Where I am/was there was only 4 of us who regularly worked there (3x day 1x night), the rest where adhoc. They recently lost two staff drivers, one left of his own accord and the other was sacked for hitting the bridge at darfoulds near the depot. But there’s only 15 trucks in the yard so the number of agy drivers reqd each day is small, sometimes only 1-3 Mon-Fri and there’s been no mention of replacing the staff drivers especially as the transport contract is due for renegotiation soon.
Winseer:
Juddian:
That’s what I’ve been getting at…
When taking a job from here on - we should be negotiating T&Cs rather than “headline hourly rates” any longer.If you take two main agency “contractors” such as Supermarkets and Royal Mail for instance, as someone that’s worked at both in the past year - I’ll point out the obvious that there is this deep reluctance among the firm hiring bums on seats - to pay the high rates that have now come about in those two industries in particular…
Someone like myself who always chased the big bucks over the years on agency - now finds these ongoing attempts to have the door closed in my face everywhere I go, and then this notion that somehow “It is all my fault I’m being let go” when I’ve still got the clean licence, decades of experience, etc.It ain’t just me though - is it? We’re ALL being got rid of at once, so the very full time staff that originally might back been wielding the backstab knives as it were…
Now find themselves being told by their firms “Right. We’ve got rid of the Limpers… You’re next - unless you can be “flexible” meaning working 60 hour weeks for 48 hour pay from now on…”
“Oooerr… We’d better not go sick - or we’ll get stood down on zero pay just like the now-gone agency drivers!”The Tyranny the full timer now looks like having in front of them - is only just beginning.
With agency gone - there won’t be any more upstart drivers like myself arguing “f— this. I’d rather work agency doing the same job for £2ph more…”
Full timers are now trapped. The only out is to “resign” and with no job to go to - who’s gonna have the balls to do THAT any more?
Let fortune favour the brave.
I’m starting to think that “Furloughment Pay” will never materialize anywhere at all…
It is just a filter to see who tries throwing sickies to get it, only to lose their jobs from “voluntary stand-down”…Any Peter Perfect driver who thinks that “Once we’ve got rid of unpopular types” (such as yours truly…) “Things will get better for the bulk of us Union-leaning folk”.
Well, good luck with that, what on your new “unpaid overtime” full time contracts you cannot get out of now, because there’s no agencies left by Christmas to run to this year!
Full Timers aided and abetted management in “running the limpers out of town” - so they’ve only got themselves to blame from now on too…
Sorry Winseer, i just don’t see ay of that happening, but then i’ve worked at proper unionised companies for most of my working life.
If anything the company i am with only appreciate their reliable staff more as the dependable become increasingly rare, it’s what Robroy terms a team company where you are a valued member of the worksforce not the enemy.
Juddian:
Anyone else wondering if the day of the permanent agency driver is fast approaching the end.
What with pay parity and the postponed ending of self employed status, there’s no way a company paying decent money will pay the rates required to put an agency driver in the seat.
Same rates as full timers + the agency commission + whatever the umbrella scam costs the individual driver, i can’t see it being worth it…unless the full timer rate is so artificially poor that no one will work there full time and the operation is deliberately run around temp drivers.Bringing this round to furlough, if the agency has to re-imburse the govt (the taxpayer, remember a govt has no money of its own) i can’t see many agencies taking the gamble on still having a viable business if and when some form of normailty resumes, maybe it’s carefully chosen reliable regulars who are getting the offer of furlough, the few who they wouldn’t want to let go, same as anywhere there will be people the employer would not want to lose and people they wouldn’t be sorry to see the back of.
I think it could end up with a quasi-ZHC arrangement whereby you’re employed by the haulier on a temporary basis, rather than the agency. The agency would charge the haulier separately for their ‘introduction’ fee but as the driver you’d be paid by haulier as a temporary employee. I say ‘quasi-ZHC’ because a full ZHC arrangement wouldn’t work in practice as that would require the driver to be available to work there as and when needed which would prevent them from being able to work at company 2 when company 1 doesn’t have any work. The temporary contract would offer a higher rate than the full-time contract.
In essence I see it continuing to work the same as it currently does but you’ll get paid by the haulier rather than the agency.
What you’re describing there Jud - is exactly what I’m not seeing out and about…
It seems however that this “Reliable” paragon of a driver that is described is a full-timer who
(1) Carries their skiving and/or off-sick colleagues without complaint at all times.
(2) Does regular extra runs/non-driving work unpaid “on request”, which is requested often
(3) Never ever gets so much as a WTD Tacho infringement
(4) Never goes over their official breaks “needed legally” by more than 10 minutes worth
(5) Never takes 11 hours (10 hours paid) to do a ten hour job when others you’ll never meet can do it in 7 hours paid 8 thanks to dangerous-to-yourself-and-others “job ‘n’ knock” culture…
(6) Can make-do with a Day cab for permanent nights, ongoingly…
(7) Is happy to bust a nut and be “on the double” at all times, despite such action being less safe and of course detrimental to any “hourly rate” one might be on… (rush rush rush = more accidents = FACT)
(8) Firm and rank ‘n’ file staff makes you feel like you’re crap on their shoe, and if you push back - you’re smeared crap on their shoe… That way, hopefully you’ll complain less when you see things like “H&S being ignored” or things like “Shrinkage” taking place…
(9) There is no ‘9’
(10) This space left intentially blank.
R420:
Juddian:
Anyone else wondering if the day of the permanent agency driver is fast approaching the end.
What with pay parity and the postponed ending of self employed status, there’s no way a company paying decent money will pay the rates required to put an agency driver in the seat.
Same rates as full timers + the agency commission + whatever the umbrella scam costs the individual driver, i can’t see it being worth it…unless the full timer rate is so artificially poor that no one will work there full time and the operation is deliberately run around temp drivers.Bringing this round to furlough, if the agency has to re-imburse the govt (the taxpayer, remember a govt has no money of its own) i can’t see many agencies taking the gamble on still having a viable business if and when some form of normailty resumes, maybe it’s carefully chosen reliable regulars who are getting the offer of furlough, the few who they wouldn’t want to let go, same as anywhere there will be people the employer would not want to lose and people they wouldn’t be sorry to see the back of.
I think it could end up with a quasi-ZHC arrangement whereby you’re employed by the haulier on a temporary basis, rather than the agency. The agency would charge the haulier separately for their ‘introduction’ fee but as the driver you’d be paid by haulier as a temporary employee. I say ‘quasi-ZHC’ because a full ZHC arrangement wouldn’t work in practice as that would require the driver to be available to work there as and when needed which would prevent them from being able to work at company 2 when company 1 doesn’t have any work. The temporary contract would offer a higher rate than the full-time contract.
In essence I see it continuing to work the same as it currently does but you’ll get paid by the haulier rather than the agency.
Why not cut out the middleman entirely, and have the Haulier employ the driver directly on a casual contract that is nonetheless a permanent arrangement, and ZHC only in that you get paid a fixed rate for any shifts that you do? That way, there’s no need to rush nor any need to “hang it out”, whilst the firm (if taking the ■■■■…) won’t get many takers if they are paying a “Day’s pay rate” for what is obviously going to always be a 12-15 hour shift…?
What’s a fair “Days Pay” these days? £150 top line? £150 bottom line?
…Chances are, the firm will offer the top line, whilst the driver tries to get that as take-home.
This means that if it is £150 gross per shift for instance, doing 1-2 shifts per week - will probably have you take home ALL of that, and meeting your target requirement for bottom line pay…
Doing 5-6 shifts however, will result on you losing around a third of it in tax and national insurance, which takes the daily takehome rate down from £150 to a mere £100…
Not so good - is it? If you can get by on £300 per week rather than “must have £600pw takehome” - then the “Age of Under-Employment” is at hand, with more and more people choosing the better life balance that is working one-third of the hours you COULD work - but taking home HALF the money you’d get if you worked three times as many hours…
That’s actually rather good value, if you think about it - and I suggest that what I’ve just described above - might appeal to many-an-older driver in the months ahead, once they wake up and smell the coffee…
I’ve found out the hard way over the past year in particular - that if you earn the big-bucks hourly rates - you’ve got other full timer snitches snapping at your heels at all times the moment I put in those hours to suit… It was great top-lining £900pw @ RM last march - but they couldn’t just leave me alone to make a career out of it - could they? It was great doing £750pw for the year since - but once again, I’ve been seen off by the “Poacher-■■■-Gamekeeper” fellow full time drivers that work as “Acting Managers” all over again…
Bugger the stress. It ain’t worth it. Time to swing low again, methinks… 
Winseer:
What you’re describing there Jud - is exactly what I’m not seeing out and about…It seems however that this “Reliable” paragon of a driver that is described is a full-timer who
(1) Carries their skiving and/or off-sick colleagues without complaint at all times.
(2) Does regular extra runs/non-driving work unpaid “on request”, which is requested often
(3) Never ever gets so much as a WTD Tacho infringement
(4) Never goes over their official breaks “needed legally” by more than 10 minutes worth
(5) Never takes 11 hours (10 hours paid) to do a ten hour job when others you’ll never meet can do it in 7 hours paid 8 thanks to dangerous-to-yourself-and-others “job ‘n’ knock” culture…
(6) Can make-do with a Day cab for permanent nights, ongoingly…
(7) Is happy to bust a nut and be “on the double” at all times, despite such action being less safe and of course detrimental to any “hourly rate” one might be on… (rush rush rush = more accidents = FACT)
(8) Firm and rank ‘n’ file staff makes you feel like you’re crap on their shoe, and if you push back - you’re smeared crap on their shoe… That way, hopefully you’ll complain less when you see things like “H&S being ignored” or things like “Shrinkage” taking place…
(9) There is no ‘9’
(10) This space left intentially blank.
Again, no, it isn’t like that.
There’s always been a number of wastes of space in any company, the sick notes wreckers and can’t do that crews, in practice they usually hang themselves given enough rope.
Indeed i’ve always been of the opinion that a small number of the above types are good for an company, because if everyone was a reliable competent employee the company would get complacent and not be wary of losing the reliable ‘paragons’ you refer to, the poor staff cost the company big time, its always the same names that crop up in the three groups, often in all three groups, they make the rest of us look brilliant by comparison.
The company might require some help now and again when the above do their thing, the good employer makes it up in various ways over time.
Proper companis don’t want their people rushing about like their arse is on fire, it always ends in tears.
The thing is to find the employer which suits you individually, they are out there, its up to you to find them,
.
R420:
Juddian:
Anyone else wondering if the day of the permanent agency driver is fast approaching the end.
What with pay parity and the postponed ending of self employed status, there’s no way a company paying decent money will pay the rates required to put an agency driver in the seat.
Same rates as full timers + the agency commission + whatever the umbrella scam costs the individual driver, i can’t see it being worth it…unless the full timer rate is so artificially poor that no one will work there full time and the operation is deliberately run around temp drivers.Bringing this round to furlough, if the agency has to re-imburse the govt (the taxpayer, remember a govt has no money of its own) i can’t see many agencies taking the gamble on still having a viable business if and when some form of normailty resumes, maybe it’s carefully chosen reliable regulars who are getting the offer of furlough, the few who they wouldn’t want to let go, same as anywhere there will be people the employer would not want to lose and people they wouldn’t be sorry to see the back of.
I think it could end up with a quasi-ZHC arrangement whereby you’re employed by the haulier on a temporary basis, rather than the agency. The agency would charge the haulier separately for their ‘introduction’ fee but as the driver you’d be paid by haulier as a temporary employee. I say ‘quasi-ZHC’ because a full ZHC arrangement wouldn’t work in practice as that would require the driver to be available to work there as and when needed which would prevent them from being able to work at company 2 when company 1 doesn’t have any work. The temporary contract would offer a higher rate than the full-time contract.
In essence I see it continuing to work the same as it currently does but you’ll get paid by the haulier rather than the agency.
Yes, i too see regular part time/casual drivers with varying shift patterns to suit being offered, all as you say direct employed squeezing out the agency parasites, good.
Winseer:
What’s a fair “Days Pay” these days? £150 top line? £150 bottom line?…Chances are, the firm will offer the top line, whilst the driver tries to get that as take-home.
This means that if it is £150 gross per shift for instance, doing 1-2 shifts per week - will probably have you take home ALL of that, and meeting your target requirement for bottom line pay…Doing 5-6 shifts however, will result on you losing around a third of it in tax and national insurance, which takes the daily takehome rate down from £150 to a mere £100…
Not so good - is it? If you can get by on £300 per week rather than “must have £600pw takehome” - then the “Age of Under-Employment” is at hand, with more and more people choosing the better life balance that is working one-third of the hours you COULD work - but taking home HALF the money you’d get if you worked three times as many hours…
That’s actually rather good value, if you think about it - and I suggest that what I’ve just described above - might appeal to many-an-older driver in the months ahead, once they wake up and smell the coffee…I’ve found out the hard way over the past year in particular - that if you earn the big-bucks hourly rates - you’ve got other full timer snitches snapping at your heels at all times the moment I put in those hours to suit… It was great top-lining £900pw @ RM last march - but they couldn’t just leave me alone to make a career out of it - could they? It was great doing £750pw for the year since - but once again, I’ve been seen off by the “Poacher-■■■-Gamekeeper” fellow full time drivers that work as “Acting Managers” all over again…
Bugger the stress. It ain’t worth it. Time to swing low again, methinks…
I really should stop reading your posts. I feel like I’ve just completed an exhausting 15 hour night shift by the time I get to the end, and even then I often find myself still struggling to figure out what it is that you’re babbling on about.
How do you manage to turn a simple driving job into such a cluster[zb]? It’s really quite simple:
- Find work that piques your interest.
- Ascertain pay rates/hours.
- Take job that aligns with your pay/hours needs (working any 5 from 7 in your case
). - Go to work and do job.
- Ignore co-workers whining about their job.
- Ignore co-workers predictable “so how much are you getting an hour then?” questions.
- Go home.
- Wait for money to land in bank account.
- ■■?
- Profit! And get on with your life.
R420 I’ve had to put a temporary block on Winseer’s posts as I was getting RSI from scrolling down through his long posts. Though I do end up seeing some of them if people quote them
Anyhow back to the plot, all the contributors to this thread have long standing well know opinions on agencies and agency drivers, but it does seem to make an interesting conversation
Winseer:
Why not cut out the middleman entirely, and have the Haulier employ the driver directly on a casual contract that is nonetheless a permanent arrangement, and ZHC only in that you get paid a fixed rate for any shifts that you do? That way, there’s no need to rush nor any need to “hang it out”, whilst the firm (if taking the ■■■■…) won’t get many takers if they are paying a “Day’s pay rate” for what is obviously going to always be a 12-15 hour shift…?
There is nothing to stop the hauliers doing that right now. So why don’t they do it? Because they don’t want the admin. Hence why agencies exist. There has been a gradual shift from agency to “company” over the past 5+ years with the introduction of ZHCs but it’s not seen much traction in the haulage industry, perhaps because it isn’t best suited for liquid markets where they only need a driver on Friday and Saturday one week, but Tuesday to Friday the next. When you don’t know what your requirements are from one day to the next then I expect it’s easier to ring the agency, pay their fee and have them ring you back 10 minutes later with a name. Hauliers are usually too busy trying to organise spare wagons and trailers for the uptick in work they’ve just agreed to do for their customers, so the last thing they need is having to post adverts on job sites, sift through applications, interview people, assess them etc when all that can be farmed out to an agency for a modest fee. Even if the haulier has a bunch of regular temps on their books, it would still take time to ring them all to find out who is actually available. One call to an agency has it all sorted within minutes.
I do see longer term casual/temporary contracts becoming more common, eg. for periods of several months, especially for the companies like supermarkets that have cyclical busy periods where they know they’d have no problem keeping a temp working from October to Christmas and in return would offer a slightly higher rate than their full-time employees. However I think in the short-term agencies will continue to make up a large part of the landscape as they fill the ‘adhoc’ need/role perfectly and companies are prepared to pay for it.
R420:
Winseer:
Why not cut out the middleman entirely, and have the Haulier employ the driver directly on a casual contract that is nonetheless a permanent arrangement, and ZHC only in that you get paid a fixed rate for any shifts that you do? That way, there’s no need to rush nor any need to “hang it out”, whilst the firm (if taking the ■■■■…) won’t get many takers if they are paying a “Day’s pay rate” for what is obviously going to always be a 12-15 hour shift…?There is nothing to stop the hauliers doing that right now. So why don’t they do it? Because they don’t want the admin. Hence why agencies exist. There has been a gradual shift from agency to “company” over the past 5+ years with the introduction of ZHCs but it’s not seen much traction in the haulage industry, perhaps because it isn’t best suited for liquid markets where they only need a driver on Friday and Saturday one week, but Tuesday to Friday the next. When you don’t know what your requirements are from one day to the next then I expect it’s easier to ring the agency, pay their fee and have them ring you back 10 minutes later with a name. Hauliers are usually too busy trying to organise spare wagons and trailers for the uptick in work they’ve just agreed to do for their customers, so the last thing they need is having to post adverts on job sites, sift through applications, interview people, assess them etc when all that can be farmed out to an agency for a modest fee. Even if the haulier has a bunch of regular temps on their books, it would still take time to ring them all to find out who is actually available. One call to an agency has it all sorted within minutes.
I do see longer term casual/temporary contracts becoming more common, eg. for periods of several months, especially for the companies like supermarkets that have cyclical busy periods where they know they’d have no problem keeping a temp working from October to Christmas and in return would offer a slightly higher rate than their full-time employees. However I think in the short-term agencies will continue to make up a large part of the landscape as they fill the ‘adhoc’ need/role perfectly and companies are prepared to pay for it.
I’ve always thought it strange that there were never any actual direct “Part Time Contracts” in Haulage…
If a yard has regular work, say 10-25 hours per week, or 1-2 shifts for a single person every week without fail - then they don’t have enough work to take that bod on full time, but they don’t surely want to have to hire via an agency for such cover, taking the risk the agency will send some dickwad rather than the “person they asked for by name” - that oft-used agency legend that surely went stale many a year ago now…
In current jobs-market conditions where plenty of people are on lockdown that would otherwise be knocking on doors, applying for jobs, etc in the normal way…
What companies have currently got the grand opportunity of doing now is re-visiting ALL the old employmeng arguments and models…
They could cherry-pick via a simplified, but nonetheless “strict and virorous process” to boil applicants down to the exact bod they want, even and including filtering out those that just a few short months ago had to be included for consideration because of anti-discrimination laws otherwise.
THIS time - is rather different to anything we’ve ever seen in our lifetimes before - isn’t it?
…Didn’t our Grandparents tell us about things like “Reserved Occupations” or the way people behaved during the BLACKout rather than “2020 Vision - The Lockdown” which might be a title of a future Historical pamphlet on the events of this year…?
Methinks the entire world, let alone this country and our own domestic jobs market - is about to turn around a HUGE corner in the timeline…
What’s around it - might not be “upbeat” for everyone… But it is worth taking a positive stance, rather than looking back in anger (and paranoia) which some will doubtless do otherwise… 
R420:
Winseer:
What’s a fair “Days Pay” these days? £150 top line? £150 bottom line?…Chances are, the firm will offer the top line, whilst the driver tries to get that as take-home.
This means that if it is £150 gross per shift for instance, doing 1-2 shifts per week - will probably have you take home ALL of that, and meeting your target requirement for bottom line pay…Doing 5-6 shifts however, will result on you losing around a third of it in tax and national insurance, which takes the daily takehome rate down from £150 to a mere £100…
Not so good - is it? If you can get by on £300 per week rather than “must have £600pw takehome” - then the “Age of Under-Employment” is at hand, with more and more people choosing the better life balance that is working one-third of the hours you COULD work - but taking home HALF the money you’d get if you worked three times as many hours…
That’s actually rather good value, if you think about it - and I suggest that what I’ve just described above - might appeal to many-an-older driver in the months ahead, once they wake up and smell the coffee…I’ve found out the hard way over the past year in particular - that if you earn the big-bucks hourly rates - you’ve got other full timer snitches snapping at your heels at all times the moment I put in those hours to suit… It was great top-lining £900pw @ RM last march - but they couldn’t just leave me alone to make a career out of it - could they? It was great doing £750pw for the year since - but once again, I’ve been seen off by the “Poacher-■■■-Gamekeeper” fellow full time drivers that work as “Acting Managers” all over again…
Bugger the stress. It ain’t worth it. Time to swing low again, methinks…
I really should stop reading your posts. I feel like I’ve just completed an exhausting 15 hour night shift by the time I get to the end, and even then I often find myself still struggling to figure out what it is that you’re babbling on about.
How do you manage to turn a simple driving job into such a cluster[zb]? It’s really quite simple:
- Find work that piques your interest.
- Ascertain pay rates/hours.
- Take job that aligns with your pay/hours needs (working any 5 from 7 in your case
- Go to work and do job.
- Ignore co-workers whining about their job.
- Ignore co-workers predictable “so how much are you getting an hour then?” questions.
- Go home.
- Wait for money to land in bank account.
- ■■?
- Profit! And get on with your life.
That’s what I’ve been doing during my time on agency - only to be backstabbed by full timers each time at the first opportunity, usually when I start “houring it up - large”.
The reasons I don’t like “Any five from seven” is because I can’t plan my private life and events when the buggers cancel my friday shift 48 hours before, and call me in thursday afternoon instead, when I was planning to be out on my otherwise pre-planned weekly rest with my family (for instance…)
I don’t even like fixed five from seven, as that doesn’t leave much space for any extra hours, which is fine if it is a fixed job, but complete crap if it’s those five shifts on “ad hoc duties” like across Christmas…
Essentially, on agency I like Full Timer’s Leave Cover the best… Only to get moaned about it on their return because I either carved it up (in their mind) or hung it out (getting over-paid for it in their minds…) either way, not exactly making any mates there…
I’ve tried “Keeping my head down, and just getting on with it” - but the pressure from my peer group then transfers to those watching me like hawks all the time, (The “Complaints” and “Grass-ups”…) nitpicking on every stupid little thing they can find…
“Taking too long to use the loo” or “booking 1hr 10m of breaks instead of an hour” or even “getting 6hr5m WTD tacho infringements” on a regular basis, because the route rounds don’t have me getting back to the yard until the very last minute, which I’m simply not practiced enough in someone else’s regular duty pattern to make work the way they want it to… Then there’s getting grassed up for things like “missing the litter bin and not going back to pick up discarded item” or “cutting corner of walkway route” and other stupid stuff that I’ve never heard of anyone else being in the crap over every damned day, some stupid “Ooh we saw 'im break this rule or that rule” rubbish - again, entirely from my own peer group - full timers who seem to resent the way I do my job at their venue or in their personally owned trucks…
Anyone would think that my wage make-up is coming out of their pockets - when it is none of their goddamned business how much my top and bottom line are!!
I expect to turn up
Put in the hours
Be left alone
Do Job
Get back, job-done,
chuck in keys
Go home
… And if no one so much as says “Hi” or gives me a cheery “f— off” each day - I’m satisfied with my lot. 
Perhaps a change of who my peers happen to be - would work better for me?
R420:
Winseer:
Why not cut out the middleman entirely, and have the Haulier employ the driver directly on a casual contract that is nonetheless a permanent arrangement, and ZHC only in that you get paid a fixed rate for any shifts that you do? That way, there’s no need to rush nor any need to “hang it out”, whilst the firm (if taking the ■■■■…) won’t get many takers if they are paying a “Day’s pay rate” for what is obviously going to always be a 12-15 hour shift…?There is nothing to stop the hauliers doing that right now. So why don’t they do it? Because they don’t want the admin. Hence why agencies exist. There has been a gradual shift from agency to “company” over the past 5+ years with the introduction of ZHCs but it’s not seen much traction in the haulage industry, perhaps because it isn’t best suited for liquid markets where they only need a driver on Friday and Saturday one week, but Tuesday to Friday the next. When you don’t know what your requirements are from one day to the next then I expect it’s easier to ring the agency, pay their fee and have them ring you back 10 minutes later with a name. Hauliers are usually too busy trying to organise spare wagons and trailers for the uptick in work they’ve just agreed to do for their customers, so the last thing they need is having to post adverts on job sites, sift through applications, interview people, assess them etc when all that can be farmed out to an agency for a modest fee. Even if the haulier has a bunch of regular temps on their books, it would still take time to ring them all to find out who is actually available. One call to an agency has it all sorted within minutes.
I do see longer term casual/temporary contracts becoming more common, eg. for periods of several months, especially for the companies like supermarkets that have cyclical busy periods where they know they’d have no problem keeping a temp working from October to Christmas and in return would offer a slightly higher rate than their full-time employees. However I think in the short-term agencies will continue to make up a large part of the landscape as they fill the ‘adhoc’ need/role perfectly and companies are prepared to pay for it.
Although probably rare, these sort of contracts do exist. I recently chose to retire from a large haulage company and, as an inducement to stay, was offered a zero hours contract as a relief driver on the same terms and conditions as I was already on. The same company also have a number of permanently employed relief drivers who cover for holidays etc on the various contracts the company has, and on the odd days when not required stay at home on full pay.
Winseer:
That’s what I’ve been doing during my time on agency - only to be backstabbed by full timers each time at the first opportunity, usually when I start “houring it up - large”.
The reasons I don’t like “Any five from seven” is because I can’t plan my private life and events when the buggers cancel my friday shift 48 hours before, and call me in thursday afternoon instead, when I was planning to be out on my otherwise pre-planned weekly rest with my family (for instance…)I don’t even like fixed five from seven, as that doesn’t leave much space for any extra hours, which is fine if it is a fixed job, but complete crap if it’s those five shifts on “ad hoc duties” like across Christmas…
Essentially, on agency I like Full Timer’s Leave Cover the best… Only to get moaned about it on their return because I either carved it up (in their mind) or hung it out (getting over-paid for it in their minds…) either way, not exactly making any mates there…
I’ve tried “Keeping my head down, and just getting on with it” - but the pressure from my peer group then transfers to those watching me like hawks all the time, (The “Complaints” and “Grass-ups”…) nitpicking on every stupid little thing they can find…
“Taking too long to use the loo” or “booking 1hr 10m of breaks instead of an hour” or even “getting 6hr5m WTD tacho infringements” on a regular basis, because the route rounds don’t have me getting back to the yard until the very last minute, which I’m simply not practiced enough in someone else’s regular duty pattern to make work the way they want it to… Then there’s getting grassed up for things like “missing the litter bin and not going back to pick up discarded item” or “cutting corner of walkway route” and other stupid stuff that I’ve never heard of anyone else being in the crap over every damned day, some stupid “Ooh we saw 'im break this rule or that rule” rubbish - again, entirely from my own peer group - full timers who seem to resent the way I do my job at their venue or in their personally owned trucks…Anyone would think that my wage make-up is coming out of their pockets - when it is none of their goddamned business how much my top and bottom line are!!
I expect to turn up
Put in the hours
Be left alone
Do Job
Get back, job-done,
chuck in keys
Go home
… And if no one so much as says “Hi” or gives me a cheery “f— off” each day - I’m satisfied with my lot.Perhaps a change of who my peers happen to be - would work better for me?
You are either wildly exaggerating or your definition of “keeping my head down” is different to everyone else, or a combination of both. If you are completing your tasks legally and in a timely manner then you are not providing them with any ammunition to shoot back at you with. I suspect you are engaging with them and arguing with them rather than simply ignoring them, handing in your completed paperwork and getting in your car. If you don’t wish to find yourself embroiled in company politics then stay out of the canteen, stay out of the smoking hut, stay out of the yard other than walking between your truck and the office, and don’t hang around in the office beyond collecting/depositing your truck keys and paperwork. If you fail to heed that advice then expect to find yourself at the centre of the company ‘gossips’ who will take great delight in pretending to be your friend so that you will divulge to them what runs you’ve got (to compare with their own), how much you’re on per hour, how many shifts you’re working per week, how much you’re taking home, whose truck you’ve been driving and all manner of other predictable stuff they can use against you.
And another thing.
Continually making out you’re better than them will inevitably cause friction.
Tell em you’re on a quid less than them.
I’m not the one picking fights here… I aim to be ignored at all times, but alas I manage to upset people by merely being present, it seems… As for this "going around bragging/loudmouthing etc. I dunno where that comes from… That’s someone else you’re describing - not me.
Winseer:
I’m not the one picking fights here… I aim to be ignored at all times, but alas I manage to upset people by merely being present, it seems… As for this "going around bragging/loudmouthing etc. I dunno where that comes from… That’s someone else you’re describing - not me.
To repeat what I said : if you’re not engaging with them then they have no ammo to fire back at you. If they’re getting upset, why do you care? I don’t think you’re telling the whole story. In my experience most drivers talk a good story but 99.9% of them can’t keep their gob shut for toffee, especially agency drivers who take great delight in bragging to anyone who’ll listen about how much they’re earning.
Winseer:
As for this "going around bragging/loudmouthing etc. I dunno where that comes from.
You do enough of it on here.
We have a group of agency regulars at our place.
Nobody tries to backstab them or make their lives difficult.
They’re just part of the fixtures and fittings…albeit,part time.
And it was the same at the last firm I worked.
R420:
Winseer:
I’m not the one picking fights here… I aim to be ignored at all times, but alas I manage to upset people by merely being present, it seems… As for this "going around bragging/loudmouthing etc. I dunno where that comes from… That’s someone else you’re describing - not me.To repeat what I said : if you’re not engaging with them then they have no ammo to fire back at you. If they’re getting upset, why do you care? I don’t think you’re telling the whole story. In my experience most drivers talk a good story but 99.9% of them can’t keep their gob shut for toffee, especially agency drivers who take great delight in bragging to anyone who’ll listen about how much they’re earning.
It seems to be my actions regarding “how I go about doing the job” that rubs people up the wrong way… I’m not going around looking to engage with anyone, actually trying to keep my head down most of the time.
Then a complaint is made by some full timer who’s upset that “I got back late in his wagon” or "I didn’t clean his rubbish out of the cab on takeover, leaving it at the end of my shift for him to do himself. (Oh Diddums… Whoops! I’ve rubbed an out-of-my league holy full timer up the wrong way! 
)
I don’t know if such things happen to anyone else, but I noticed whilst working @ RM last year that “There didn’t seem to be many foreigners about” on agency, whilst the shop floor was nearly ALL “foreign agency”… Odd that…
Meanwhile at Supermarkets, there are now more full timers than agency, especially at the establishments I’ve been working at of late, with mothballed side-businesses moving their full time drivers over to the supermarket arm - thus displacing all agencies at once…
At both Supermarkets and RM - I was one of the last agency bods to be “removed”, hence why I don’t take it too personally at the “Firm’s” level. I don’t feel like I’m being picked on by the firm - just annoyed at getting nitpicked on by other fellow drivers until the firm starts to take an interest, waits for me to faceplant right in front of them in some fashion, and I get the heave-ho.
That’s the extent of it. No “Moaning”, No “Fisticuffs” - just “Resisting the Bull”.