Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: crispsandwich on December 17, 2005, 02:05:38 PM
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I work in a residential care home in a nearby village. I love the job. There are some unpleasant aspects of it (as in all care jobs), but they're far outweighed by the positive aspects. It's an industry I want to go into once I've done nurse training.
However, I'm staying for a total of around 25 minuites more than I'm actually paid for each shift. For instance, if I'm on from 2pm until 9pm, there will be changeover at 1.50pm, which in my book counts as work. That's 10 minuites that 'm not being paid for. I also usually don't leave until 9.15 time, which is 15 minuites that I'm not paid for. So that's 25 minuites every shift. I do 4 shifts a week on average. So I reckon that monthly, I'm losing around £27 in overtime that I theoretically should be paid. I say theoretically because my manager says that if we're not finished by 9pm (we have things that need to be done - pots, washing, residents ready for bed etc) then that's our problem. She also said that if she gets any more phone calls from other members of staff saying they've come onto a shift and things haven't been done, she'll 'rip our bloody heads off' and make us stay until midnight to get them done. Obviously that's not going to happen, but her attitude is obviously that if we can't get it done in time, we should stay until it's finished and not get paid for it. None of the other staff will stand up to this woman, so I've decided that I'm going to make a diary of the next 2 months and present both her and the owner of the business with a document detailing what time I came on shift, what time I left, how little tea I'm getting to drink for my £2.50 a week I have to pay (that's right, a minimum wage back breaking job and I'm paying the owner £2.50 a week so that I can have a cup of tea). I'm also going to photograph the sheet that's stuck on the rota which says "staff are required to arrive 10 minuites before the shift starts so that handover can take place".
Assuming that my manager and the owner just laugh in my face, what can I do? Any ideas? I'm not really very knowledgable on employment regulations and regulation bodies, so I have no idea where to start.
I'm also not happy that I'm only on £4.25 an hour, when other staff (over 21) are on £5.05 an hour for doing the same job. I'll be making a reference to an incident last week, whereby a resident got out of the fire exit, refused to come back in and so I had to walk with him (whilst he verbally abused me the whole time and I had to physically pull him out of the road because he thought he'd stand up to oncoming traffic three times - he's twice the size of me might I add) for almost an hour before we were picked up. The other staff just stayed inside, no-one had a car and a member of staff who wasn't even on duty had to collect us. We all do the same job and so should all be paid the same in my opinion. I know it's not the law, but it winds me up all the same.
I love the job. I'm obviously being exploited because of this, as are some of the other staff. It winds me up so much but I don't know what to do :(.
Thanks for reading. I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I know there's a lot of level headed folk on here so a couple of opinions on the whole thing would be greatly appreciated.
-Danny :)
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I'm also not happy that I'm only on £4.25 an hour
thats not too bad...it's not great, of course, but this is what employers do to their younger employees. Two years ago I worked in a factory for £4.05/hr...and I hated the job :(
Anyway, advice? I don't know, but its great that you love your job, that's a very hard thing to find, a job that you love. I guess you could go to your local Citizen's Advice Bureau and see what they have to say?
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Power to the people!
It will help alot if you can get support from your colleagues.
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yeah, try not to do anything without your colleagues agreeing to help- if people say they'll help, even then, you may find yourself standing on your own.
Don't do anything you aren't prepared to do by yourself, if necessary, is what i'm trying to say.
and try not to shoot yourself in the foot, or leave yourself no way out, other than resign, while you're at it.
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Cheers guys, good advice :). I think I will find myself on my own on this one 'cause I've not really got anything to lose and I don't have anyone to support, and that's not the case with most of the other staff. I'll think carefully if/before I do anything.
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Once you get your nurse training/degree you'll have a whole lot more options, probably too many :wink: I'm in year 2 of a 4 year Baccalaureate program myself and it's great. As for the current job the diary is one of the best things to do. Especially when they try to change their story or recall what happened, they get caught with their pants down.
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I feel for you- you are obviously dedicated to your work and, as you say, this is being exploited. Your idea of keeping a diary is a good one even if it just helps you keep things in perspective. I'd suggest that when you do a job like yours, you are clearly going to be emotionally involved and that does you credit and petty moneygrubbing measures the the "tea" thing can do nothing to motivate and inspire you. Your supervisor sounds like a nasty bit of work and her threats are almost laughably stupid as they cannot be enforced. If I were you , if I could tolerate it, for a greater good I'd knuckle down and get through the training and once achived, find a position more befitting your talents..oh, and play the blues!
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In lots of jobs you're payed to do the job not by the hour. If you need to work extra hours to get the job done then that's expected. That's how I'm employed and my pay's dropped in real terms by over 15% in the last 2 years. I'll be working for an hour or so tomorrow (Sunday) and I wont get anything for it. But, I enjoy what I do and I'm well over the minimum wage.
The way you're being treated goes with the territory - young, not qualified & minimum wage. It's only when you have skill that are hard to replace that things become better. Best thing to do would be to talk to the Citizens Advice and look for another job. If you kick up a stink with your current employer you might get pushed out so you need something to fall back on.
It would also be worth talking the nurses to see how they've been treated at other places.
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:D I`m afraid as has been said this kinda cr@p goes with the territory of being Young, unqualified & on your way up. But that`s the thing to keep in mind You are on your way up !! :D
It doe`s get better so don`t worry as for your current dilema, it doesn`t hurt to ask why your pay rate is lower than your fellow workers. The fact that you`ve decided to ask advice first before stormming into a conflict with your supervisor speaks volumes for your maturity :D
:D 8)
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is the supervisor woman (semi) shaggable?
Make a pass at her, use the 'women reach their sexual peak in their 40s and blokes in there 20's, and i just turned 20!' line and BOO YACKASHA.
take one for the team :wink:
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Chrisola, Things thing would be a lot more fun if you worked at the advice center.
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^i debate that, what happens if the supervisor is up for it? :oops: :? :o :(
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^i debate that, what happens if the supervisor is up for it? :oops: :? :o :(
Put a Junion Jack over her head and sh@g for your fatherland. :twisted:
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In my opinion you should be paid for it, in your line of work I would guess any number of things can happen to put you behind in your work, and it's not likely to be your fault.
I would agtree that you should at least get a few other collegues to join in the complaint, as they might just get funny with you and make things difficult (It has happened to me, luckily at my current job we have a union, so if I'm there I get paid, regardless.)
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I'm also not happy that I'm only on £4.25 an hour
thats not too bad...it's not great, of course, but this is what employers do to their younger employees. Two years ago I worked in a factory for £4.05/hr...and I hated the job :(
Anyway, advice? I don't know, but its great that you love your job, that's a very hard thing to find, a job that you love. I guess you could go to your local Citizen's Advice Bureau and see what they have to say?
£4.25! This time next year your'll be a mill-yonare!
When I started work in 1982 I got £1.02p an hour. About £35 a week :lol: :lol:
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How many pints an hour was that back then??
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a friend of mine also works in the same line of work. she also isn't qualified as a nurse so perhaps isn't the earning as much as she could be. considering how hard the work is, she isn't on a great deal (around the 15k mark as she is assistant manager). one of the other problems she has is that her employers frequently call her in when she isn't due to work (although that could be an excuse she gives me :D ).
on the positive side there is plenty of work about if this job doesn't work out. as dave says don't rely on other people to back you up if you plan of saying something to your boss. i've had people say that they would back me up then they go all spineless when it comes to the crunch.
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How many pints an hour was that back then??
About 1.5 so not that good!
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this brings to mind a RATM quote...
"america is known as the land of the free. the freedom we are all faced with is the freedom to enter into a subservient role in the workplace, with no control over how things happen or the end product. the only way to avoid this freedom is to not care and not work. this leads to the second freedom - the freedom to starve..."
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this brings to mind a RATM quote...
"america is known as the land of the free. the freedom we are all faced with is the freedom to enter into a subservient role in the workplace, with no control over how things happen or the end product. the only way to avoid this freedom is to not care and not work. this leads to the second freedom - the freedom to starve..."
See Guitar World March 1997.
Great article.
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no different to anywhere else in the western world