argos strike?

LuckyStar

I used to work in a supermarket while I was in college and was paid €9/hr. People there 6 or 7 years were paid about €12/hr. I have since got my degree and got a graduate job with much better money. At the end of the day if you don't like it then leave. If you don't have the education or skills to get a skilled job then get them. I went to college for 4 years and worked very hard, I deserve to get paid more money in my graduate job now than what I got in my checkout job. Plenty of people in my old job used to complain about the money but maybe if they hadn't left school at 16 they would have a better education and would have a better chance of getting a well paid job.

Jip

adrieanne__x wrote: »

Argos are the best paid workers in the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre. That should tell you something.

I wonder if it tells me why there was no picket outside the Blanchardstown store, and I didn't see one outside the Westend one either but I was doing a runner from the rain so might have missed it.

I find the reasons for the strike absolutely laughable. Argos have signed up to the national wage agreement but yet the union aren't happy with this !?!? I was listening to one of the reps on the Last Word last week and to me it sounds like the real reason is that unions nose is put out of joint because management won't meet them once a year anymore, she sounded very bitter about it anyway.

penexpers

gazzer wrote: »

I had planned to go into Argos today to get a few electrical things but there is no way I would pass a picket. Plenty of other shops sell the things I was looking for. I support them fully Paying your full time staff 9 euro an hour when you made millions of pounds profit last year is disgraceful.

If you were to stop shopping in every place that made outrageous profits while paying staff not great wages, then you wouldn't be left with very many places to shop.

HungryJoey

LuckyStar wrote: »

I used to work in a supermarket while I was in college and was paid €9/hr. People there 6 or 7 years were paid about €12/hr. I have since got my degree and got a graduate job with much better money. At the end of the day if you don't like it then leave. If you don't have the education or skills to get a skilled job then get them. I went to college for 4 years and worked very hard, I deserve to get paid more money in my graduate job now than what I got in my checkout job. Plenty of people in my old job used to complain about the money but maybe if they hadn't left school at 16 they would have a better education and would have a better chance of getting a well paid job.

I think you summed it up pretty well.



No they were not at blanchardstown. I know a few people who work in argos in blanchardstown, no picketing there!

Nightwish

As I mentioned before, it does sicken the staff when they see the profits doubling in size, while the company cuts back hours, staff etc. Conditions and management were my main issues with Argos, and at the end of the day I enjoyed working there. I was respected by everyone there, except my manager.

parsi

LuckyStar wrote: »

If you don't have the education or skills to get a skilled job then get them.

Not everyone can go and get better skills. It may surprise you but there are folk who cannot afford college or more importantly do not have the academic abilities to go off on a subsidised college course for four years. You should bear in mind that your facilities in college were paid for by all taxpayers and not just the college grads of previous years.

It's go to see the good old attitude alive and well - "I'm alright Jack and sure if the job is so bad why not get another one."

I'm far from convinced about the validity of this strike but the attitude shown here does shock me (though I suppose it is representative of the boards demographic).

miju

there are many opportunities to further your education without having to pay college fees or even go to college. i should know i availed of them to better my situation

LuckyStar

parsi wrote: »

Not everyone can go and get better skills. It may surprise you but there are folk who cannot afford college or more importantly do not have the academic abilities to go off on a subsidised college course for four years.

It's called a Leaving Cert, and about 50% of the people in the supermarket I worked in did not have one. There's not being able to afford education and there's taking the piss.

Sonnenblumen

Although people have the right to strike, and whether you pass the picket or not is a personal choice. I would see no reason why someone would pass a picket at a Retail Store. Worse still it is disppointing (but not surprising) to see the venomous comments directed at the workers.


If your not willing to offer even token moral support to the search for a fairer wage, at least be respectful in expression. I passed near an Argos store and I was surprised how many shoppers where inside.

€9.00/hour is not a living wage for an adult. Shame on you Argos.

Nightwish

All people I worked with in Argos had Leaving certs. Some were college dropouts, another was waiting to get into the Gardai, a few others had made it their career choice and had advanced into supervisory roles, but a few others havent a hope of getting other jobs. Through life circumstances/academic ability they cannot study to "better themselves". Many are paying mortgages on the argos wage.

miju

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

€9.00/hour is not a living wage for an adult. Shame on you Argos.

it is well above the minimum wage as statedin law by our government. perhaps you should be directing that comment towards them rather than Argos?

parsi

LuckyStar wrote: »

It's called a Leaving Cert, and about 50% of the people in the supermarket I worked in did not have one. There's not being able to afford education and there's taking the piss.

Come down from your Ivory Tower. Not having a Leaving Cert is not "taking the piss". Can you not undertsand that there are people out there who struggle academically and who can never advance beyond low-skilled work ?

HungryJoey

parsi wrote: »

Come down from your Ivory Tower. Not having a Leaving Cert is not "taking the piss". Can you not undertsand that there are people out there who struggle academically and who can never advance beyond low-skilled work ?

That is quite understandable, although I think we all know that the majority of people working in there were quite eligible to study and get a LC. And I know that because I know several people alone who did not like school, dropped out, or even who did their Leaving cert and work in argos, who by the way were in no way stopped from doing the LC.

Yeah, you can argue that the LC is not possible for some people to do, but come on - we know they are in the minority.

Hj

ixoy

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

If your not willing to offer even token moral support to the search for a fairer wage, at least be respectful in expression.

But what is a fair wage for an unskilled job? Surely wages need to be based on skill and value to the company rather than length of service? An employer shouldn't have to take into account your mortgage/rent when employing you and adjust your rates - that's your problem. They pay you for the calculated cost of retaining you and the risk of how difficult it would be to replace you. I can't see that an Argos worker coulnd't be pretty easily replaced, hence a lower wage.

And college isn't the only route to a good job. There are plenty of tradesmen who've been earning far more than college graduates in the last decade. They're providing a skilled service and were in short supply this not replacable and thus a higher wage.

TheDoc

What is further annoying as this debate goes on. The full time staff who went on strike, are doing low skilled labour. I'm only in the store not even two years and have big responsabilities.

Our staff who go on strike are those who jut come in do their days work and go home, they never go that extra mile for customers and regardless what is going on once their shift ends they are off, regardless of how busy we are.

I am responsible for many things, argos workers will know what im saying.

Filling the paperwork at end of week, co-ordinating counts and checking errors, arranging catalogue deliveries, personally delviering out of stock items to customers house at my expense, carrying items to customers cars, building items for customers, supervising rebin seasons, co-ordinating ro stoc krecalls. Personally in charge of dealing with defective stock. I am always asked to deal with awkward customers or giving customers bad news.

This is all above my job requirement, i should only pick stock end of, but i do all this. I've great respect for my store as i went unemployed for 8 months and argos took me on with minimal retail experience, and im sure now any retailer would take me with open arms.

But i perform alot of the work managers should do, and i dont mind. /every Sunday i ask my stock manager what major tasks he wants completed for the week and i get them done.

I earn the same money as the people who sit on a till, and dont give a ****.

pisses me off, then i understand im on a wage no other retailer can match for my age, working hours and situation.

f they want more money they should actually do some work...

and i thoroughly resent being called a scab, i spent 1 1/2 hours that day dealing with an elderly wmoan who didnt know what to buy her grandchildren and i sorted her out, i built a foreign ladies trike who couldnt read instructions, i arranged for so many items to be delivered in or held somewhere else for parents, i carried about 6 x-rocker gmaing chairs to cars for women, i carried over 110kg of flatpack to a carpark for a disabled lady...and everyone i personally dealt with that day went away happy.

I'm a scab???

Its a strike i do not support in the slightest really.....i wouldnt mind but most of the union members we have on strike where female members of staff, who only work because " they want to get out of the house" their spouses are majorly high earners

*no offense ment*I think im the only person in my store who sees things through both eyes, argos eyes and staff eyes. Yes argos made over 8 billion last year. But that isnt just profit.

That money has to be used, buying new products for our catalogue, installing the new automated kiosks in stores to benefit customers. And everyone overlooks argos are opening stores in india, o thats free is it?

Returned products that are damaged accumulate to over 5 million euro a year.
Insured claims products accumulate to 3 million.

Forecast budgets allocate stores the hours they are allowed to spend, in the past 6 weeks my manager has gone over that budget by a min of 150 hours.

Our management team are great and very accomodating, people have to remember they came from stock room/ till level too, area managers and head office make the decisions. But our managers consistenly defy them to make us happy and provide a better service to the swords store.


|And for argos shoppers |

dont all crowd around the collection counter, pulled a 6 hour shift yesterday on collection for the first time in a long time, and its very intimidating all those piercing stares :P

eth0_

Nightwish wrote: »

As I mentioned before, it does sicken the staff when they see the profits doubling in size, while the company cuts back hours, staff etc.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with what your wage is. The company I work for, its stock price is around $700, i don't expect to get paid $700 a day because the company is making shedloads of cash.

I see Argos are striking again on Dec 18th. Oh well, i'm sure they'll fly over non petty, non greedy staff from the UK again.

Musha

LuckyStar wrote: »

It's called a Leaving Cert, and about 50% of the people in the supermarket I worked in did not have one. There's not being able to afford education and there's taking the piss.

If everybody went to college and got gradute well paid jobs, Who would work in Argos / Supermarkets would we only be allowed to shop during summer/christmas breaks when the students where on holiday, Who would look after the Colleges Cleaning staff canteen Staff etc

Different strokes for different folks ...

Good honest people should not be disrespected for wanting a better life and pay for the work that they do not matter what level of education or what nationally they are.

I know college gradutes who collected bins because the pay was better!!

eth0_

I don't have a problem with people who are in Argos as a long term thing getting a rise every year, but to expect nearly 10 euro per hour as a starting wage is ridiculous.

Musha

Musha wrote: »

If everybody went to college and got gradute well paid jobs, Who would work in Argos / Supermarkets would we only be allowed to shop during summer/christmas breaks when the students where on holiday, Who would look after the Colleges Cleaning staff canteen Staff etc

Different strokes for different folks ...

Good honest people should not be disrespected for wanting a better life and pay for the work that they do not matter what level of education or what nationally they are.

I know college gradutes who collected bins because the pay was better!!

A minimum wage job that pays more than minimum wage.

Argos employees don't know how good they really have it

favouritemistak

eth0_ wrote: »

I don't have a problem with people who are in Argos as a long term thing getting a rise every year, but to expect nearly 10 euro per hour as a starting wage is ridiculous.

Its not 10euro an hour..they've already paid out around around 4.5percent of the ten already asked for.

LuckyStar

parsi wrote: »

Come down from your Ivory Tower. Not having a Leaving Cert is not "taking the piss". Can you not undertsand that there are people out there who struggle academically and who can never advance beyond low-skilled work ?

In this day and age, yes it is. Anyone and everyone I have ever met who didn't do the Leaving Cert gave their reason as "I couldn't be arsed". But you think they should be paid the same as someone like myself who slaved away at it for 2 years and then broke my bollocks for 4 years in college? Come off it.

Nightwish

eth0_ wrote: »

This has nothing whatsoever to do with what your wage is. The company I work for, its stock price is around $700, i don't expect to get paid $700 a day because the company is making shedloads of cash.

Thats not my point at all. Every year when the company announces their profits it is always always accompanied by belt tightening, and people getting their hours cut so that their take home pay is minimal. Its the same as the government giving themselves a huge pay rise, while telling the PAYE worker to fork out extra in stealth taxes.

TheDoc

theres nothing you can do in hte private industry...if its such a financial hit for them they need to move on

my girlfriend, who i met through argos, has her leaving cert...working in argos on ****ty pay but couldnt even get full hours.

Had the nerve and steel to go hunting for a proper job. Now works in dhl on 30+ hours a week paying a quaity wage packet.

She is now earning nearly triple what she did in argos, and all she did was an interview.

giddyup

Remy Thousands Trapdoor wrote: »

I would not cross the picket. Paying 9euro an hour is grand for somebody who started working there recently or only a short time ago. But for adults who work there full time and for many years, 9euro an hour just isnt enough money to raise a family and pay the bills etc.

I agree it's not enough money but time for some devils advocacy. So two people doing the exact same low-skilled work should be paid different wages because one of them is an energetic, helpful, enthusiastic student (I know I know) and the other is some dead-beat 60-a-day oul one who does the bare minimum and she's worked there for years making no progress and she has 6 kids and a mortgage and a few sub-prime loans.

I'm sorry but that's nonsense. It's supply and demand - If I pay x euros will I get enough sufficently sentient humans to shift enough product so I'm in profit. With some caveats that's the basic equation for employers in this game. I know that's a bit stark but dress it up a bit and remove the brutal honesty and you have yourself a retail employer.

I'm all for rewarding full-timers a little more in the interests of loyalty, retention of knowledge etc. but it's only ever going to be just a little more - ultimately it will revert to the economics of the situation.

I'll put my inner-capitalist back in his safe place now.

MOH

Nightwish wrote: »

Thats not my point at all. Every year when the company announces their profits it is always always accompanied by belt tightening, and people getting their hours cut so that their take home pay is minimal. Its the same as the government giving themselves a huge pay rise, while telling the PAYE worker to fork out extra in stealth taxes.

That's what companies do. I've worked in places that were making money hand over fist but paying staff crap and telling them there was no budget for increases. So I left.

chuckles30

I haven't read this whole thread, so apologies if this was said before. But from what I can gather, argos staff are arguing that they are getting paid less that people doing the same jobs in other retailers. So if that's the case, why don't they all leave and go get the higher paid jobs with the other retailers??? They knew what the wages were when they took the job.

eth0_

chuckles30 wrote: »

I haven't read this whole thread, so apologies if this was said before. But from what I can gather, argos staff are arguing that they are getting paid less that people doing the same jobs in other retailers. So if that's the case, why don't they all leave and go get the higher paid jobs with the other retailers??? They knew what the wages were when they took the job.

Which isn't true. Someone stated earlier in this thread that Argos workers are the highest paid in the Jervis centre - so they earn more than people in Boots, Dixons, Debenhams.

It's a ridiculous demand they are making.

Cactus Col

chuckles30 wrote: »

I haven't read this whole thread, so apologies if this was said before. But from what I can gather, argos staff are arguing that they are getting paid less that people doing the same jobs in other retailers. So if that's the case, why don't they all leave and go get the higher paid jobs with the other retailers??? They knew what the wages were when they took the job.

Because that wouldn't solve any problems, the new workers brought into Argos would still be paid unfairly. The company would have also have greater power, with a "don't like it, lump it" policy. If argos were to be seen getting away with this, then other employers would follow suit, and so unfair wages would become the norm rather than the exception.

It doesn't matter why people work in Argos, what does matter is that the people who do are treated fairly and with respect.

ixoy

Cactus Col wrote: »

Because that wouldn't solve any problems, the new workers brought into Argos would still be paid unfairly.

But it appears that they're not paid unfairly. Their wages are in line, if not greater, than many other similiar jobs. So that's not the problem for those new workers.

TheDoc

there is no arguement here, there really isnt, remembering im an employee of argos..

Argos are one of the highest paid wages in the pavillions centre in swords, minus perhaps the phone shops, but thats cause of commision.

I went round every store in the "pav" to find work and was offered 8.95 at best, 1 euro below current argos wage.

They are going on strike again next week, not sure if its a tuesday or saturday, but its happening again before christmas

Thoughts going around are that if this is kept up till after christmas, all striking staff will be let go, since their contracts end on dec 24th.

and they cant make a single complaint.