Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Sadly there’s not much that can protect us from companies going bust other than insurance as Richard suggested in another thread in the general trade forum. If they go bust, then tough, you’ve lost the cash so all you can do is read the signs as best you can and use “best judgement”. 😕
K.
Re: Electrue/NESN
Still more news…
There is to be a national meeting of NESN members on Wednesday 28th January held by NESN specifically regarding Connect.
Just what will be accomplished by this is unknown and it could well be too little too late IMO as by then CDSL could be faced with a huge backlog of work. But that aside, here’s a question for the agents that you should think about…what difference does it make to you where the work comes from or what system you book it onto? Which inevitably leads to other questions, like, why should you cut off the work to support NESN? Surely if NESN are out of the picture the rates will rise as the management fee will no longer be there? Surely with one less in the chain taking a cut of the revenue there should be more to go around?
Also I would doubt very much if CDSL have not already taken legal advice on the matter and are in the clear.
Regardless, the agents are being used as pawns in a political game being played by CDSL and NESN that could and likely will seriously affect your ability to make a living. But as I said, do you really care where the work comes from and who pays the bill so long as both happen, I really don’t think that any of you will care one jot.
Now last night I recieved information that NESN’s legal team are working on a response to CDSL! Come on, we all have been terminated by someone at some point, CDSL obviously have the option to do this so why should legal advice be needed? You’ve been sacked NESN, just get on with it gracefully for goodness sake instead of playing games with people’s lives!
So, more meetings with DSG, whom I doubt will be too happy with the current state of affairs either and even less so when the complaints from customers start rolling in. But why meet with DSG? Obviously NESN appear to think that they can do this work directly for DSG and cut out CDSL, or do they just need the revenue from this contract to simply survive?
I think the chances are that irrespective of any action that NESN take the contract will not be returned to them so that only leaves the legal option. That costs money and, at this level, a lot of money, does NESN have the finances to support such a battle? Reading the signs, you’d have to conclude that they do not as they cannot pay all their bills every month in full which smacks of a cash-strapped company.
I would contend that NESN is not fighting for its agents here but is indeed fighting for its own suvival!
The ones my sympathies go out to in all this is poor saps caught in the crossfire, the agents!
Ho hum and another day in paradise sails on by. 😕
K.
NOTE Edited 21:34 22/01/2004 to ammend the incorrect date originally posted as I was getting ahead a month in error, apologies for any confusion caused. 😳
You know I’ve been thinking about all this, as is my way, and there really is no easy answer to it. Irrespective of what choice you make it’s going to be the wrong one, aka Hobson’s Choice.
So, that leaves you with the math…
If Coverplan is 70{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of NESN’s work then when it goes from NESN then they are left with some odds and sods that really aren’t worth having since it’s only some inspection work that’s good and the shite from Cornhill that no other fucker wants.
How are NESN going to retain the network with that? There’s nothing on offer there worth the hassle and certainly not worth signing their contract for with the implications that that brings.
Trust me, they have lost that work, it will not be coming back…ever!
As for the promised work from Cornhill, which is also rumoured to be work ripped off from SF, well let’s just say a chilly spell isn’t forecast in the near future for Beelzebub’s home town. 😉 And really, do you as an SF agent want to do the same work for less money because that’s the only thing JT can offer them as better service is a non-starter.
Do you really think that DSG are going to capitulate to JT and gang? Or D&G, or Cornhill?
No, they’re not.
NESN have pissed off too many people, made too many enemies and really in so far as I can see may well be forced to pull out of whitegoods altogether as the options are shrinking for them day on day. If they continue to piss about they may well find that they are effectively fined by these people to such an extent that they have financial troubles as well, more than they have presently. The danger there is that if you’re still working for them and they do go tits up then you’re gonna get screwed a lot worse than cutting and running now.
So the math is this, what’s worth more to you and your company the 70{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} or the 30{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d}?
Then factor in the fact that you are not in control of your own business and you have something to work on. Not an easy desicion and I’m very glad I don’t have to face it, but you have to view it with that level of objectivity.
But lest we forget there’s one little thing we all have missed in this crap…
Network DASA!
Do you honestly think that if JT wins this little battle, which I’m damned sure he will not, that he will allow you to do any work for ND? Of course he won’t, he’ll play exactly the same hand again and have you lot like little puppies following him into oblivion if that’s what it takes! Because the contract states that he can and there’s sweet fuck all you can do about it! You signed on, you knew the terms, your responsibility.
K.
Not at all Rudi, there’s no funny handshakes required for this, just a sense of doing the right thing. Individually the agents can be unfairly chastised and this is merely a proposition that could remove that obstacle or burden from the agents as, frankly, combined we hold the power and not the WP.
In the end if the guys are interested in countermeasures to the cr4p they’re getting hit with they are perfectly able to fight back all I’m doing is offering to co-ordinate the effort and do a little legwork for them.
K.
Re: LMAO!
Flipper,
You really didn’t think I was going to leave it did you? 😉
Just look at the bomb I’ve just dropped in the legal forum, that should make JT’s day tomorrow I hope. It is the only sensible and honourable way to proceed IMHO but the problem is getting support for the idea from the agents but it’s the only way out of this mess that I can see.
Hope you enjoy the fun. 😀
K.
Well now that’s just adding insult to injury Alex.
TBH I always regarded it as a bit of a hairdresser’s car, not that I could afford to own omne mind, but I can think of better things to buy with the money. Always struck me as all show and no go. 😉
Anyway, after it was slagged off on Top Gear and got a very low position on the “Cool Wall” that was it for me with the TT, I’ll never have one even at a knockdown price. 😆
K.
No Flipper we were not in any way taking the piss and please don’t take it that way. The point is at least this will clear the air one way or another but for months now loads of people have been banging on about pulling out of NESN.
So, the way I see it you have two options.
Stick with them.
Resign.
Now IMHO you do not currently control your business otherwise you could decide to go with CDSL should you wish or not as the case may be. The way things are you have no choice, therefore you do not control your destiny, you handed that control to JT the second you signed the NESN contract so your only option now is to resign and never let it happen again. If enough do resign then you’re safe as he can’t chase everyone, but then there’s still the results of the meetings today to go which could make life a little easier for you. 😉
K.
After recent events maybe now some of you will understand the importance and relevance of this thread and a few other. Sadly it was bad news. 🙁
K.
Re: Electrue/NESN
More news…
Some people have been forced into seeking legal advice on this current position regarding their extraction from the NESN contract and it would appear that there may well be problems with this should NESN decide to pursue the matter. In other words NESN can stop you from working for A.N. Other network if you’ve signed the contract.
On the other hand, NESN are forcing you to accept a 70{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} drop in workload and not replace it. Nice eh?
So, some agents are going to be forced into a position where they may well have to make staff redundant due to the contractural implications of working for NESN. Maybe if you are affected in that way you should ask NESN to provide an explanation for their actions that you can pass onto your staff so they know why they are being made redundant and who is to blame for that redundancy. As, were it not for the contract terms that force you into this position there would be no problem to switch from one client to another it is purely NESN’s contract that stops this and is, in my opinion, tantamount to restriction of trade. Maybe I’ll email a copy to the DTI and see what they make of a company that is prepared to behave in such a manner, I’m sure that they wouldn’t look to favourably on it.
Or maybe I won’t bother and just email the position to them and let them investigate the whole sordid affair. Government bodies are always very interested in such matters where it costs jobs and I’m sure that this would pique their interest somewhat.
In the end it’s up to NESN, they can come out of this with some honour and dignity but only if they choose to do so. But and, this is a stern warning, force the agents into this corner and you will regret it as it will not be forgotten by many, many people in the industry and it will reflect very poorly on NESN.
The guys on the ground couldn’t give a fig about the politics of it all, all they want to do is do the job and get paid (a decent rate) so please see sense and sort it out like grown ups.
As ever just an opinion based on the info in hand.
K.
Rudolph_Hucker wrote:There is an e-mail out today from the leader, calling for subversive action, i.e. to employ guerrilla tactics and make life difficult for the new fledgling operation. Who do they think they are kidding? After treating us like dirt the last 12 months, they are begging our support. They have a 90-day termination period; they ought to come out of it with a little dignity, not acting like a petulant child.
Indeed and not the first time that this company or it’s directors have employed such tactics yet in the same breath have been prepared to take legal action on others who do likewise unto them. Just a tad hypocritical.
Now I have it on good authority that a veiled threat has been issued yesterday evening from Herr Direktor that should an NESN agent carry out work for CDSL that they are in breach of their contract! So what is NESN going to do, take you all to court? Unity cuts two ways I’m afraid.
Somehow I think not. In fact I would doubt that they will have the funds to buy a pack of crisps mever mind run multiple court cases! Quite honestly a company that cannot meet its payments every month should concentrate on putting it’s own house in order before it goes about making threats on others IMHO.
But irrespective of what you personally choose to do you have to ask yourself; do I really want to work for a company that behaves in this manner and treats its own agents thus?
Rudolph_Hucker wrote:If anyone out there may be considering this line of action, think carefully; what you opt for would be short term; you would make no friends and be perceived to be as bad as that lot. That will gain nothing as at the end of the day, the work is bound to go elsewhere. Of course this is down to the individual, and there is the risk that the funds may dry up. Consider this, if everyone united behind N.E.S.N. to undermine the change, there is the risk that payments due to N.E.S.N. will be suspended: that will cause a large ripple effect, with no money in the kitty, then no one would be paid.
Yes that is a serious concern, a very serious concern in fact regardless of what way the chips fall here.
If NESN are in the position where they are reliant on that cashflow to survive… well I don’t have to spell it out do I? 😕
K.
Chris,
Blomberg is often Brandt or Philco (spit) in disguise and other than than it’s Comet only I’m afraid. 😕
Snowcap, you mean you get spares that cost less than a new one! 😉
K.
Well I typed out the bones of the thing for the frontpage but not it all obviously. There are some things that don’t need airing just yet and I have no need to berate anyone over it all.
All I would say is that if you are in the position of being torn between the two, please, please speak to Electrue as they are being decent and realistic over this.
And, without any permission at all, I will say that I have seen an advance copy of the new working agreement from CDSL and, as opposed to the first one I saw this is a massive improvement. In fact it is an entirely different agreement and the vast majority seems written in plain English and is designed to foster a good working relationship, not a dictatorship. It’s worth hanging in there IMO.
Whatever you do, DON’T PANIC! This will get sorted even if it takes a few days to settle down.
As for stopping the work as NESN seem to be asking, what’s the point of that? In this case I can’t see it accomplishing anything really other than helping NESN put a gun to CDSL’s head which gains nothing for you as a service provider, all it does is strengthen NESN to a degree. But really, do you think that this contract will not change hands? The die has been cast, now it’s up to CDSL to make good and to work with all of us to get the job done and, from what I hear, that is their intent. I have had no reason at all to thus far to alter that opinion.
As for NESN, well they can do one of two things IMO, bow out gracefully or not. I’m not even going to bother myself to describe the “not”. 😉
K.
