Re: Complain Letter Car Discrimination

On Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:38:19 GMT, the Omrud <usenet.omrud@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Tony Cooper <tony_cooper213@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> had it:

On Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:20:11 GMT, the Omrud <usenet.omrud@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

What "skilled worker" cannot afford to buy a Ford or GM product? You
can buy a used beater for $500 to get to work and back.

The majority of UK folk live in streets in cities where the houses
were not designed for cars. Many people can't park one car outside
their house, never mind the two or four which a normal family might
require. The idea of buying an extra car just to make your work
colleagues happy is impossible for most families to consider. And on
cost, many people drive a reasonable distance to work - a battered
old car is not going to be reliable enough to get them there. And
then there's the extra insurance. It's just not practical.

What
about workers at Land Rover or Aston Martin - should they drive Fords
(Ford owns both of these). What happens if Ford sells Aston Martin
to Fiat (could happen). Does every worker have to change his car on
the next day?

I would expect the workers involved to follow the practices of the
workers in the plant they're employed by. Ford workers in Ford plants
in Detroit follow the practice of driving Ford products. Whatever
goes on in wherever Aston Martins or Land Rovers are made is what
determines the answer to your question.

Unless I misunderstand the European culture, there will be a lot of
Land Rovers at Land Rover (they are just about affordable if you can
get a big discount) but no special leaning towards Ford. And at
Aston Martin there will be all makes of car with no bias.

I'm not saying I have no sympathy with the idea that one should
support one's employer's business, but I was surprised that two of
you had such a strong cultural reaction so different from that I
would expect here.

I am not talking about a clause in employment contracts - if you take
a job which specifies that you may only drive to work in your
employer's make of vehicle then you'd have to obey it. But I
strongly suspect such a clause would be ruled illegal under European
Human Rights laws.

It's not a company thing at all. The OP was concerned about an
*employee*. His only concern about the company was that the company
would not do anything to back him up. That makes sense to me. What
company official in their right mind would get involved with this?
One position alienates the workers who take pride in who they work
for, and the other position sets the lawyers to stirring.

Taking the OP's post as straightforwardly true, he has been bullied
by a colleague and had a company benefit withdrawn at the demand of a
union member who is not part of his management chain. That would be
cause for disciplinary action here.

Actually, your supermarket example boggled my mind. I'd be
astonished if a European supermarket had any idea where its staff
were shopping.

Well, it's true. All the supermarket has to do is riffle through the
canceled paychecks and see where the checks were cashed. The store in
question is a local chain - Gooding's - that recently down-sized and
sold all but a few locations. Gooding's was family-owned and
family-run.

Very few UK staff are now paid by cheque, and those who are deposit
them via their bank. Even if such a thing were possible here, I
don't believe our culture would make it likely.

David,
My reaction to Tony's comments is the same as yours. My mind is
boggled.

Particularly alarming is the reference to an employer riffling
through the canceled paychecks to see where the checks were cashed
so that an employee could be penalized for buying stuff at a rival
supermarket.

This brings to mind the Truck Acts of the 19th C.
http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/glosso.html
Truck Acts
The rise of manufacturing industry saw many company owners
cashing in on their workers by paying them in full or in part
with tokens, rather than coin of the realm. These tokens were
exchangeable for goods at the company store, often at
highly-inflated prices. The Truck Act of 1831 made this practice
illegal in many trades, and the law was extended to cover nearly
all manual workers in 1887.

The underlying principle was that employees should be free to spend
their earnings wherever they wished.

The idea that an employer should be have any say over where or how
employees spend their income is absolute anathema in Britain.

Equally abhorrent is the idea that fellow employees should be able
to dictate how co-workers should spend their earnings.

Both these are a serious attack on the freedom of the individual.

The only situation that I've heard of where an employer can exercise
any control over employees' use of money is in banking. I was told
that bank employees are required to have their accounts with the
bank for which they work. I can see legitimate security reasons for
this.
--
Peter Duncanson
UK (posting from a.u.e)
.

Relevant Pages

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