Conundrum - what would you do?

OUT OF HOURS BULLY'S TRUCKSTOP BAR (INTERACTIVE)
1

I have a bit of a situation here which is causing me some sleepless nights.

Basically, I have been business partners with another guy for the last 3 1/2 years, in an electrical maintenance company. We employ 3 others, and up until about April, work was plentiful, and we were making good money. We then lost a couple of the contracts, and the workload has dried up so that it needs about the equivalent of 2 - 2.5 people. We do however need 3 people ot cover the callouts on a rota, and any other work which comes in. There is no longer the work in the office to cover both of us being in there though, so we are effectively sitting around with 2 out of the 5 not being used, and watching the bank balance dwindling.

So I made the decision that I would leave, and let my BP buy me out - the money saved on my wages, dividends, NI, diesel, insurances etc, would save enough to restore the bank balance, and make the company profitable again. I’ve got an offer of a job driving, which will be a similar level of pay to what I’m on now.

However, I now find out that the BP is using this as an opportunity to cut the pay of the 3 guys by 20%, under the proviso that if they don’t agree, there will have to be a redundancy. This is despite having picked up a load of new work (I only found out about this when I got an email mistakenly sent to me, rather than him - he’d kept quiet about this when we were negotiating a buy-out price). I’m not worried about this from my point of view - a bit ■■■■■■ off that he decided to keep it quiet, but more annoyed that he’s getting too greedy and wants to screw the guys into the ground so that he can maintain his lifestyle.

I don’t know that I can do anything legally, as I’m no longer part of it, or even whether I should get involved, but it really does ■■■■ me off that the 3 guys are being used to fund his wages - he’s already said that he won’t cut his pay or even move premises - he has an option to get out of the leased unit and go back to doing the office work from his home office which would save about £1400 per month in direct costs.

What would you do in my situation? - ■■■■ out, try to intervene on behalf of the guys, advise them from the background?

It’s an odd situation for me - all my life I’ve voted Conservative, now as I get older I find I’m moving over to the left considerably!

Gary

2

So according to the ‘books’ a load of the work dried up.But there eems to be some ‘other’ figures which you weren’t aware of in some other books which the ‘business partner’ was and which seem to show that the work lost was atually replaced by new work which seems to mean no large scale overall nett loss of work :question: .You weren’t made aware of the latter figures and then decided to base a buyout deal on the former figures :question: .

Sounds like a case for a complaint to the police for fraud maybe assuming that the ‘new work’ was there at the time when you negotiated the buyout. :question: . :bulb:

If not then why are you bothered about a firm which you don’t have any interest in :question: .

As for conservative or the left they’re all the same the ‘left’ in this country was finished around 30 years ago probably before. :frowning:

3

No, the new work is coming in now, as a result of negotiations he was undertaking behind my back when I was involved. There was no income from it when I was there. As I originally said, I’m not bothered from my point of view, I’ve got out of it more or less what I wanted. What is ■■■■■■■ me off is that he’s using this to screw over the guys who work for the company, under the threat of ‘take it or I’ll get rid of one of you’. This is not how I used to deal with them, as I always found that if you treat them right, they’ll treat you right. I can’t abide greedy people - they’re the reaosn the whole world is disappearing down the pan. If people treated others, particularly their employees, fairly, they’ll probably end up being better off in the longer term anyway.

So you think I should just shrug my shoulders and tell the guys ‘not my problem, I’ve had my dosh’? Definitely not my preferred option!

Gary

4

YOUR FORMER b.p. is a ZB. I think that you should arrange a meeting with your former workers and tell them the facts.Then its up to them whatever they decide to do.

5

Seems to me like you’re learning what anyone who grew up through the industrial strife of the 1970’s on the union side of the story not the employers could have told you then. :wink: :smiling_imp:

It’s too late now for anyone who’s ever been on the employer’s side of that argument to see the light now for what that argument has always been.Your ex business partner is just doing what’s par for the course and there’s no place for anyone on the employer’s side of that old argument to have a conscience now.

‘Unless’ you’re the first signs of a massive long overdue total change in attitudes in the country in which someone on the employers side can finally see things from the side of the employees/workers. :open_mouth: :wink: