Rjan:
Grandpa:
RjanYou could try to find excuses for evermore, but the reality is that in recent years drivers have seen an ever rising EU bureaucracy and a corresponding rise in practices by companies to reduce the costs involved. We now live in a ‘gig economy’ and that wasn’t happening before – using cheap foreign labour is a simply a reaction to that. The longer we stay in the EU, the more the transport industry will be taken over by cheap foreign labour because a minimum wage is a good one to someone from Romania.
The WTD 2003/88/EC is an EU directive. The legal requirement of open borders which attracts cheap labour is an EU ruling. Both Labour and the Tories dragged us into all this and the majority of people voted for it to end because we’ve seen the results. Both the German and French economies are stagnating and despite all the hype, I’m personally waiting for the next recession which will be the excuse for the hourly rate to drop even further. Eventually the minimum wage and the current hourly drivers rate will meet somewhere in the middle in an unhappy medium. Getting dragged into the EU by politicians was the worst thing that ever happened to the British working class and we didn’t even vote for it.
And I agree with your points about the single market. Freedom of movement of capital, goods, services, and people across democratic boundaries are not in workers’ interests
But I’m not clearly seeing where all the EU bureaucracy is.
If we set aside matters of payroll and minimum working conditions which I’ve already addressed (by pointing out they merely reflect strictures that already existed previously in domestic law - drivers’ hours rules go back to the Road Traffic Act 1930 iirc), I’m struggling to think of any other examples.
The EU rules, directives and laws are the bureaucracy. How do you think we managed to get into the gig economy low paid mess we’re in now? Do you think British politicians under the Tories and Labour managed to do that all on their own? Regulations and greed feed off each other. Do you think it’s any better in Europe? The German and French economies are stagnating and we’re stuck in a foreign labour low wage gig economy. The whole EU thing is falling apart and the only people benefitting are the East Europeans. Find me one person here who is currently loving the state of the transport industry.
I’ve recently come back to the UK after a decade abroad just to earn a few shekels to put towards my state pension and bulk it up a bit, which seemed a good idea, but I don’t recognize the country anymore. Not just the economy which is run on a minimum wage, but also socially, it’s been a massive culture shock. To those of us who are older and knew the days before EU open borders, rulings and directives, you’ll know what I mean. To those who are younger, it wasn’t always like this.
The good jobs have been filled and no one is in a hurry to leave them. The c**p jobs no one else wants are ten a penny, as are the tens of thousands of agencies who are offering them. You’re not a driver anymore, you’re a number in a world of transport planners stress and chaos.
For years we’ve been screwed by British politicians and the EU, by the same politicians who want us to remain that way. It’s not an opinion. Look at the amount of foreign drivers now in the transport industry. Look at the amount of foreign trucks on the road. You’re lucky to find an empty space on motorways to take your break at nights because they’re full of Polish and Romanian trucks. The British transport industry is a dead man walking and it’s only the politicians who are left wondering why all those with a licence aren’t using them anymore. Come on, be honest, if we were all in our twenties again which one of us would currently consider driving trucks as a long term career? You honestly can’t see the correlation between 20 years ago and the difference when we were dragged into the EU? The ■■■■■■■■■■ of the British transport industry by the East Europeans didn’t happen by magic.
Yes, it sounds like a major gripe and it is. If another job comes up outside the transport industry at anything like the hourly rate I’m now getting I’ll snap it up.