ESB Rip off - it gets better!

O

onekeano

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SBP today has headline whereby 120 of the lads down the ESB are getting 50k each to do the same job they currently do - moving to Eirgrid (job for life).

It also reports average pay across the ESB is now 95k while in Poolbeg the average pay is 140k.

This the crowd who recently "had to" increase prices by a double digit % because of increasing costs.

If it looks like a ripoff and smells like a ripoff it probably is a rip off?

Roy
 
Oh man, don't get me started!!! *rolls eyes*
I'm still smarting from my ESB encounters ;)
This sort of news doesn't surprise me in the least.....
 
Only a few months ago I heard their average pay was a mere €67k, only twice the national average. The ESB workers have us over a barrel more so than any other semi-state. The energy regulator has been far too timid with them by granting most of their requests for price increases. The Government should get the French in here to build us a big nuclear reactor and staff it with younger less molly coddled workers. The grid could be run remotely too and technicians chinooked or blackhawked in when something on the ground needs fixing. :)
 
..I hope no union types read this-they'll blow a gasket after reading the above post!!!....d
 
Im moving this from 'Good Deals, Bad Deals and Consumer Issues' to Letting off Steam.

aj
 
The Government should get the French in here to build us a big nuclear reactor and staff it with younger less molly coddled workers.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a scary mix!
What we need is chinese electricity, piped in from China.
 
I know someone who joined the ESB at managerial level, having spent the best past of 20 years working for a European consultancy company on electrical engineering projects, including some for the ESB.

Suffice is to say he was astonished at the work practices and attitudes he encountered. Example, he asked for a laptop so that he could do work from home.

'Sure why would you want to that ?'

'In case there was something I needed to complete by a deadline'

Sure if it's not ready, it's not ready and they'll have to wait.'

Similar response to questions about weekend access to the office - 'Sure why would you want to be in here then ?'.

His boss, who is marking down the days to retirement, spends his day reading the paper and doing puzzles.

As someone who has worked in the private sectoe all my working life, I wouldn't mind being benchmarked against that :rolleyes:
 
Hey TarfHead

(interesting username btw, I assume your a mate of Brian Boru ;))

I'm sure the SBP would love to chat with your friend, do a follow up to show once more what a joke the ESB is .... not that I'm anything more than a fan of the paper I might add.

Speaking as someone who once worked for a state company and now works in the private sector, I'd also love a job in the ESB, don't suppose anyone knows if they are recruiting are they ? ;)

... eh, to be fair, anyone know if the employes referred to in the original post who are receiving the €50k have had changes to their employment contracts factored into this move ?

Cheers

G>
[broken link removed]
 
GeneralZod said:
Only a few months ago I heard their average pay was a mere €67k
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but........
onekeano said:
It also reports average pay across the ESB is now 95k
Click to expand...

Come on lads......I know you like nothing better than a spot of public servant bashing, but, really, don't the above quotes just make you the tiniest bit suspicious of the "facts" the story is allegedly based on.

As for anecdotal stuff about doing puzzles all day.......:rolleyes:
 
That was my point on the financials, before proceeding to some well justified moaning .

Sorry for being too subtle. :cool:
 
Observer said:
but........


Come on lads......I know you like nothing better than a spot of public servant bashing, but, really, don't the above quotes just make you the tiniest bit suspicious of the "facts" the story is allegedly based on.

As for anecdotal stuff about doing puzzles all day.......:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


In fairness, it was me who posted the figure a few months ago based on previous info I had read. I did not state that it was current info but was the latest I had seen. However I presume the 95k as indicated last week in the Business Post IS current and I have no reason to disbelieve it.

Roy
 
Intrigued by this disparity, I went to the ESB website. According to their 2004 annual report, they had an average number of 9,289 employees in 2004 and total salaries of €561,354,000.00. Travel, subsisence etc. added €41,489,000.

Pension costs are listed as costing €40,369,000, but this is meaningless given that it is a defined benefit scheme currently underfunded.

A Mean average is not normally a useful measure of average income. A Median would be far more representative in most situations. I have no idea how to get this info.
 
Could the recent sell-off of ESB shops have anything to do with the change?

I'm assuming the guys driving the vans and throwing turf into the furnaces are better paid.

Gen. Zod
 
Observer said:
As for anecdotal stuff about doing puzzles all day.......:rolleyes:
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That was told to me in good faith and, in tandem with other stuff he has told me about working there, I believe it.
 
TarfHead said:
That was told to me in good faith and, in tandem with other stuff he has told me about working there, I believe it.
Click to expand...
Have you suggested to your friend that he should make a formal complaint through HR about wasting of resources?
 
Shouldn't think it would be worth his while as HR are probably up to their eyes with the new Sodoku craze!

Roy
 
Some [broken link removed] today in that "quality" rag the SB post.

"ESB workers are among the best paid in the public sector.

The average pensionable pay is €50,000, the company said.

This rises to €67,000 when overtime is taken into account.

The company said it did not have figures to confirm that the average non-pensionable pay including overtime at one power station, Poolbeg in Dublin, was €140,000."

To be fair then, most of them aren't that well paid. Although there's sure to be huge scope for savings as they're forced to more private sector style terms. With all those aging workers marking out time waiting for retirement they're carrying a lot of dead weight.
 
Eh GZ, I don't think that the ESB quoting an average pensionable salary of 50k is credible. This is a company that "said it did not have figures to confirm that the average non-pensionable pay including overtime at one power station, Poolbeg in Dublin, was €140,000." Howw can an organisation such as the ESB not have the ability to obtain such figures - unless of course it didn't want to.

Anyway the article in todays paper demonstrates another mugging of the consumer with the company throwing another €90 MILLION of our cash into the boys pension fund by way of a number initiatives. Where else would you get proposals such as :

- giving all the lads a "special allowance" of €1 to boost their pension contributions
- letting all the lads get their snouts into the trough for a once off €3000 for "agreeing to enter talks"
- the company will also "increase it's pension contributions by 4.5% over th next 4 years"!!!
- "management has agreed another "special payment" of 2% to it's 6000 pensionable workers

Now here's the really funny bit (if it weren't so serious)... the spokeman for the ESB said of the negotiations "it was difficult and ardous to reach, but it brings to an end a long and difficult period of negotiations"!!!!! I mean it's one thing being raped by these guys but at least they should feel they have to rub our noses in it by coming out with that kind of crap!

Roy
 
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