Bankfodder - yep, I understand that...I think finally in this job I may not be the one shouting loudest ;) Ethel street - I would agree If there was accessible water available at all times...but with the distance, covid restrictions and targets to be met I don't think that at the moment they are being reasonable with the jobs that we do.

Good evening, I work in a chilled (2 -3 degrees) food storage warehouse where I am employed to pack food, ready for distribution for mail order companies, and also to pick from the large warehouse fridges and freezers. All of the food is packaged. Today we were told that we were not allowed to have any drinks in the warehouse areas, - when I asked why the reply was that it has always been a rule and that they were now going to start enforcing it. Basically I'd like to know where we stand with this. Some background: We work 9.30 -5.30 with 1 half hour break at lunch, there is one staff room with a drinks and snack machine. The water from the machine is free. The walk to and from the drinks machine is probably about 4 mins, there and back, from our work station and the areas that we pick from. With the covid situation no more than 6 people are allowed in there at any one time. There are no other water stations around the warehouse. We have targets that we have to meet with how many boxes we pack in an hour. There is no union rep within the company that we can go to with any greviences, though I will be joining a union asap outside of the workplace. Here are my thoughts (after having a google search) and I'd like to know where we stand and if I approach my manager am I being unreasonable: We work in "stressed" conditions with it being so cold and it is manual work where we are walking, lifting and carrying constantly, it is easy to get dehydrated and the cold conditions do make your mouth dry. From what I have read it is reasonable for them to ask us not to have drinks, but they should have reasonable access to free drinking water. To me with the distance to the canteen and the Covid regulations that they have set I don't feel that we don't have "reasonable" access at all/any times. I did ask if we could go and get a drink where the manager replied that they could not deny us getting a drink which is fine except it would have an impact upon our targets, so again I don't feel that this is reasonable as the NHS and Health/Safety guidelines seem to recommend drinking a litre during the working day, some sites say you should be drinking every 15 mins...the remainder can be made up at home, before and after work. I would like to say to them that I consider it reasonable that soft drinks should not be permitted as I can understand that as we sell soft drinks it could easily be misconstrued as being stolen from the stores, but if we were to have water or juice in our own cannisters/flasks/bottles then it should not be a problem until such time that water dispensers can be located around the warehouse in convenient locations. We have an area with work stations where they can be kept so as not to be carrying them around where it could be spilt and become a safety issue. Would this be unreasonable? I am not the only one questioning this, but I knew of this forum and the benefit that it has, so it's me making the enquiries. Unfortunately, as a team of 15, we are all new employees and still under probation, so I'm aware that I don't want to be the "agitator", especially without back up, but I think if I can get us all together to approach them then they will not dismiss us all...I'll have to see how I feel once I have some answers from you guys. Thanks for any help, C

ok, so not impossible...i'm not out the woods yet then! i was reading that if it went to tribunal they would have to show that they have taken all other options and gone through their procedures...i don't believe they can prove that, so i'm still hoping! i did receive the invitation to a disciplinary and as in their guidelines it also stated in the letter that this could lead to a dismissal, it also advised that i could have somewhere with me, though i declined that option. unfortunately i didn't record the meeting....though i could see the notes the person was taking, it's a small town that i live in and i have known her personally, so i don't believe that she would deliberately mislead in the notes. maybe i place too much faith in those above me....i hope they don't prove me wrong i'll let you all know the result, i 've not heard yet.

it's a private school, i'm support staff...not a teacher. i don't know if that's a good or bad thing. because it was the final step on their bradford chart my dept. manager wasn't in on the meeting. if it was him, i'm sure i'd be fine, he's a good guy, a bit of a knob sometimes but on the whole he's has an understanding of life. but this was out of his hands, he didn't like the situation himself and i'm pretty sure if they talk to him that he would confirm all that i said about my work within the dept. but i'm guessing from their point of view that the above doesn't mean much if i haven't managed to do my contractual hours so it is a possibility that they can dismiss me without a written warning? thanks for your replies

annoyingly my union member ship lapsed a while ago, and i didn't set it back up again....oh hindsight is a wonderful thing!!! i'm so pro union too, and see it like an insurance policy. stupid, and lesson learned. i do however have a bit of back up as my sister in law is pretty high up in hr and would represent me if needed (in a different company) ....she's away at the moment so couldn't contact her about this...and it's also nice to get other people's opinions. i would've got the doctor to sign me off for less time as it went into the summer holidays (i only work term time, but they run sick pay over 12 months and so the bradford score is still added.) and then recovered the rest of the hols... i hope that they will be reasonable and realise i'm not a slacker

hi there, just looking for a bit advice, and hopefully some reassurance! my employer uses the bradford factor score for absences. i have three children in primary school and i am the main carer of the children as i'm the part time worker (i understand this doesn't mean too much to an employer)....as a result of their sickness in the last 12 months my bradford factor score meant that i got a verbal warning. a couple of months after this was issued i sprained my ankle resulting in three weeks absent from work (i work term time only and the remainder of my bad ankle took place during the summer holidays). this sent my bradford factor score sky high to 1078....that takes me into the bracket of a disciplinary meeting which could result in dismissal. i had that meeting today. my mitigating factors that i stated was that it is a one of accident and it is not recurring, i am now back at work with no ongoing issues. 1 week of the signing off work was during the start of the summer holidays, had i only got my doctor to sign me off to the end of the holiday my bradford factor would not have been so high and i would be in the "written warning" bracket. i also said that due to the seriousness of my bradford factor score that my partner would be able to take the brunt of the kids being off sick, he has discussed it with his manager and they have agreed for him to work on those days to give me a chance to get my score back down to reasonable levels. i kind of stated my case that i am a good and valued worker and that i also make up missed hours, though i do understand this doesn't mean i can mess up my contractual hours...i play an active part in other aspects of the workplace including being a on a support staff comittee council, that i don't see it as "just a part-time job", that my workplace is important to me. so really, my question is...can they still dismiss me or do they still have to follow the process of verbal and then 2 written warnings before dismissal? thanks in advance for any help/advice

hi there, looking for a bit of advice, or to know if something could be possible.... my partner and i (unmarried, 4 kids, been together 20 years) currently have a joint mortgage which has recently changed from being fixed to being on a tracker. we can happily afford the payments at the moment but we're worried about rates going up in the next few years and would like to be on a fixed rate again. the flat we own we are currently renting out, the mortgage company know this but they haven't changed it to a buy to let mortgage as yet. we are renting the house that we currently live in, been here for a year and a half. so, we want to remortgage, but we have issues with our credit history (hence why the current mortgage supplier won't let us have a fixed rate again at the moment)....looking at experian/equifax, my partner's credit score is fair but mine is "really poor". there are some ccj's (5) on there and some late payments for a mobile phone, last late payment is 24 months ago, the most recent ccj is 2012 and been settled. what i'm wondering is, is it possible to remortgage only in his name? as we have a joint mortgage now are we financially tied and they will still check my credit history? we are now in a better position financially, house is worth approx. 175k, mortgage will be for 100k. he earns about 1.8k after tax and we now have the rental income which is 1k a month, the rent here is 745 a month....not that i want it taken into account but i earn 600 a month any advice, point of view welcome the ccj's are in both our names thanks, claire