BNPP at it again (snip snip)

[SussexSeagull]

Its about quantities of scale

Contractor pulls that to thier Client who is 100% of their income source = Contractor loses
Clinet does this to Contractors 10% of whom walk = Client wins

Broadly true although a key person who does it just before a deadline would have a stronger hand (not that I am saying anyone should do it).

[billybiro]

I reiterate a client supplier relationship is not a level playing field.

I agree. I'm not naive and I understand the golden rule - he who has the gold makes the rules and all that. However....

Jumping ship just because you want more money is mercenary and a tad unprofessional. The situation really dictates to what extent.

No, it really isn't. At all. It's the one situation where that uneven playing field you talk about is suddenly tilted in your favour, not the clients.

Jumping ship mid-contract for more money (and assuming you've factored in the ill-will that it may cause - i.e. you just may never want to go back to that client in the future anyway) is good business for your Ltd.

It is indeed the exact same (yet opposite) of the client dumping a contractor earning X and replacing him with a contractor earning Y (where X > Y), or just generally enforcing the reduction of contractor rates, so as to reduce his costs. Dumping a lower paying contract for a higher one is simply increasing your revenue and acting entirely within your fiduciary duty to your Ltd.

[northernladuk]

It is indeed the exact same (yet opposite) of the client dumping a contractor earning X and replacing him with a contractor earning Y (where X > Y), or just generally enforcing the reduction of contractor rates, so as to reduce his costs. Dumping a lower paying contract for a higher one is simply increasing your revenue and acting entirely within your fiduciary duty to your Ltd.

To be honest i've never seen a client dump a contractor mid period just to go for a cheaper one unless it's a bigger strategy to replace a number of people with a new supplier..and thinking about it I cant remember that ever happening. I'm sure it might have happened somewhere though.

Thing is we are really happy when the odd client does this aren't we? <sarcasm tag>. If the odd client does this which causes every single contractor to become mercenary just because their incorrect assumption that this is what clients will do then all hell will break loose. I'd like to think on the whole everyone acts professionally with the odd client pulling this trick and the odd contractor acting like a Dick. We might achieve some middle ground and not descend in to chaos. You can have tulipty clients and tulipty contractors but I'd like that to stay a minority.

Maybe I should take my rosy spectacles off and get back to real life.

[DotasScandal]

If the odd client does this which causes every single contractor to become mercenary just because their incorrect assumption that this is what clients will do then all hell will break loose. I'd like to think on the whole everyone acts professionally with the odd client pulling this trick and the odd contractor acting like a Dick. We might achieve some middle ground and not descend in to chaos. You can have tulipty clients and tulipty contractors but I'd like that to stay a minority.
Maybe I should take my rosy spectacles off and get back to real life. .

Agree with you that everyone should act professional, and that ideally we should all just try to get along...
But one must recognize that the non negociable, take-it-or-f*-off rate cuts have become an unpleasant trend in the past few years.
And if there is a an increase in the mercenary mindset, it is largely due to the increasingly hardball approach to contractors of the buyers.
I do tend to agree with the "fiduciary duty to one's ltd" argument. Sometimes jumping ship for better pay is not being greedy, it is just good management of your ltd.

[northernladuk]

Agree with all that. Its a balance and something to be considered at each point. Not just an across the board attitude some people have. But that's my take on it. Anyway.. Said my piece now.

[Taita]

Broadly true although a key person who does it just before a deadline would have a stronger hand (not that I am saying anyone should do it).

Probably why the banks traditionally time their cuts in contractor rates for December!