55 hrs basic ?.

It makes me laugh that companies are moaning about the lack of drivers. Yet they still think the way to recruit more is to treat them like ■■■■.

Just come across one that has awards for “Investors in People” and is always bragging about it’s blue chip status yet expects drivers to sign a contract that stipulates a 55 hour working week. Will these people ever learn ?.

The 55 hours is to hide the fact that the headline £500 wage would have been good for 35-40 hours, but is not once you factor in not only 55 hours basic - but NO overtime, since you’re pretty much maxed out already. They don’t want people hanging it out for docket essentially.

“Investors in People” means the driver is the commodity to be brought and sold like a slave at auction.

True investors in people would offer a package that is such a knockout - that the very creme de la creme chuck in other jobs to come and work there… A strict assessment, test, and examination of other skills would whittle the applicants down to the desired level. “Clean Licence” would go without saying of course. :grimacing:

I suggest the firm truly offering themselves up as proper “investors in people” therefore is as hard to find as “Unicorn’s crap” or a “35 hour week with paid breaks” in transport all over.
Even the typical RM job is 43.75 hours basic once you factor the 90 minute unpaid breaks in… I think Agency work benefits more from this system than full timers do to be honest…

Remember those adverts on the backs of London Buses?

Earn £500 a week with us

With overtime.

55 hours a week guaranteed sounds good if you can get away with doing less and the rate is decent.
Would I be right in guessing this is for a job where the average driver does 70 -80 hours per week (a lot of it on break to help with the wtd), i.e. tramping…

Would this blue chip companys also have a lot of blue trucks…

You cannot legally work more than 48 hrs a week over a 17 or 26 week reference period, £500 into 55 = £9.09 an hour not great but not bad.

Now consider if there is no overtime payment no night or weekend premium no holiday or sick pay, or company pension, then it’s no wonder the industry is like it is, I have no idea what the total terms and conditions are but a contracted 55 hrs it’s not going to be great.

I expect further comment from the heroes of transport who live on POA tip on break and spend 2 hours a day off card washing an over illuminated curry house on wheels, that you can in fact spend an unbelievable 80 hrs a week in work, and take home a staggering four hundred and fifty pounds.

I’ve banged on about this in the past.

Hands up who thinks we should be on a 35 hour basic week with hours 35-48 paid as maxed out overtime?

When you DO get thus - the hourly rate is very handsome indeed, including on any agency work you get there.

I often heard rumours that this kind of rate was available at places like UPS & DHL - but on closer examination, everyone tells me you have to be on some kind of Ltd contract for such rates, and the PAYE rates are sub-£10ph rubbish.

If you get one of those 55 hour weeks on the other hand - what the employer is trying to achieve sometimes - is merely the impossibility of anyone booking overtime.
When doing the job - you’ll easily be done by the 48 hour per week mark, and of course one keeps stumn about it, as you’re “making time”. :bulb:

Ex Haulier:
It makes me laugh that companies are moaning about the lack of drivers. Yet they still think the way to recruit more is to treat them like [zb].

Just come across one that has awards for “Investors in People” and is always bragging about it’s blue chip status yet expects drivers to sign a contract that stipulates a 55 hour working week. Will these people ever learn ?.

Yes, but be fair: there are lots of drivers out there who do not consider a job worth having unless they are “allowed to max out,” as seen in some other threads on here. Job such as these with minimum/guaranteed 55-hour weeks will be right up their street while other drivers would have no interest in them.

As for IIP, it is (as with many similar things) nothing more than corporate back-slapping.

Investors in People is a purely office based paperwork exercise & as such has nothing to do with how the workforce are treated. When I worked in drainage we had it on the sides of our vehicles, with a bit of creative knife & marker pen work it was changed to Investors in ■■■, which is a bit nearer the mark.

Entirely agree with Winseer on this, maxing hours & living in a tin can isn’t a life especially for anything under £10 an hour, over £15/hr I might consider it before I gave myself a slap.

Had a sort of taster of this last week having to split my daily rest to keep things right and spend 6hrs trying to catch up on sleep between runs, I’M OUT.

Just say NO to split daily rests and POA where you can’t get a kip or don’t get paid.

To be honest having come back into the job after a long break (passed Class 3 in 1983 and Class 1 in 1984). A lot of the “drivers” I come into contact with aren’t worth a fiver an hour. This morning at Markham services at 4am a hero with a log wagon came in so fast and skidded to a halt (in ice conditions) I thought he was going to wipe me and my truck out. Got out the cab strutted across the forecourt got a Costa Coffee grunted and shot out again.

midlifetrucker:
To be honest having come back into the job after a long break (passed Class 3 in 1983 and Class 1 in 1984). A lot of the “drivers” I come into contact with aren’t worth a fiver an hour. This morning at Markham services at 4am a hero with a log wagon came in so fast and skidded to a halt (in ice conditions) I thought he was going to wipe me and my truck out. Got out the cab strutted across the forecourt got a Costa Coffee grunted and shot out again.

Always wondered how poorly paid drivers can afford Costa Coffee or any other premium brand on the very poor earnings they receive?!

I save McD tokens from family - same crap but free!:wink:

I’ve come to the conclusion that most drivers are there own worst enemy. They seem to think the way to improve there standard of living is to do more for less, rather than less for more. If there bosses followed the same logic they would very quickly go out of business. My advice, just say NO.

Do you think that “fear of irregular, lower hours on agency” is getting drivers to sign up to “loads of extra unpaid hours” - just as to not be left on the sidelines? :question:

Winseer:
Just say NO to split daily rests and POA where you can’t get a kip or don’t get paid.

Don’t worry, I’ll be scrutinising fridays payslip carefully and if I don’t get paid from clocking in to clocking out there’ll be a riot and one less driver. Only 2 shifts into this week and my humour is failing already. This week is easy enough, up to Harper Collins then down to Truckhaven for a trailer swap, 10hr shift, well it would be if the office gave us the right info :unamused:

Thinking of having a break next week, joys of being agency scum. To think I was looking at the runs needing drivers and contemplating signing the dotted… :laughing:

10x5 or 4x12 is the working week I’d like to do. It’s my comfort zone. I’m back to full time as soon as I can get those hours with the start/finish range I want as well.

If you work over 8 hours a day you should be on a higher hourly rate.
Too many firms are paying same rate straight through and drivers seem quite happy to work 60-70 hours on that flat rate and then think they take home a good wage.

I must be one of the guilty ones as I’m on a 55 hour contract but am usually at work 70 to 80 hours a week.

Not that I wouldn’t object to more money but for me the paid parking, decent night out rate, dinner allowance, pension, free shares savings scheme, good kit, good conditions, freedom to get the job done etc pretty much make it worth it.

Sure £600 - 700 per week may not be a true reflection of my value and more is needed but for now the big picture works for me.

After all I became a driver because I like it, well aware of the long hours and low pay that was put in motion by my predeccesors.

Some of you lot with ideas above your station are unemployable… :wink:

Ex Haulier:
It makes me laugh that companies are moaning about the lack of drivers. Yet they still think the way to recruit more is to treat them like [zb].

Just come across one that has awards for “Investors in People” and is always bragging about it’s blue chip status yet expects drivers to sign a contract that stipulates a 55 hour working week. Will these people ever learn ?.

yellow from fakenham? :grimacing:

Who actually gets paid for the 80 hour weeks at overtime rates beyond 40 hours say, - apart from someone covering it on agency?

At even £10ph for the first 40 hours - you could be looking at £1000 a week gross for a mere benchmark time and a half rate for the said overtime…

Unless one is one of those mugs who’ll work the stupid hours for no extra pay as has been suggested. :unamused:

A “right through” rate can be made to work if the basic rate is decent enough.
Personally, I don’t like working 15 hour shifts unless it’s sunday for example. I’d still consider it mid-week if the job contained a decent wedge of paid POA - long enough to get a proper break in, rather than being on real standby, liable to be moved on at any moment…

I’ve not worked at places like Tesco or F&W for a year now, seeing as they both have this annoying habit of “taking the ■■■■ out of the agency’s right-through rate policy” by getting you to start at around 17:30, PLAN you for 15 hours, and then attempt to palm the agency off with “It’s only nights here if you start 18:00hrs or later…”
So, now I just don’t bother.

FFS If you’ve literally worked right through the night - how can ANYONE have the gall to suggest that 17:30-08:30 is anything but NIGHT rate all the way through?

Dipper_Dave:
I must be one of the guilty ones as I’m on a 55 hour contract but am usually at work 70 to 80 hours a week.

Not that I wouldn’t object to more money but for me the paid parking, decent night out rate, dinner allowance, pension, free shares savings scheme, good kit, good conditions, freedom to get the job done etc pretty much make it worth it.

Sure £600 - 700 per week may not be a true reflection of my value and more is needed but for now the big picture works for me.

After all I became a driver because I like it, well aware of the long hours and low pay that was put in motion by my predeccesors.

Some of you lot with ideas above your station are unemployable… :wink:

If you like long hours and low pay, then i’m sorry but your a muppet.