JIB Electrotechnical Certification Scheme (ECS) JIB rules - 'stand down' please help asap!

[Louk]

Hi
I started for a JIB company about 3 and a half months ago. Thier office is in birmingham and i work in oxford. Now they have put me on 'stand down' which means i have to go sit in the office for 7 and a half hours doing practically nothing. Thing is I dont only have to pay the 20 odd pound fuel to get thier and back but im also loosing out on my travel expenses. so ill be down at least 40 pound a day which is 200 quid a week.... OUCH. I want to talk to the boss tomorrow and ask him why i cant just sit down the sheds at the oxford site we work at. Hes probably going to say because we have to book your time to the office because if we book your time to oxford we will have to book it to a job there and hence that job will lose money. Ill say why cant you book me to the office but have me sit at oxford rather than travel for nothing.
Ive searched the JIB handbook but cant find anything about stand down. Does any one know anything about this or had similar experiance? any words of advice would be very helpfull, thanks.

Just to add, im working as a mate and there will be 2 sparks and 2 mates left down oxford. one of the mates lives in birmingham and goes to the office every morning to be picked up by the spark hes been working with down there for the past 18 months. I suspect the spark wanted to keep the mate he is use to. Is there anything in the JIB rules that state consideration should be made to operatives work locations?
Just to say because reading this some might think im a waster and they tryin to wind me up. Thats just not the case, im employed as a mate but i do much more than a mate would, being left by myself or with another mate, even with ****e sparks some times.

just need to know where i stand by the jib rules

 

[KAS1]

maximum 6 weeks for your JIB card, do you know if they have sent your application in ?

 

[Sintra]

Let me get this straight. Company is based in Birmingham and you were working and living in Oxford. They paid you £40.00 per day expenses for travel to work and it cost you practically nothing. Now they want you to go to Birmingham to work were they don't have to pay travel expenses. If this is correct then I can't see a problem as they aren't breaking any rules and you will just have to take the hit for the fuel.

 

[rmc86uk]

It's swings and roundabouts with the travel expenses. As said you haven't got it bad to be working employed by a JIB firm and they could easily finish you now. I would cut my left ball off to work for a JIB member company again!

 

[Louk]

I sent my own application off about 2/3 weeks ago.
I used to live in northampton when i started with them. I worked for them for 10 months before through an agency. They always wanted to take me on but couldnt because was unsure of future work load. So i went to work else where 2 months later one of the bosses called me up and told me to come for an interview, garenteed job. I asked to be put down oxford so i would get travel expenses, because all thier other site are in the birmingham area and because the office is also there i wouldnt get anything. ya no probs we will keep you there as long as we can i was told. so it takes me 3 hours a day travelling and i wanted that time back in my life, so i moved to oxford as im only renting. The rent i pay at oxford amounts to the fuel i was paying getting back and forth. so im no better off, only the time in my life. which is what matters to me. hopefully this wont last long.
The reason for me posting here is because i cant find anything in the JIB book or site about stand down and I was wondering if any one knew anything on where they stand on this. Since being at the company I have heard some strange things. So I want to be sure of rules before I open my mouth.

 

[stuartcourt]

Be carefull you dont rock the boat your clinging on to imo

 

[Louk]

they pay me 20 pound a day expenses but fuel is like 20 a week. no expenses + fuel to birminghamd = 40+

 

[GLENNSPARK]

you could always ask the local citizens advice bureau for advice about this...
wonder what they`d say?...

 

[Plonker 3]

Have you actully contacted JIB regarding this?

 

[chilliwilly]

A company can apply to the JIB for relaxation to have the rules that are written within the hanbook changed to suit their economic situation, especially in the present climate of uncertainty and carrot dangling. But they are suppose to let you know of their intentions, so you get the chance to prepare to pull your oars in.

The last time I worked direct for a JIB firm was back in 91, and they asked us all to a meeting and let us know of their intentions, and for starters, they would be looking at some volunteer redundancies, and also compulsory redundancies further down the line if work load didn't improve. They also asked us to work 45 hours at flat time to start with, and no expenses. This allowed them to lay off about 30% of their work force, and keep on the rest working within the above relaxation of the JIB agrrement.

So if its not in the handbook, call them and ask them if an application has been lodged for a relaxation of the national agreement?

 

[scotsparky]

I dont think you will find anything about "standown" allowance. The company are paying you without you earning anything for them i would love to be in a situation where the company is that desperate to keep me. In these times keep your head down get a book and be gratefull you have a job.

 

[monkeyelectric]

They seem like a decent company to me, they could just say there's no work at the moment and lay you off with no pay til there is or find someone else when work picks up, if they're paying you to sit round the office doing nothing then they must think a lot of you. I would just put up with it if i was you, there's a lot of good lads with no work at the moment that would love to be in your position.

 

[Robert Turnbull]

That's crazy, why don't they send you to a site and do some work

No wonder this countries in a mess

 

[durhamspark]

Looking at it from your firms point of view they are doing 1 of 2 things.

1 - trying to sicken you so you put your notice in, unlikely as they could just lay/pay you off if they wanted you off their books.

2 - being careful not to give you something they then have to give to everyone when times are slack. If they allow you to stay at home when there's no work what's to stop the Birmingham based lads saying they want to do the same? I know your circumstances are different to theirs but they will say "that's not my problem, why should I have to come into the office if he doesn't?"

Seems to me they are trying to be fair here, good on them for keeping you on despite the fact they are losing your wages every week. They are treating every employee the same which is to be applauded these days.

 

[Andrew Youll]

I sent my own application off about 2/3 weeks ago.
I used to live in northampton when i started with them. I worked for them for 10 months before through an agency. They always wanted to take me on but couldnt because was unsure of future work load. So i went to work else where 2 months later one of the bosses called me up and told me to come for an interview, garenteed job. I asked to be put down oxford so i would get travel expenses, because all thier other site are in the birmingham area and because the office is also there i wouldnt get anything. ya no probs we will keep you there as long as we can i was told. so it takes me 3 hours a day travelling and i wanted that time back in my life, so i moved to oxford as im only renting. The rent i pay at oxford amounts to the fuel i was paying getting back and forth. so im no better off, only the time in my life. which is what matters to me. hopefully this wont last long.
The reason for me posting here is because i cant find anything in the JIB book or site about stand down and I was wondering if any one knew anything on where they stand on this. Since being at the company I have heard some strange things. So I want to be sure of rules before I open my mouth.

It's a case of you're going to have to take the rough with the smooth, I used to work for a Leeds based company when I lived in Sheffield. the office in leeds was classed as the "shop" so all travel was calculated from there, so when I worked near sheffield, it was good for me, but when the jobs were in Leeds or Bradford I didn't get expenses and I had to leave home earlier. it's just the name of the game, travel is from where you are based which in this case is Birmingham.

 

[KAS1]

I also worked for a JIB company, they paid us from the office which was over 45 miles away and I was walking distance to the job for over a year. When we were transferred to the office it was on the horse time lol