jimbms

Did anyone else notice a company with a name of Manx Sea Transport Ltd was recently advertising for seasonal boat crew yet when you look up the site they give i.e. www.manxseatransport.com it takes you to the steam packet website, so why the secretive way of recruiting, is it so they can now say that the steampacket do not employ non manx workers but they cannot speak for their subcontractor Manx Sea Transport Ltd?

Or are they? Maybe God just put them there. You know, for a laugh. Well I have to agree saying that if there is a god you are a perfect example of how he has a sense of humour.

I know this really should be in the funny xmas card section but this is class and very appropriate for here:

Not yet in the shops but I have on the shipping costs with the Steam Packet, It will not last but it is a reduction so don't tell us that Mezeron has had no effect. In fact there are a few items that have gone down by a few pence in Tesco and mainly lead items so it may be having a good effect.

Errmmm.... not exactly! CLICK Please tell me I have read that link wrong but all I saw was the rackets answer to combat the cheap freight charges by Mezeron is to put its frieght charges up. With a business plan like that then Tont brown will have some serious competition for his job from whoever came up with that gem.

hehehe that is very well done without actually being insulting much

you would have to pay me more than £13 to fly sleazyjet Why? It gets you from A to B it a short flght and its cheap what more do you want? added to the fact these cheap flights are not really cheap, fleabe £14 to manchester then add taxes charges booking and reservation fee it becomes £71 sleezy jet do the same

Any staff who are employed on Steam Packet vessels no matter there country of origin are paid the same as an Island based member of staff. Unlike the Mezeron chartered vessels who are paid well below the NMW on the Isle of Man with crew members earning as low as £2.40 per hour. This is why the unions are getting upset as it is unfair competition on the work force as they can not compete with the poverty pay that is being paid to the crews of these vessels. The frieght vessels that are chartered in during refit time have an ITF agreement that covers rates of pay and terms and conditions of the crew, the two Mezeron vessels have no agreement so the company can pay them what they like, hence the £2.40 per hour or slave labour rates if you prefer. Wheras we wont consider that the Steam packet purchase nice uniforms for all employees produced by slave labour in an indian sweat shop not the fact they stock their shop with cheap tat made by similar companies and get round the ban on imported red meat by buying cheap quality meat produced by cruel factory farming methods from cheap meat importers in liverpool who no doubt buy the meat from a country where the workers are payed slave labour rates and the animals full of steroids.

Doesn't really work though, does it? It's in the key of F major, so the B is, with a certain sense of irony, flat. Sounds a lot like your sense of humour and intelligence then

The racket is not a nationalised company, nor is it even a Manx company as far as the shareholders and owners go so why the hell should the government do anything.

spot on, ding dong.

So if I get this right you are saying that Mezeron do not have to stick to the legally enforcable minimum wage as layed down by the IoM and the EEC even though the vessel is entirely operated in Manx/EEC waters and therfore it's employees come und the local laws and maritime laws and the SP has to comply with this law.

A phrase often used at Neuremburg What Tesco do has nothing really to do with this unless they make things worse, but saying as you ask the new service has meant they have now taken on 6 new staff so already the benifits are showing as their wages will end up back into the Manx economy one way or another unlike the wages of foreign crews on the pirates. As for Mezeron using foreign crews, then it is no different to the pirates so not really anything extra to moan about. Lets face it the SP is not a Manx company it is an Australian pension fund who cares little about the people here and now because the Manx people have turned upon them they are throwing the toys out of the pram and trying bully boy techniques byt threatening to cut services and sack local people first, I am afraid the do not know the people here too well they may moan alot but when attacked they stick together, the pirates ace card is lost as we can get freight by other means, I am sure we will put up with a reduced service for a while until it is realised they wont win, at that time there is their own boat in the morning so it can make room for the next operator.

I didn't see what the Ben loaded inside, but it's still noticeable that there's a distinct lack of freight on the top deck. She sailed just now with ONE trailer up top, the good old Royal Mail. The other side of that coin was that I believe that when the Ben returned from Birkenhead over the weekend she brought some trailers for Tesco's. Considering that sea this morning either the captain has grown a pair of bollocks or things are getting so tight they can't risk not sailing.

Exactly my point, get rid of the red tape and things work

The fractals is amazing. The hotel, well you can do wonders when you swamp a job with manpower and get rid of unions and worker safety, I would love to see the accident record for that.

If the pension fund of the employees is not protected is that not the fault of the employees and unions for accepting such a pension rather than trying to put the onus on a public who is pissed off wioth the public, the people working for the SP did so with the full knowledge of how their pension works as required by law.

We do have some very good veg on the island which I prefer to use, just thee are some that are not or cannot be grown here or are stocked by outher outlets hence no choice but to buy from there but I would say one 90p item from tesco out of a £50 shop of local produce isn't too bad, what's your ratio?

Not sure if both companies had same problems of if the steam bandits would have had the same problems but I nipped to Tesco 8am this morning for some of the small aroanges chillis (unfortunately shopshite and robinsons don't stock them) all veg shelves totally empty

Strange I have never seen those brands here all the milk I have seen says Isle of Man creamery on it

Tesco have a time limit for delivery on foods etc, Mezerons boat had been loaded yesterday morning then had a 14hr sailing to the IOM, seeing as Tescos food is not the best for being fresh wonder what todays delivery is like, the milk could now be a bit cheesy Considering the milk is local that was a piss poor example

Very subtle but I would guess the significance of this would excape the majority

One thing some have said is it will be good to see what happens when the bad weather sets in and the freight can't sail but the Ben does, I think you have that the wrong way round, I seem to remember last year several occasions where the Ben did not sail due to the weather one one occasion for a few days but the smaller Ben Vorrey and Maye cargo ships did sail, I would say there is more chance of Mezeron sailing than the SP in bad weather.

and if that's not available they could try the shipping company Caledonian MacBrayne Ok edited to correct and to the two who said would I care to elaborate, please reread what I said for the answer.

Maybe if Caledonian MacBrayne's offical view on the IoM route was allowed to be published it would cheer a lot up on here and send the SP into sheer panic.