Guys,
Let me put another side to this story to you, Ross came to me looking for work and at the time i was looking to add to my ground staff so gave him a trial as a groundie. He did ok so gave him the opportunity to work as a groundie sub contractor whenever he required work as I do with various other sub contractors, The rate of pay we offer for a groundie with only Cs 30/31 is £80 which was his choice to accept which he did.
Yes Ross has climbing ticket CS 38/39 but was not employed as a climber but what was put to him was that if you wanted some climbing experience, then when we could we would get you on the trees. Ross chose to use his own kit and equipment for when these opportunities come up.
Insurance is provided for all employees and sub contractors that work under us, ross was advised by myself that if he was going to carry our tree work for himself then he would require liability insurance.
I have been branded on here as a bad employer who is taking the piss, So let me put my side to you.
I spent 22yrs in the military, when i got out i retrained into this industry and started a whole new chapter in my life I put out letter after letter to try and get work experience and tried to get employment. I got one chance from a guy on here who offered £60 per shift which i was grateful for but after time decided to start out on my own.
I have now built a successful business and have employed many people and have worked for many large organisation, Andy Clark on here can vouch for this. I have always given people a chance no matter how little experience they have as how else will they get the experience.
I give work experience to a local charity organisation that helps underprivileged kids, I give work experience through the council for school leavers.
I put Sub contractors onto courses that helps both the company and the individual, IE woodchipper,trailer towing, EFA+f,cscs, dumper,digger ext.
I offer sub contractors that have worked with us for a period of time the opportunity to go full time onto the books, some have accepted this but most guys want the freedom to pick and choose when and who they work for.
So to finish up I hope maybe you see me in a different light, I am anything but a bad employer or a piss taker. So in future before you decide to destroy someones reputation, remember there are different sides to a story. There have been various members of my teams wanting to get on here and put there views across on the employer that We are which i hope they do.