500 of us work at ntl telecommunications in an office with no windows
‘because of the computers'.
Although the last train leaves at 12.10 a.m., they refuse to re
organise the shifts to end at 12.00. Instead they finish at 12.30,
because this fits better with their carefully worked out and
computerised shift times and breaks schedule.
I started working a few months ago and work 40 hours per week, but
my friend who was working for Cable and Wireless before ntl took over,
does 37 ˝ for the same money.
On the one hand they want us to be up to date with new developments
and procedures by reading our e-mail regularly, but on the other hand
they pay us for only the time we are on call. So when exactly are we
supposed to read these e-mails –‘Oh –in our own time, because we love
the company so much.' In this way ntl are getting about 1 ˝ hours a
week out of us –for free. I don't know about you, but I can think of
better things to do with my free time than check ntl e-mails!
When they need us all to work, like pay-per-view nights, they try
and make us think that it is really fun with pizza and coke, but the
reality is the same old stressful work. If they wanted us to have fun,
maybe they wouldn't have taken away the Christmas party money that C&W
used to give us every year! This flexible workforce thing works very
well for them in these circumstances but it's not so good if you are
on a variable late shift, eh?!