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12th March 2015, 12:43 AM
As an archaeologist with well over a decade of experience at various levels under my belt I saw the recent increase in demand for diggers here as a perfect opportunity to get back onsite. I was offered work (in writing) with a respected major employer, given a start date and a site so I packed up my life, rented out my house, sold my car as it wasnt needed in an urban area with lots of transport options, moved to the uk with my limited funds etc etc.
As im due to start very soon and i had not yet seen a contract i emailed asking for the usual details for my first day only to be told casually that they no longer have the place they offered me open until next month and instead offered me another dig. Thing is this new dig is 3 times further away from my home, over 2 hours each way, and about 3 times the commuting cost, which i cant afford right now. I feel i've been really messed around with zero consideration for what i went through to get here for this job. Any thoughts? Is there a commuting time limit for job offers? If employers are so needy for experienced diggers why are they acting like this?
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12th March 2015, 11:07 AM
how long did you think that the job/site you were offered was going to last? It seems the mistake you made was to set up a new home?
.....nature was dead and the past does not exist
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12th March 2015, 11:43 AM
Can an employer not be trusted to honour their written offer in the uk?
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12th March 2015, 11:45 AM
You have to live somewhere Marc. Do you know what the local diggers views are on reasonable distances or commuting time? That would be useful to help guage what is possible here.
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12th March 2015, 12:10 PM
I didn't mean to sound uncaring. The building boom is back and we are back to all the usual problems, the foremost of which is that the "units" are full of people pretending to be professionals. This time the dodges will probably be based around zero hour contracts but yours has also the normal breach of contract based on uncertain start dates, location pay and conditions. I notice that you are wondering about "local" conditions, Britains probably got the full gamut, is the unit "local", are you supposed to go to the "office" first before site. Are they paying you yet? Reasonable distances also include living away. It sounds like you drive and are over the 25 insurance hurdle, could be handy to your employers, is everybody else having to travel 2 hours?
.....nature was dead and the past does not exist
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12th March 2015, 12:11 PM
DaisyIrl Wrote:As an archaeologist with well over a decade of experience at various levels under my belt I saw the recent increase in demand for diggers here as a perfect opportunity to get back onsite. I was offered work (in writing) with a respected major employer, given a start date and a site so I packed up my life, rented out my house, sold my car as it wasnt needed in an urban area with lots of transport options, moved to the uk with my limited funds etc etc.
As im due to start very soon and i had not yet seen a contract i emailed asking for the usual details for my first day only to be told casually that they no longer have the place they offered me open until next month and instead offered me another dig. Thing is this new dig is 3 times further away from my home, over 2 hours each way, and about 3 times the commuting cost, which i cant afford right now. I feel i've been really messed around with zero consideration for what i went through to get here for this job. Any thoughts? Is there a commuting time limit for job offers? If employers are so needy for experienced diggers why are they acting like this?
if as you say you have an offer with start date and place of work in writing you should insist that they honour that or if they cant they should offer you a comparable position in a similar location. if it will cost you more than it would in their written offer to accept their second offer you should ask for compensation to cover your losses until the initial offer is realised. this is not unreasonable and it will teach them to make you a written offer that they are not in a position to honour. i would be really f***d off but you should remain calm and be persistent.
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers
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12th March 2015, 04:33 PM
Thank you both for your input, have calmed down a bit now and managed to get something more reasonable offered, phew, it was a bit of a shock to the system along with the rest of it. Here's to getting mucky again!
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12th March 2015, 04:40 PM
Well over 25 too and my persistence is returning rapidly.
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12th March 2015, 07:26 PM
Sorry, have come late to this (unexpectedly marooned machine-watching for most of week). Still a worthwhile thread if it serves as a warning to people to check (and keep checking) what they're signing up to. @ DaisyIrl - Hope the new job works out despite the bumpy start :face-approve:
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12th March 2015, 08:38 PM
Thanks Dinosaur, have heard all the excuses over the years and thought i was covered in this case.
