25% Laid Off

[eastleighfan]

It's horrible and increasingly common. One reason for it ironically, other than management cowardice, is the various new laws we've had on redundancies and unfair dismissal over the last decade. Depending on how many people they're going to get rid of, firms are legally obliged to tell all employees at the same time (the idea is that it's the start of a consultancy period or some crap like that) and, if they don't, the can be sued for unfair dismissal by anyone they do lay off. Hence firm-wide emails, notices of coffee machines and all the other stuff allowing them to claim they followed the letter of the law.

If my memory serves me correct , any form laying of X number of peopl has to issue an HR1 , which is a notice of possible redundancy .

In the 90's , the place where I worked had one hanging over us for nearly a year . I was then withdrawn ,and 6 months later another one issued . I eventually got made redundant around 2 years after the original HR1 was issued . It's not nice at all .

My sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost or is losing their job , it is one of the worse things in the world .

[SNACR]

If my memory serves me correct , any form laying of X number of peopl has to issue an HR1 , which is a notice of possible redundancy .

In the 90's , the place where I worked had one hanging over us for nearly a year . I was then withdrawn ,and 6 months later another one issued . I eventually got made redundant around 2 years after the original HR1 was issued . It's not nice at all .

My sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost or is losing their job , it is one of the worse things in the world .

Sadly it's always best to create conditions which precipitate staff leaving of their own accord as this is by far the least hassle. With redundancy you've still potentially got the issue of having to offer them their old job back if you rehire the same position.

Problem is workers rights in this country are geared around an obsolete paradigm of jobs for life. The most successful economies will always be those that allow business to easily expand and contract its workforce to match demand. As the UK is bad for this, though not as bad as the continent, we will fall further and further behind.

[kman]

Were you contract or permy? My mate is contract at Jag Gaydon, hanging on by the skin of his teeth?

Are there any permys going in purchasing at Aston, my mates sister is a buyer at Aston, been there years, i wonder whether she is safe?

Is it that bad at Aston's?

I was a long term contractor.

There is a collective consultation going on and they will get rid of 300 permanent staff after Xmas.

Aston are retrenching big time, future models have been abandoned including the widely publicised £1.2M 1-77 which they only had 6 interested customers.

[Panda]

I was a long term contractor.

There is a collective consultation going on and they will get rid of 300 permanent staff after Xmas.

Aston are retrenching big time, future models have been abandoned including the widely publicised £1.2M 1-77 which they only had 6 interested customers.

Contractors go first i am afraid; got friends at the Jag, they say it was hours away from going bust last week, they had to go to a Norwiegen bank for a 2 billion bridging loan, they got it, so ok for now? It seems that is why they made the anouncement hours after this to release 850 contractors? Jag maybe on limited time?

Do you think 300 permys will go, what is the ratio of permy's to temp at Astons?

BTW what type of engineer are you, electrical, procees, BIW, paint, trim?

Edited December 6, 2008 by Panda

[kman]

Contractors go first i am afraid; got friends at the Jag, they say it was hours away from going bust last week, they had to go to a Norwiegen bank for a 2 billion bridging loan, they got it, so ok for now? It seems that is why they made the anouncement hours after this to release 850 contractors? Jag maybe on limited time?

Do you think 300 permys will go, what is the ratio of permy's to temp at Astons?

BTW what type of engineer are you, electrical, procees, BIW, paint, trim?

As of the begining of week 01.12.08 the head count was about 1800

300/330 contractors were sacked this week.

Collective consultation on at least 300 permie job has begun which takes 90 days. As far as I can see Aston is effectively shut down; no cars are being produced.

I'm an electronics integration expert and have also worked in diesel engine calibration

Edited December 6, 2008 by kman

[mrphil]

BTW I work for one the largest banks and redundancies have been very minor to date although I am hearing strong rumours that these will be ramped up next year with up to 10% of staff going in some countries / business lines.

One of the large banks will be making huge numbers of redundancies in the next 18 months. To date, around 250 jobs have been lost and the local media have run stories on how terrible that is but at least 1500 remain in employment locally with this bank. What those still working for the bank don't yet know is the plan is already in place for them to go also, with set timescales, and building ready to be sold.

Obviously Im being sketchy with details, but based on direct experience Id be very surprised if there are not huge numbers of staff in other banks that think they have survived that actually already have an x marked against them.

[Panda]

As of the begining of week 01.12.08 the head count was about 1800

300/330 contractors were sacked this week.

Collective consultation on at least 300 permie job has begun which takes 90 days. As far as I can see Aston is effectively shut down; no cars are being produced.

I'm an electronics integration expert and have also worked in diesel engine calibration

You will find work no problem! I cannot believe Astons were running on 18% contract, it seems they went from low volume to low to medium volume to no volume in what eight years? If you are feeling the pinch i bet Bentley will also, they have a headcount in excess off 4000!

[the-sign-jacker]

lost my job this week. 1/3 of work force culled across the board. Senior engineer Aston Martin

Too bad they produced really expensive fuel guzzling motor cars.

Shame about the job though. At least you might get a payout of some kind, or like workers at Dyson, get to make your own custom Aston Martin Keyfobber.

Not to rain on your relief but i think this Winston Churchill quote applies right now "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning"

No. I don't think we are even at the end of the beginning. I think we are at the start of the beginning.

Think it is coming to that I am afraid. Prison numbers are forecast to rise significantly and new jails are being built as we speak. Having spent most of my teenage years in one, I think there are far cheaper and much more effective ways of keeping our young people on the straight and narrow.

ps. at least I am working in a 'growth industry'.

Prison capacity was planned to be doubled back in 2005.

I started work at the bottom ( No I am not gay :-) ) I worked as a labourer, then a Brickie, then a site manager, then started my own business, then retrained to IT, and it goes on and on as I am retraining at present yet again.

If you remove the bottome tiers, via cheap imported labour, via removing those jobs offshore, then the acorns will not grow into grand oaks.

Yeah, but you failed to mention it was a GAY labourer, then a GAY Brickie, then a GAY site manager, then started my own GAY business, then retrained to GAY IT, and it goes on and on as I am retraining GAYS at present yet again.

[guitarman001]

Agreed,im in diesel engine engineering,Cummins.Best engines in the world.My mates wife is an equality officer at the council.Gets 50% more salary than me.

Good to hear from more engineers on the thread. And that's pretty shit, man... I do't even know what an equality officer even does, and I'm guessing you're on a good wage...! (No offence to your missus, mind!). What are we supposed to do, though? Do something else, do you think? Will yo ustay in engineering or have you had enough do you think?

Entrants to electronics at Edinburgh uni was roughly 100+ when I did it (6-7 years ago) and now it's at about 20.......................

[guitarman001]

To put things into context, check out what a senior analogue IC designer earns:

http://www.ic-resources.co.uk/Jobs.aspx?ca...mp;from=section

£40-60k typical for a senior engineer (10-15 years experience). That is fooking ridiculous considering some of the earnings other jobs offer.... what am I still doing in this job lol!?