Billy Young's Blog - Posts Tagged "breaks"
14th December 2012
It has been a very event filled week at work. It began with the boss changing our break times and insisting that we also change out of our overall after clocking out. Why has he taken this stance? Well some employees have been taking longer over their breaks than they should. We all do it at some point but some take it further than just the odd occasion. Sadly rather than dealing with those who over do this practice he has decided to tighten the work regulations as a whole. At the same time he has also cut our morning break to ten minutes though we still have thirty minutes for our main break.
Since this was enforced last week anger towards these changes have been growing. Finally over the past two days it came to a sort of head. Yesterday a group of us refused to take our first break as a kind of protest at the changes. After this word began to do the rounds that the office staff has been spying on us over the past few weeks at the orders of the boss. At lunch a box of biscuits and a Christmas card were found waiting on a table in the canteen from the office to the production staff. These were returned unopened.
Today one of the leaders of the protest movement within work was called to the office. Things went badly and he was nearly fired. The boss lost his temper by what I have heard so far and was shouting as well as using extremely strong language. He point blank refused to change his mind on the changes but it was the return of the biscuits that really seemed to set him off. In his rant over the biscuits he admitted to having the office staff to listen into what has been said in the canteen by listening in the hallway.
Though this all may sound rather Dickensian or draconian it is it seems very legal. In the UK we sadly are only entitled to one twenty minute break if we work more than six hours. It also seems that my employer can have the office staff spy on us with or without our knowledge during our breaks. Unfortunately the way that our employment contracts have been worded means that our first break is not protected from the changes that have been introduced. So there is little we can do to change the new situation and must now get used to the new way of things.
At least we have a job still.
Since this was enforced last week anger towards these changes have been growing. Finally over the past two days it came to a sort of head. Yesterday a group of us refused to take our first break as a kind of protest at the changes. After this word began to do the rounds that the office staff has been spying on us over the past few weeks at the orders of the boss. At lunch a box of biscuits and a Christmas card were found waiting on a table in the canteen from the office to the production staff. These were returned unopened.
Today one of the leaders of the protest movement within work was called to the office. Things went badly and he was nearly fired. The boss lost his temper by what I have heard so far and was shouting as well as using extremely strong language. He point blank refused to change his mind on the changes but it was the return of the biscuits that really seemed to set him off. In his rant over the biscuits he admitted to having the office staff to listen into what has been said in the canteen by listening in the hallway.
Though this all may sound rather Dickensian or draconian it is it seems very legal. In the UK we sadly are only entitled to one twenty minute break if we work more than six hours. It also seems that my employer can have the office staff spy on us with or without our knowledge during our breaks. Unfortunately the way that our employment contracts have been worded means that our first break is not protected from the changes that have been introduced. So there is little we can do to change the new situation and must now get used to the new way of things.
At least we have a job still.
