Paul's worker consultation

On another day Paul left his car and was again walking towards the company's building and his office, passing the rows of vehicles for hire. However, he noticed that one section of the parking lot was not filled with these but with the drivers' own cars instead. What a waste of valuable room, he thought. The company could stock far more hire vehicles if this was not simply 'dead space'.

He met with his managers and they discussed the problem. Eventually they decided to survey the drivers as to what they felt would be the best solution. However, instead of allowing them to voice their opinions - this might produce too many and varied answers - they felt it best to make it a tick-box exercise and let them have a choice of only three:

1. Pay more to park here

2. Pay even more to park here, or

3. Don't park here.

Unsurprisingly the drivers were not impressed with this tactic but were even less enamoured of their management when the results of the survey were published some weeks later and these showed that the majority view was apparently that the best option was to build a multi-storey car park, that it would need to be funded from increased car parking fees, and that these increases would be in relation to the salary of each worker .

"But Paul!" they cried in horror as the amount of the increase was made clear. "That is up to triple what we pay now. And we won't be getting any better facilities. Even now we often have to queue and search for a space."

But Paul was unmoved. "We need more space, and as there are other buildings all around we cannot expand sideways. We need to go upwards."

"But Paul," protested the drivers. "You can't fund real estate improvements by effectively cutting our salaries. That should be funded from the company's own internal budgets."

But Paul was unmoved.

"And another thing: this charge is related to salary - the higher the salary, the more one pays. Are you aware that only the government can set an income tax, which is what this effectively is? You are acting illegally."

But Paul was unmoved.

"Will the management staff also be subjected to these new higher prices to park here?" they asked.

Paul remained silent.

"If we don't want to sign up to the new charges where else could we park?"

Paul coughed. "You can use the Park and Ride facility we will be laying on or use the bus."

"But Paul. Some of our taskings are not during the normal working day. The Park and Ride or the bus services may not be running when we have to come in at these other times. Are we effectively being penalised for not working nine-to-five?"

Paul remained silent.

"And another thing, Paul," the drivers persisted. "If this goes ahead it is not clear what happens to this huge increase in fees when the new multi-storey car park has been built. Do we become part-owners of it as we will have paid for it? Do the charges then revert to the old levels?"

But Paul remained silent.