in a bow and handed it over with a kiss they'd still be pissed about being sacked.

No permanent staff have been laid off yet, the BBC need to get a grip and start reporting on serious issues...the war in Gazza maybe?!
 
Unfortunately more and more companies are going down this route and people will take what they can get. I think it is very sad that our parent fought for us to get rights at work and ,unfortunately it has led to this.
If no one worked for agencies then the firms would have to employ and give workers right s but people took what they could get and it has made the employees weak.
 
Some union leader was quoted as saying that this proved that we needed employment laws like France, as its almost impossible to sack anyone there.

Of course, no sane international company sets up in France for precisely that reason! I feel sorry for those who loose their jobs, but that is no reason to tighten our employment laws, or nobody will get jobs back when the economy picks up.
 
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