bertiebus:
Rjan:
Why should there be any shortage? The industry is awash with experienced drivers.
Not being able to pick up the phone at midnight and get a driver for 2am is not a shortage condition. Firms are probably just having to plan ahead a bit more and provide a bit more stability and reasonable conditions.
We only use agency to cover drivers when we need to pull them into the office due to sick/holiday cover.
Got 1 on his jollies and 1 guy sick. We have been trying for a week to get cover for the next 4 weeks.
Still waiting for cover. So looks like overtime for those indoors…
But again, it’s not a shortage condition that experienced drivers aren’t just dossing around waiting for a phone call for 4 weeks temp work for normal rates of pay, especially at the time of the year where it is traditionally becoming busier and the semi-retired casuals are all getting snapped up anyway.
A shortage condition is when permanent employees cannot be found, retention of full-timers becomes appalling due to poaching, new trainees can knock on a door and walk into any firm they want on a full-time basis, and pay rates for any sort of temporary cover become swingeing compared to the full-time rate (and pay settlements for full-timers across the industry become seriously inflationary, as do haulage prices for customers).
I don’t see the slightest evidence yet of that.
Admittedly you have been searching for a week (not making a phone call at midnight and expecting to cover a 2am start), but do you really think most of the commercial world is able to replace a skilled and experienced employee with another within a week? Especially just for 4 weeks work?
And let’s not pretend we aren’t talking about skilled and experienced drivers. Most firms, last I heard, still don’t want new passes, they don’t want guys who haven’t driven for 6 months, they don’t want guys under 25, they don’t want drivers who haven’t done their type of work before, they don’t want drivers who haven’t had an induction, they don’t want drivers who haven’t got their own safety gear, etc. etc.
If this Xmas period is a bloodbath for hauliers, all you’ll find is that rationing starts to occur, and some less urgent goods will sit in warehouses until January, so that those guys who want work in January will have it, and they’ll be moving goods to be sold next Xmas.
Because it is perfectly apparent that the available driver workforce is being under-used at the beginning of every year, and over-used toward the end, and as the over-supply of drivers abates, that seasonal variation will be smoothed out and converted into full-time, year-round employment.
