A total of 19 drivers, employed by DHL Supply Chain, who deliver petrol across the region are being balloted for strike action after a driver was ‘docked’ £5,200 in wages over seven months by the supermarket following an accident trade union Unite says was not his fault.
The supermarket chain currently have petrol stations in Ipswich, Felixstowe, Lowestoft, Diss, Harwich, Clacton and Witham.
Unite, representing the driver, say the stores may only have one day’s stock of petrol so could run dry ‘very quickly’ if the dispute lasts for more than a few days.
Make-or-break talks between the union and Morrisons will take place tomorrow, Friday January 27.
The strike action ballot ends on Friday January 24 and if it gets the go-ahead, industrial action could start on Saturday February 4.
Paul Travers, Unite’s regional officer, said: “Motorists, customers of Morrisons, seeking fuel could be seriously affected.”
zaax:
“Motorists, customers of Morrisons, seeking fuel could be seriously affected.”
Or they could just go to the nearest Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, Esso, Texaco, Shell and hey presto, crisis over. Think some union reps live in the 1970’s!
Does sound like the DHL contract isn’t one that anyone should sign, unless it’s something to do with putting the wrong fuel in the tanks or similar. Can’t be that bad or they’d presumably have sacked the driver, although his / her best bet might be to simply quit, end of deductible wage payments. Then again, the union presumably isn’t that brilliant if they let the company get away with writing this into a contract in the first place.
Btw, does this mean we’ll see little cards on the pumps stating “Sorry, we were unable to deliver your petrol / diesel today, your delivery will be held at your nearest depot for 7 days to allow you to collect in person”?
Why on earth do other drivers want to get involved?? Its between the company and 1 driver absolutely no one else. Qualified ADR agency would cover it, plenty out there looking for a job. Do they really think Morries running out of fuel will have any impact…
Assuming the contracts are pretty standard there is nothing in the DHL contract that states you will pay for damages to the vehicles. That does not mean to say a company cannot try and recover costs from you if it’s proved you were negligent. I think there is more to this story than is being said, they also cannot legally deduct money especially that amount without prior consent from the employee involved as far as I know. So chances are the driver has agreed to have the money deducted and then is struggling and kicked up a fuss at a guess.
trevHCS:
Does sound like the DHL contract isn’t one that anyone should sign, unless it’s something to do with putting the wrong fuel in the tanks or similar. Can’t be that bad or they’d presumably have sacked the driver, although his / her best bet might be to simply quit, end of deductible wage payments. Then again, the union presumably isn’t that brilliant if they let the company get away with writing this into a contract in the first place.
Sack the driver and you cant recover you costs, so if the driver is willing to not quit over the deductions why not try it? If its in the contract then both driver and agency don’t have a leg to stand on. Also I believe that the operators are partially responsible for administering the Petroleum Drivers Passport scheme and there is a driver competence element? Could the driver have agreed in order to retain his PDP?
trevHCS:
Btw, does this mean we’ll see little cards on the pumps stating “Sorry, we were unable to deliver your petrol / diesel today, your delivery will be held at your nearest depot for 7 days to allow you to collect in person”?
Thats roundabout £185 a week…a lot of money to be taken out of your wages…( must be earning a few quid ) anyway…its law, that other than tax & NI, may be stopped without prior permission from the employee, unless requested…so htis driver must have been given a rollicking, and agreed to pay back the monies owed, and with a signed paper.
Far too many companies are asking drivers to pay back monies for damage they caused…thats what insurance is for…and a large company like morrisons…with a l;arge fleet, i would suggest that their excesses are way over the top…and this driver was a last straw…and to make the other drivers take note…/
A company i once worked for…had an excess of over £200 thousand pounds, and still never made drivers pay anything towards the costs…just letters pinned to the notice boards telling drivers to drive carefully…on a personal note…no way would i ever agree to pay for damage to a company vehicle…my fault or someone elses.
