Deal or no deal

Recently workers at Honda's Swindon plant voted in favour of taking a 3% pay cut for 10 months in an attempt to safeguard 490 jobs. Jim D'Avila, regional officer for Unite, said that by accepting this deal the workers at Honda were standing together in "true solidarity in difficult times to protect hundreds of jobs". [1]

But according to Bob Crow of the RMT ‘If a trade union ain’t going to fight, there is no point in joining’. [2] However, Bob Crow seems to be an exception and perhaps the RMT is in a pretty good position to negotiate a better deal as they can cause publicly visible disruption that puts pressure on their employers.

Not long ago thousands of workers disappeared silently from the finance and retail sectors. There have been sporadic outbursts of action like those at the Visteon (Car Parts) plant in Enfield where moderate concessions have been won but one could argue they had nothing to lose by taking a stand after they were sacked.[3] If their employers and unions had got together beforehand like the Honda workers above, they too may have accepted a similar deal to save their jobs.

The Public Sector hasn’t been hit hard yet but there is much discussion about the need for a shake-out. [4]

How do you think your workplace will respond when cutbacks are announced?

Should we fight or should we go?

Does work matter to you or should we see the reduction in work as an opportunity to enjoy more free time and do the things we would really like to do?
[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8063719.stm

[2] http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/support_services/article6252004.ece
[3] http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/6435/


[4] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6261545.ece