Wow !! That is a blast from the past.
Did not know Honeywell was still going.
Honeywell's UK staff mull strike action
UK employees of multinational Honeywell are considering strike action over the closure of their final salary pension scheme. The Unite union has started balloting its 1,100 members across the UK today in a consultative ballot for industrial action. The ballot closes on Monday October 31. Honeywell has more than 50 sites …
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Tuesday 18th October 2016 14:48 GMT Michael Strorm
"The company's current name, Honeywell International Inc., is the product of a merger in which Honeywell Inc. was acquired by the much larger AlliedSignal in 1999. The company headquarters were consolidated with AlliedSignal's headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey; however the combined company chose the name "Honeywell" because of its superior brand recognition."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeywell
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Tuesday 18th October 2016 23:27 GMT Havin_it
A Honeywell appliance materialised on the wall of our Throne Room at the same time the gas boiler was replaced. I'm guessing it's a CO detector. It does give me a little frisson to see it, albeit that there's very little connection with the tech titan that was.
Part of me wants to pry the casing open in case there's an advanced supercomputer in there (hell, relative to Honeywell machines in their pomp that's probably a valid comparison) but another part of me thinks that if either my landlord, the boiler maker or the plumber felt the need to surreptitiously install such a thing in our bog, I probably don't want to know why.
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Wednesday 19th October 2016 09:43 GMT Naselus
My brother works for one of the subsidiaries. They don't really do much in the way of computing tech anymore, but Honeywell-owned brands are pretty dominant in the various types of alarms you can install - burglar, fire, CO, even thermal. They're also a big noise in 2nd-rate jet engines - not the kind of thing you find on an airliner, but the kind of thing that the British fit on deliberately obsolete fighters they want to sell to tinpot dictatorships for inflated prices.
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Tuesday 18th October 2016 17:30 GMT Erik4872
Time to restore the employer/employee balance
Interesting to see this in a UK context -- most private employers in the US dumped final average salary pensions ages ago when they got the tax loophole known as the 401(k) and could wash their hands of any responsibility.
I would definitely be behind a more balanced relationship between employers and employees:
- On the employee side, a higher degree of loyalty would be necessary. More dedication to the job, less job hopping every 6 months...basically making employers want to keep and invest in you. Of course, that's only possible with...
- ...On the employer side, a higher degree of fair dealing with the employees. Have a career path people can actually achieve. Don't lay people off the second the stock price drops, and don't just dump everyone involved when you can a project...reuse them! Pay fairly, provide great benefits and invest in training. At least contribute meaningfully to an employee's retirement account if not managing a pension plan.
A good example of this would be pre-90's-meltdown IBM. I hear stories of employees who worked their entire careers there, and retired with a solid pension and lifetime medical benefits. They had a no-layoff policy for ages. Now, they're doing everything possible to reverse all this, just like every big employer.
I think this will eventually backfire on big employers. Economists use the term "efficiency wage" to mean "pay more than the absolute minimum you can to potentially see an increase in productivity." Squeezing workers will, in the long run, lead to lower productivity and less quality work produced. If an employee feels their employer is dealing with them fairly, they'll do a good job. If they feel the employer is out to get them at every turn, they'll respond in kind.
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Tuesday 18th October 2016 17:50 GMT ecofeco
Re: Time to restore the employer/employee balance
It's already backfiring in shoddy products and services resulting in lawsuits from very large clients and regulatory fines. Many articles right here on El Reg.
Unfortunately, it's still not enough to affect the larger companies profits. (thus showing the entire concept of "free market" is utter bullshit)
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Tuesday 18th October 2016 22:30 GMT Anonymous Coward
If you signed up for a final salary scheme
you should gwt a final salary scheme pension. F### Honeywell, they pennned the deal they should have the balls to hold up to the deal.
That's not an irrational statement based on a political stance. These companies know full well what these deals mean when they make them.. And on a political stance, shafting pensioners or future pensioners does not bode well for any future business wise conservative party looking for future power.
I would bet all of the undr are on final pension schemes or better.
David M. Cote
David M. Cote
William S. Ayer
William S. Ayer
Kevin G. Burke
Kevin G. Burke
Jaime Chico Pardo
Jaime Chico Pardo
D. Scott Davis
D. Scott Davis
Linnet F. Deily
Linnet F. Deily
Judd A. Gregg
Judd A. Gregg
Clive R. Hollick
Clive R. Hollick
Grace D. Lieblein
Grace D. Lieblein
George Paz
George Paz
Bradley T. Sheares
Bradley T. Sheares
If you don't rcognise them, that's the board of directors of blah blah blah blah rant over
Biting the hand that feeds IT
