Reaching a "work to rule" point, due to goodwill having been gone away.

[SkintBadger]

Greetings! Now this might seem a bit petty, yet it has become a real issue for not just me but a lot of my co-workers too. I'd be really grateful to get a steer on the legality from an Employment Law angle.

 

I work as a delivery driver, (relatively niche and B2B), small-ish business but we have contracts with public sector. 

 

The new boss has set up a Whatsapp group that all drivers MUST join so he can message "in the moment" things which need to change/be sorted/etc. 

 

I don't have an issue with that per se. However he is now saying we MUST use our phones to telephone him if we are running late due to traffic or any other eventuality on the road. And it is this I (and a few others) have problem with.

 

My phone is PAYG and it costs me to telephone, as a lot of places we go don't have internet data signal so can't use Whatsapp. In addition to this I guess it just bugs me that we get told off if we don't report everything at the time using MY phone, MY credit. Another guy at work has an old phone Nokia with just call/text potential, as he's a bit of a technophobe. This is starting to cause him "back-biting" "dark looks" "snide comments" pressure from bossman too.

 

There is NOTHING in our original employment contracts which require us to have a personal mobile phone as part of the condition of service. None of us are allowed to be in a union before anyone asks. (legally of course we could be, however it's been made clear we'd be shown the door quite quickly if we tried it).

 

In every other respect the job is perfect for me, and I have no desire to leave. I actually get on quite well with the boss too! It's just this one point that is starting to annoy us all.  I don't want to be the one who sticks a target on my back by broaching the topic. I, and all the other's are instantly replaceable with 1 week's notice. 

 

Want me to contact you officially during work hours? Give me a work phone!

Want me to use my own phone? Pay my phone bill!

 

- I know it's minor; yet really starting to be an issue, and the urge to use my phone on him for a purpose it wasn't designed for is growing strong! 

 

Any legal eagles out there who can give me the skinny on where I stand? Ta. 

[SkintBadger]

No of course I wasn't saying I'd be fired for joining a union. However we're all adults here. I'm sure you get what I mean. 

[SkintBadger]

OK thanks for responses. I guess my question is can she lawfully demand we use our own phones?

 

[SkintBadger]

Thanks. Yep, I'll give it a go.

 

[SkintBadger]

Unfortunately shortly after I posted this we got told we're all up against the wall for firing line redundancies. 

 

Whether we use our phones or not suddenly didn't seem a hill worth dying on! 

 

Thanks for all responses though. Appreciated. 

 

SB

[SkintBadger]

I might still question it if I'm given my notice of redundancy (which is only a week for every year of service) lovely - so glad loyalty is still respected in this day and age and I'm not just instantly replaceable by a more compliant robot (anyway, that's another story! ha!) 

 

I'll let you know if I go ballistic and ask all the questions of management I've been saving up these past 7 years....

 

...once the cheque has cleared!

 

[SkintBadger]

Happy to give more information if needed, but it's quite a simple question.

 

I work for a SME company in UK, a subsidiary of a much larger multi-national parent company. 

None of us are in a Union. 

Recently due to cost of living crisis we want to negotiate a pay-rise, and management is having none of it. Won't even entertain the idea.

Our next collective move is to threaten to join a Union who might be able to bargain on our behalf.

Informally it's always been mooted that the "powers that be" look very darkly on unions.

 

Can they legally stop us joining?

 

In the real world even if they can't, could they make life so difficult for the proposer as to send a message to the others not to rock the boat?

 

TIA. 

[SkintBadger]

Thanks for such quick responses. I know DX100 goes full on "Rain Man" if people dare to quote individual posts!  So I'll limit myself to say, thanks @Emmzzi - I've looked at UB's links, but as you say, we are dealing with real life. In a min wage role, it's too easy to get rid of the one person who sticks their head above the parapet on this. 

Management are smart enough to find ways to get rid of me for suggesting it, without it having to be explicitly because of it! Dig?

I like the analogy that you might win, but you've painted such a target on your back it'll become a matter of time.

 

We sent a letter to Head Office, very softly worded, saying 12% RPI inflation rate, what can you do for us? Answer came there none!

Next steps?

 

[SkintBadger]

That's great!

 

Thanks for the links. Researching now.

 

SB.

[SkintBadger]

Posting an update, as it was requested.

 

Well, perhaps foolishly in hindsight, the letter we all agreed to sign and send to Managing Director had to be sent from one of our email addresses, so mine was chosen. I sent the letter.

M.D. sent an acknowledgment of receipt and responded today. To be fair, it is a polite and considered email -

No. No consideration for any of our requests. Do not join a union or it will not end well for YOU (ie/ ME) in particular. As a minimum wage monkey if I choose to progress this course of action then there are thousands of people waiting behind you on the production line to replace you. 

Obviously he didn't couch it in those exact words, but the message was clear. 

A shame really, some of us have been loyal for over a decade. However, we talked amongst ourselves and like the new word "quiet quitting" - doing the minimum required to keep the job, but no overtime or going above and beyond because the goodwill has gone away, and we now know where we stand.

Ho hum. Nothing more to say really. I promised to update so have. 

Just to add - and it's more of a rant than any useful information - what really sticks in our collective craws is that "management" have just spent thousands on those sort of American "inspirational" posters about our business' "Core Values" - the usual mind-numbing and condescending shite about "Integrity" "Caring" etc - a purely tick-box exercise to show they talk the talk. 
 

There's probably a whole layer of middle-management paid ££££££ a year to come up with this management speak - money which could be better spent on stripping out the whole pointless lot of them, and giving the actual workers at the coal-face a pay-rise.

Moral of my story - don't ever fall for that crap about "one team; one family, all singing from the same hymn sheet" - you are only useful as a drone until you are not, or choose to make a fuss - then they'll drop you so fast your head will spin! 

Don't fall for it! Take the paycheque and keep your head down. It's one way traffic. 

Cynical? Yep you betcha

 

SB.

[SkintBadger]

Thanks for the reply, but honestly no. I've already painted a target on my back with management. I "took one for the team". It's just not worth the hassle tbh. Especially as I'm not personally a big fan of Unions seeing how their barons waste their members' subscriptions on funding an endless political Tory grudge-match, rather than helping the little man - eg/ us! 

 

Thanks anyway. 

[SkintBadger]

Any experienced insights or links to legislation appreciated.

been in the job for over 10 years. New line manager insisted we all sign up to Whatsapp Group. 

This has worked fine in the main for the past 12 months, yet he now expects us to answer random messages 24/7.

The business operates 24/7 but we are rota'd a week in advance.

I understand from time to time there will be emergencies, and in the general goodwill of that I answer when I can. However, recently it's now "X please call me asap" 07:00 or 21:00 on days off.

No. 

If it was in my contract to be "on call" for 24/7 then fair enough. If I was the CEO of British Gas, then also fair enough, because I'd be remunerated as such. I'm just a little minimum-wage cog in the machine!

Due to medical complications, I've asked him to leave me alone for a week, (Agreed on rota in advance, not a problem), but due to other co-workers sickness I'm now getting phone calls and messages. The group whatsapp I can obviously set to silent. The personal whatsapp messages and phone-calls, less so.

I don't want to go down the Jobsworth "work to rule" route, but I'd love to respond to him politely - "if you message me again on my day off, I will go to my doctor and get signed off with stress for the next month. Any further non-essential contact will be regarded as harassment!"

Thoughts on my legal position with this. All goodwill has now been ebbed away on both sides. So I find myself needing to know my exact legal position. I've tried to politely explain, didn't work. Now looking at fighting fire with fire, if possible.

Please only respond if you know. I've got enough Facebook groups of bar-room lawyers, but I've always had good advice from here in the past.

Ta, SB 

[SkintBadger]

Fair point. Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound quite so brutal, but I've noticed there's certain posters here who will be very high-handed and absolute in their responses, but when drilled down into -  just a "bloke in the pub" typing with his knuckles and trying to sound intelligent.

This is very important to me, so I was simply trying to say "opinions are like tongues : everyone's got one", does anyone here actually KNOW the answer.

I'd sincerely appreciate any response you have, Ms Street. I've read a lot of your Eviction posts, and clearly you are a person of considerable knowledge and skill. I phrased my opening post badly, but can't now edit it.

 

[SkintBadger]

Not swearing. Asterisks. Apologies to the massive number of under 18 subscribers who must've been harmed by my asterisked swear words!

Tell you what guys, just delete the thread. I've had enough of this site and its petty rules. I'll leave you to rein supreme over your digital kingdom dx100uk! Ha! 

Please delete my membership. I'll stick with Facebook if I want opinions from sheepherders with delusions of grandeur! Dunning-Kruger scale of the charts! And the funny thing is you don't even realise it! Haha!