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Brittany Ferries strikes on horizon


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Today's local paper here reports the likelihood of many more strikes by BF personnel in the months to come as they cannot agree to terms and conditions the company want to implant over the winter. This will affect all ships and all ports served by the company so anyone planning to cross in the next weeks/months should be prepared for delays and cancellations ahead
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Well I just got cancelled on tomorrows 24 hour notice!!! It makes me so mad this.

I have now 11 hour drive if I still want to go not to mention my hotel fees being lost.

Anyone going to calais tomorrow, I just have never been.

And how do we know they will take us back on return?????

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They cancelled the boats because the uncertainty beforehand meant that they had hundreds if not thousands of cars and passengers at the ports and on their ferries, no-one knowing whether they would be sailing or not - its a pita but at least things are clear now and with the fleet tied up it should concentrate minds.

Steve  

 

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Yeah I get that, but now the strike is off can't they go back to work tomorrow??? Honestly the strike action is seriously affecting people's lives, I don't have any sympathy when people do that for their own selfish benefit. There are people who I know need to get to sick relatives. And someone who will probably miss a baby being born now. Sigh !!!

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I can't find anything to say that agreement has been reached. The latest news is that things will be clarified on Monday afternoon.

Its a shame that such actions impact on other peoples lives, but that isn't the particular preserve of travel companies. I booked our gite guests and my family on alternative travel as soon I saw the problem ahead. Although Brittany Ferries are sending everyone to Calais, LD lines and Condor have both had car space available on their Normandy routes and BF have said they will refund unused travel perhaps plus other costs.

Steve

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My sympathies to everyone who has been inconvenienced or worse by this strike. In my experience workers do not go on strike unless they feel they have no alternative so I am sure they were taking this action because they were just not getting anywhere in their negotiations with BF management.

 

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''In my experience workers do not go on strike unless they feel they have

no alternative so I am sure they were taking this action because they

were just not getting anywhere'' 

In France they do (:

In other words if they don't get what they want, take their bat home and everyone's balls lol. I don't agree with strikes under any circumstances.  Guess i shouldn't be in France for that reason alone. haha

So do we get an automatic refund does anyone know that??? Or do you have to apply for it in triplicate (sigh)

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[quote user="Georgina"] I don't agree with strikes under any circumstances. 
[/quote]So are you saying that people should be forced to work even if their employer changes their conditions of employment to the detriment of the workers without their consent. How would you differentiate between people not working because of a dispute and people not working because they are ill. It seems to me that in a democratic free society you can only deprive people of their right not to work by subjecting them to military style discipline. Research has shown that people who are happy in their work tend to do a better and more productive job.
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Well all I can say is good on the employees, too many fatcats creaming off the profits.The BF staff are not well paid(I know several ex-employees locally) and for all the whingers about the fleet being tied up until tuesday earliest, you'll have more to whinge about if the company does go into liquidation which has happened to ferry companies before and will happen again so best to let them sort it out now. If people choose to live abroad, they shouldn't always rely on airlines and ferry companies being there and perhaps should investigate other means of transport like railways instead. Its pefectly feasible to get from this end(Roscoff region) to the UK by train via Paris or catch a plane from plenty of other airports as Brest does not have much for the UK if anything at all!
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Brittany Ferries have lost 11 million euros over the past two years partly because of the weakness of sterling. 

The company does 85% of its business in sterling while (probably) 85% of its costs are in Euros. One doesn't need to be an economic genius to realise the pitfalls in that setup.

Steve

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[quote user="Rabbie"][quote user="Georgina"] I don't agree with strikes under any circumstances. 

[/quote]So are you saying that people should be forced to work even if their employer changes their conditions of employment to the detriment of the workers without their consent. How would you differentiate between people not working because of a dispute and people not working because they are ill. It seems to me that in a democratic free society you can only deprive people of their right not to work by subjecting them to military style discipline. Research has shown that people who are happy in their work tend to do a better and more productive job.[/quote]

Personally I have seen people working in France in much much worse conditions which I have found quite amazing - nothing like they would put up with in England and they are so glad to have a job they do not go on strike.

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This is sad really. I well remember the first time we caught one of their ferries from Ouistrehem when my eldest was only just 9 and had been on many ferries by then.  Compared to all the other ferries, which were worse than basic at the time, including NSF, it was quite luxurious. I remember as we got onto the main deck and started to look around, he asked if it was a paquebot. We had a cabin and when we got in there, he was decided that it really was a paquebot. There was really no comparison with any of the other companies. Beautiful, and sparkling clean is my fond memory.

For us, it was never the logical ferry company to use, too far west, although, IF they had set off from Le Havre, Boulogne or Calais, I would have always used them if they had kept to the same standard as that first time.

Someone would surely have to take over if they fold? Or would they do the same as the workers at Seafranceferries?

I just hope that the new management on the Seafrance ferries do it all properly.

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[quote user="Georgina"][quote user="Rabbie"][quote user="Georgina"] I don't agree with strikes under any circumstances. 
[/quote]So are you saying that people should be forced to work even if their employer changes their conditions of employment to the detriment of the workers without their consent. How would you differentiate between people not working because of a dispute and people not working because they are ill. It seems to me that in a democratic free society you can only deprive people of their right not to work by subjecting them to military style discipline. Research has shown that people who are happy in their work tend to do a better and more productive job.[/quote]

Personally I have seen people working in France in much much worse conditions which I have found quite amazing - nothing like they would put up with in England and they are so glad to have a job they do not go on strike.
[/quote]So taking both theses remarks together you feel that these people having very bad working conditions should not be able to go on strike to improve them if all else fails. Surely people should be able to improve their working conditions in this day and age
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I had the joy of waiting to catch my ferry as a foot

passenger on Thursday whilst they were taking their vote to strike. Back to my

house (60 miles) along with 2 others I picked up at the port. Early Friday I

phoned and received no relevant information. Later I phoned, by chance, to be

told they would take foot passengers to Cherbourg so stop lunch, close up etc.

within 20 minutes and back to the port. Brittany Ferries provided a coach to Cherbourg and

a basic hotel overnight. Saturday we had to get a taxi to the terminal for the

Condor sailing which was understandably very busy. A coach was provided at the

other end to Plymouth. Whilst I am pleased with the effort made to get us home,

it still took three days and quite a lot of incidental expenses. I have kept some

of the receipts and will see if they will recompense at least some of them.

I am sympathetic to workers being able to strike but do not agree

with the wildcat nature which I do not think would be possible in Britain under

current law. Crossing many times each year between Plymouth and Roscoff I would

be devastated if the firm went into bankruptcy.

Mark

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I had the joy of waiting to catch my ferry as a foot

passenger on Thursday whilst they were taking their vote to strike. Back to my

house (60 miles) along with 2 others I picked up at the port. Early Friday I

phoned and received no relevant information. Later I phoned, by chance, to be

told they would take foot passengers to Cherbourg so stop lunch, close up etc.

within 20 minutes and back to the port. Brittany Ferries provided a coach to Cherbourg and

a basic hotel overnight. Saturday we had to get a taxi to the terminal for the

Condor sailing which was understandably very busy. A coach was provided at the

other end to Plymouth. Whilst I am pleased with the effort made to get us home,

it still took three days and quite a lot of incidental expenses. I have kept some

of the receipts and will see if they will recompense at least some of them.

I am sympathetic to workers being able to strike but do not agree

with the wildcat nature which I do not think would be possible in Britain under

current law. Crossing many times each year between Plymouth and Roscoff I would

be devastated if the firm went into bankruptcy.

Mark

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From today's local paper here which covers Roscoff and BAI, it appears BF are €70million in deficit. Not a good position for any company to be in at the moment and they have already been baled out by the government before which caused an uproar.
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[quote user="Rabbie"]
So taking both theses remarks together you feel that these people having very bad working conditions should not be able to go on strike to improve them if all else fails. Surely people should be able to improve their working conditions in this day and age[/quote]

I'm not sure that Brittany Ferries crews have particularly bad working conditions and "in this day and age" I would expect employees would view striking with some caution. The disagreement with some of the crew is about some of the contributions they are being asked to make in an effort to turn the company around.  

Realistic employees of many large concerns in Brittany, as in the rest of France, have made sacrifices such as partial unemployment to help save the units they work for, with some success. Brittany Ferries following Sealink into liquidation has been discussed for some time in the maritime press.

Steve

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[quote user="SC"]

Brittany Ferries following Sealink into liquidation has been discussed for some time in the maritime press.

[/quote]

You presumably meant SeaFrance?

This has been going on for months. The Dec 2012 - 2013 timetable confirmed what had been talked about for a while, i.e. that frequencies and even routes would be curtailed. In the event, I suspect that it wasn't quite as bad as many feared, but nonetheless a major matter of concern for employees.

The Unions and employees have made their point and as I understand it, have agreed to return to work. How soon sailings will return to normal is anybody's guess. A rotten time for all concerned.

The reality is that BF is no different to the likes of Ryanair, in that offering a regular year-round service to all destinations isn't feasible. Of course they have significant freight loadings year-round, but insufficient to justify (for example) a three times daily sailing ex Caen to Portsmouth and return. They want to scale it down a bit and commercially it makes sense.

At the end of the proverbial day, the market rules.  Either the Company reacts to revenues, or it goes under. This action by BF is probably overdue: the response by its employees is understandable and a result of a typical breakdown in employer / employee communication. Let's all hope that there's a meeting of minds somewhere along the line.   

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[quote user="SC"]

[quote user="Rabbie"]
So taking both theses remarks together you feel that these people having very bad working conditions should not be able to go on strike to improve them if all else fails. Surely people should be able to improve their working conditions in this day and age[/quote]

I'm not sure that Brittany Ferries crews have particularly bad working conditions and "in this day and age" I would expect employees would view striking with some caution. The disagreement with some of the crew is about some of the contributions they are being asked to make in an effort to turn the company around.  

Realistic employees of many large concerns in Brittany, as in the rest of France, have made sacrifices such as partial unemployment to help save the units they work for, with some success. Brittany Ferries following Sealink into liquidation has been discussed for some time in the maritime press.

Steve

[/quote]Steve, I was not commenting specifically on Brittany Ferries employees conditions as I am no expert on them. I was commenting on Georgina's remarks which appeared to be contradictory. Initially she stated that no-one should have the right to strike and then she said that some workers in france had very poor working conditions. I was expressing my view that anyone  should be able in the last resort to go on strike to improve them. Earlier in this thread someone expressed the view that workers should honour the conditions that applied when they accepted the job. By the same token they must be able to take action if those conditions are changed without their consent.
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