MT overtime

[Curtis E. Carr]

Originally Posted by Mikey the Bald

The worrying thing is HR know all about it and do nothing. I have been told by a manager in U3 that they are told to do it by the regionals to make them look better. what hope do you have of complaining to HR when they just refer you back to your regional manager?

I guarantee you HR will not just refer you back to your ARM. The integrity of the HR department was one of the most impressive things I have seen at ERAC. They are impartial and totally unswayed by rank or reputation. If you have a genuine grievance, do not hesitate to go to them. Just make sure it's substantiated. Don't just run in there moaning without proof. HR are there the protect the company and as the previous poster wrote, lawyers are foaming at the mouth for this sort of thing. If HR get a sniff of a potential lawsuit, they'll soon put a stop to any shady practices. The last thing they want is that sort of publicity.
There are a lot of bad things said about how this company is run and most of them are true. Long hours can't really be blamed on anyone, if people order cars, they order cars. That's not management's fault. If cars need washing, they need washing. That's what has to happen in a car business. This is absolutely scandalous, the worst thing this company does to its people. It is nothing more than robbery. Pure and simple, it is theft. Doesn't the company have a Policy and Standards committee or some such entity? Right at the top of their list of priorities is the rooting out of mis-reporting and manipulation of figures and information.
So get the proof, get others to get the proof then go to HR and go to the head of the standards committee and blow this up to both of them. They'll have to take notice, and then you watch how quickly it all stops. They'll shit themselves.

[One The Way]

Your experience of HR is very different to mine! I asked my branch manager about flexing and got no answer (tell a lie, the answer was "you're not having one - you don't need one"). I emailed HR to have the issue clarified and all they did was (a) refer me back to my BRM and (b) send my email to my BRM without me knowing, so he knew his MT had 'gone over his head' for want of a better phrase.

They would've saved much more time if they'd simply replied to me with the words "Ha! Whatever."

Get a grip all of you. My drivers believe that their lunch starts the minute they bite into their big mac. Not when they were told 'now would be a good time to take your lunch'. They then fanny around for ten minutes before deciding where they should go, then another 5 minutes whinging about why they don't want to take a corsa, eventually come back another half an hour later and cry like bitches when you change their 10 minute lunch to 45 minutes (when actually it was all in nearer an hour but you were trying to keep the peace). They then piss and whinge in front of the branch and assistant managers who are lucky to get chance to eat something at their desk. Yes, it's shit, but's that's the way it is, the alternative for many mt's and drivers is a production line. Pretty sure you don't get to drive decent cars and stop for a coffee at regular intervals in many other jobs.
The fact of the matter is, ERAC is damned hard work but after 18 months, if you're good, you will have doubled your starting salary and more. Show me another job that you can do that in. Once you've been a branch manager for two years, either get to Area Manager or leave with your CV ultimately better. If you don't want that, join the civil service on 14k and the next year you'll get a 2.5% rise, and the next, and the next. You'll earn fuck all but you'll be home by 5pm and have plenty of time to think what you'd do if you had any spare cash.

[Mikey the Bald]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Get a grip all of you. My drivers believe that their lunch starts the minute they bite into their big mac. Not when they were told 'now would be a good time to take your lunch'. They then fanny around for ten minutes before deciding where they should go, then another 5 minutes whinging about why they don't want to take a corsa, eventually come back another half an hour later and cry like bitches when you change their 10 minute lunch to 45 minutes (when actually it was all in nearer an hour but you were trying to keep the peace). They then piss and whinge in front of the branch and assistant managers who are lucky to get chance to eat something at their desk. Yes, it's shit, but's that's the way it is, the alternative for many mt's and drivers is a production line. Pretty sure you don't get to drive decent cars and stop for a coffee at regular intervals in many other jobs.
The fact of the matter is, ERAC is damned hard work but after 18 months, if you're good, you will have doubled your starting salary and more. Show me another job that you can do that in. Once you've been a branch manager for two years, either get to Area Manager or leave with your CV ultimately better. If you don't want that, join the civil service on 14k and the next year you'll get a 2.5% rise, and the next, and the next. You'll earn fuck all but you'll be home by 5pm and have plenty of time to think what you'd do if you had any spare cash.

Hmm oddly enough I have just been calculating my hourly pay for some upcoming jobs - Was forced to leave enterprise due to an accident they caused and would not pay up or alter my hours - gave me the kick up the arse to start my own business and even tho i do some part time office work when jobs are few and far between, when i do work I am on between £15 and £40 an hour. I can make more in an 8 hour day sometimes than I did in a whole week working for enterprise! Imagine that, work an 8 hour day and earn more than a 70 hour week.

People - wake up and smell the coffee, those of you who are better than the production lines are also better than enterprise. So when the posters ask if u want to run your own business? Why dont you do just that?

i do have to thank enterprise tho - If I had not have joined them, then I would not have realised how bad life could get and done something about it - everyone do the same-leave and get yourselves a life, see your mates and family and try not to die early through stress and overwork

[Tim O' Tei]

Originally Posted by Curtis E. Carr

Just a thought, this one. Not sure whether I'm right on this but it seems to me there's something wrong about how MT overtime is calculated.
You sign a contract for 50 hours a WEEK but are paid overtime if you do over 200 hours a MONTH. If you have agreed a contract for a set number of hours in a week, surely you should be paid for overtime in any given week. Nobody signed a contract agreeing to 200 hours a month.
If the first week of the month you do 62 hours and the next three weeks you do 46 hours, you get no overtime paid. Where else could you do a 62 hour week and get NOTHING extra for it?!
It seems a pretty big disparity to me and just wondered what other people's thoughts on this are. What is the legal standpoint on this? Like most other things with this company, it seems wrong and another tool to flog people for free.

Not sure if it still applies but a few years back ERAC included a clause in contracts in U1 whic meant you opted out a maximum hour limit. As such you are only paid a salary pro-rata'ed down. Additionally BMs are encouraged to...ahem... 'justify' MT everyone''s hours.

[Mikey the Bald]

Originally Posted by Tim O' Tei

Not sure if it still applies but a few years back ERAC included a clause in contracts in U1 whic meant you opted out a maximum hour limit. As such you are only paid a salary pro-rata'ed down. Additionally BMs are encouraged to...ahem... 'justify' MT everyone''s hours.

Only ERAC could come up with that one - a nicely worded contract saying we will and can fuck you over at any given opportunity and there is nothing you can do about it apart from leave, but why would you want to do that - Answers ona postcard please addressed to: Deerstalker award for stating the obvious!

This definately happens - you also get the 'we will get pizza today but you have to put down an ours lunch' even if you dont see the pizza because you are dropping someone home.

I am pretty sure that time sheet alteration is illegal and is done because there is a legal requirement to have a break every x number of hours for a stipulated period of time.

Alteration of time sheets helps enterprise in any cases against an employee if they are involved in an accident. For (extreme) example MT1 works from 7am to 2am the next morning (I have done this) with no break as they are driving to collect cars. MT at 2am has an accident due to falling asleep at the wheel, when investigation into time worked over the week and previous weeks occurs the hours workee (or submitted) makes it look as though this was a one off and not gross misconduct on the part of ERAC putting the MT under pressure to do this etc etc

Even if it is confirmed by the Courts the buck will stop with the manager who is also put under pressure to doctor the sheets to keep the per unit in check for the area manager [who in turn is under pressure again] -who told them to do this in the first place, but nothing is recorded so no proof exists.

Get some proof - stop this happening an dthen you can stop complaining (like I used to on here!).

[Mikey the Bald]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This definately happens - you also get the 'we will get pizza today but you have to put down an ours lunch' even if you dont see the pizza because you are dropping someone home.

I am pretty sure that time sheet alteration is illegal and is done because there is a legal requirement to have a break every x number of hours for a stipulated period of time.

Alteration of time sheets helps enterprise in any cases against an employee if they are involved in an accident. For (extreme) example MT1 works from 7am to 2am the next morning (I have done this) with no break as they are driving to collect cars. MT at 2am has an accident due to falling asleep at the wheel, when investigation into time worked over the week and previous weeks occurs the hours workee (or submitted) makes it look as though this was a one off and not gross misconduct on the part of ERAC putting the MT under pressure to do this etc etc

Even if it is confirmed by the Courts the buck will stop with the manager who is also put under pressure to doctor the sheets to keep the per unit in check for the area manager [who in turn is under pressure again] -who told them to do this in the first place, but nothing is recorded so no proof exists.

Get some proof - stop this happening an dthen you can stop complaining (like I used to on here!).

Could not say it better myself - I have left ERAC so can confirm all this shit goes on - In my time with ERAC(and a little after) I have seen 3 Managers come and go, 2 Assistant Managers come and go and 2 drivers and 3 MT's - 1 of which didnt come back after gettin teh job lol. Christ both the BM and AM have been off sick with stress and thought they had heart attacks - long hours can kill you!!!!!!!!!!!

Dont feel sorry for your managers aor area managers, they are the people supposed to protect you - their employees - its their duty of care - its the law. If they blatantly alter timesheets to screw you over, why should you worry what happens to them if it gets reported - Get the proof, print your time sheets every day and at teh end of the week for your actual times then print the doctored ones and go to head office and maybe even a solicitor if its that bad but dont complain and do nothing

I as a driver have had my timesheets altered and never got anywhere complaining.
I print timesheets off and went to the top ie;Gp and quess what? Nowbody even at Hr are interested so what do you do???

[Mikey the Bald]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I as a driver have had my timesheets altered and never got anywhere complaining.
I print timesheets off and went to the top ie;Gp and quess what? Nowbody even at Hr are interested so what do you do???

You report them to Health & Safety Executive. MT's are different from drivers because they are supposed to spend some time in the office - drivers working too many hours on the road is against the law so if they wont listen then MAKE them listen - Hit them where it hurts and get em fined and prosecuted, soon start looking differently if they lose even more money! Hit GP where it hurts - right in the wallet!