So with drivers now being more scarce than nuclear physicists if the media/RHA are to be believed, have you tried to negotiate new terms of employment for yourself as in more ££ or better OT rate or anything at all? I hear rumors (bragging) at my place that some drivers have managed to crank up their hourly rates to match what the company pays for agency drivers, another said he’s on double pay for OT (regular OT rate for everyone is 1.25). I’m thinking of going in at end of the month and ask for an hourly rate increase and 50 hours guaranteed pay per week (currently only 32hrs weekly guaranteed) and see if we can meet in the middle else I’m hitting the agency route again. Our wages have fallen behind badly while agency drivers are on £3-4 more per hour than us
Yes. Managed to get a shift rate increase by £20 accepted without much resistance. Gaffer let slip he has work coming out of his ears and companies are so desperate to get their stuff moved he can pretty much name his price and gets the work, so was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of. 
Strike while the iron is hot. 
No.
The union do it,every April.
Yes.
im Looking to go back for 2/3 days a week , if it’s not £9.50 ph Ill carry on sitting at home .
At my mates place they’ve kicked off that much ( company drivers ) , they’ve not been offered a pay rise , they’ve been told they can change to agency if they want
He’s all for it £10.50 in week ( £12.50 sat ) against £17.50 ( £21 ) , he’s all for it but I said be careful the company arnt offering it out of goodwill , they will at some point benefit from it
He did listen to me when I said you’ll get no sick pay / holiday pay / you’ll have to pay cpc etc , but he said he can’t work another sat for £11 ph less than agency , it does make you wonder if companies are paying agency all these ££££ hoping they can get the company drivers to jump onto it , then reduce the rate & no hol / sick etc to pay in future , interesting times
dozy:
im Looking to go back for 2/3 days a week , if it’s not £9.50 ph Ill carry on sitting at home .
Eddie’s boys will love you MUG !!
Negotiating with agencies is more fun. Can be done from the comfort of armchair and play them off against each other… never was good at face to face negotiations always backed down.
If they think your bluffing , I just leave it till end of the week and tell them I’m not available for next week.
They presume Ive lined something else up.
Most the time they come back with a better offer.
F them. Theyve made money out of us for years time for them to repay favour whilst still can.
commonrail:
No.
The union do it,every April.
In the current climate if your union is going to wait until next April to renegotiate your wage you need to get someone else to do it because you’re going to be left well behind. The company my lad is at has just had their second pay rise since January, all prompted by nothing more than the boss hearing lots of drivers talking about going to other companies locally who were paying better and advertising, and I’d not be surprised if there’s not another one before next January.
Conor:
commonrail:
No.
The union do it,every April.In the current climate if your union is going to wait until next April to renegotiate your wage you need to get someone else to do it
Was exactly my thoughts but daring to criticise a union on here is more than your life is worth. 
Had a pay rise every year i’ve worked here discussed first by us members and then negotiated by our elected stewards, exactly as every other unionsed company i’ve worked for.
This year will be no different we’ll just ask for more than usual, if it isn’t a suitable rise then the company run the risk of losing some very good staff to other employers, bettering our terms will take some doing so the pay demand will be proportionate.
Other places they haven’t had pay rises worth mentioning for years and possibly decades, so headline grabbing rises will be on the cards at some outfits because they’ve got 10 to 20 years catching up to do.
Juddian:
Had a pay rise every year i’ve worked here discussed first by us members and then negotiated by our elected stewards, exactly as every other unionsed company i’ve worked for.This year will be no different we’ll just ask for more than usual, if it isn’t a suitable rise then the company run the risk of losing some very good staff to other employers, bettering our terms will take some doing so the pay demand will be proportionate.
Other places they haven’t had pay rises worth mentioning for years and possibly decades, so headline grabbing rises will be on the cards at some outfits because they’ve got 10 to 20 years catching up to do.
And you try telling or convincing other drivers to join the union… It beggers belief. If there was any better time to Unite, we have never had it so good as right now.
Its that £14 a month mate, seriously one bod in particular can’t afford that out of the extra £50 a day he’s on more than where he came from.
Still why does he need to, us members do our bit and our stewards negotiate our conditions and matey boy gets the same rises and milks every £ he can without having to either cough up subs or bother with a meeting/voting…if there were more like him there’d be no union and we’d be joining the rest in the race to the bottom 
Juddian:
Its that £14 a month mate, seriously one bod in particular can’t afford that out of the extra £50 a day he’s on more than where he came from.Still why does he need to, us members do our bit and our stewards negotiate our conditions and matey boy gets the same rises and milks every £ he can without having to either cough up subs or bother with a meeting/voting…if there were more like him there’d be no union and we’d be joining the rest in the race to the bottom
We too have a fella like that. Just cannot get his head around to paying just £13 a month, even after I explained that all he has to do is skank 2 x half hours per month at the tip and the company in effect pays his union sub!!!
Drivers are hard work sometimes.
Conor:
commonrail:
No.
The union do it,every April.In the current climate if your union is going to wait until next April to renegotiate your wage you need to get someone else to do it because you’re going to be left well behind. The company my lad is at has just had their second pay rise since January, all prompted by nothing more than the boss hearing lots of drivers talking about going to other companies locally who were paying better and advertising, and I’d not be surprised if there’s not another one before next January.
Difference being that Holts probably won’t have had a pay rise every year for x number of years and would most likely allow rates to scrape along the bottom until the owner has to act because he’s losing or at risk of losing drivers… that approach is not exclusive to Holt’s by the way and thats most likely why there’s lots of double digit percentage pay rises suddenly flying around.
I know myself that all Kinaxia depots pay the absolute bare minimum they can get away with until the very last moment. We’re already back to being the lowest paid in the area six weeks after our double digit pay rise 
Juddian:
Its that £14 a month mate, seriously one bod in particular can’t afford that out of the extra £50 a day he’s on more than where he came from.Still why does he need to, us members do our bit and our stewards negotiate our conditions and matey boy gets the same rises and milks every £ he can without having to either cough up subs or bother with a meeting/voting…if there were more like him there’d be no union and we’d be joining the rest in the race to the bottom
Exactly mate, it seriously annoys me so much. If everyone became union members we would not have been in the position we have been in for the past decades. I have always and always will be a member, the non union members as you state then reap the benefits that we get negotiated through the union. It is a farce but the unions should state that these T&Cs are exclusive to the members and let the non union members negotiate their own deals or allow themselves to carry on with minimum wages.
Juddian:
they’ve got 10 to 20 years catching up to do.
This^^
Still not seen anything to tempt me into leaving.
Would consider a cushty 4 on 4 off though.
We’ve just a 20% rise and other benefits without asking
Juddian:
Its that £14 a month mate, seriously one bod in particular can’t afford that out of the extra £50 a day he’s on more than where he came from.Still why does he need to, us members do our bit and our stewards negotiate our conditions and matey boy gets the same rises and milks every £ he can without having to either cough up subs or bother with a meeting/voting…if there were more like him there’d be no union and we’d be joining the rest in the race to the bottom
It’s not just in transport. These union parasites are everywhere. When I worked for the post office, there was one lad that refused to be part of the union. (in those days it was near 99% unionised) He openly said that he didn’t see the benefits of paying his subs as he’d get the same as whatever we agreed. He even lorded he could scab during strikes without repercussions. Being asian basically made him bulletproof.
Tried but no chance. They’ve been paying crap money for so long they think 11.50 an hour is an absolute fortune.