Has anyone seen todays Daily Express?. The artical about firms touting in eastern block countries for drivers and bringing them over here to work. For low wages of course. Anyone want to express any views !!.
did anyone read my thread on this about a month ago am I still a synic??
By no means intent on being racist and not representing Trucknetuk just my own opinion ( not that i would be asked to represent them).
But arent there enough of these people over here already?.
Thats as safe as i can word it before it gets booted.
Problem is we are a part of Europe and because of that we have to accept the free movement within Europe, including People and Goods like petrol,■■■■ and booze.
I dont for 1 minute agree with it and most of the people in Europe dont either 
But as far as Transport companies touting these people! there is away to stop it ! Refuse to drive for them If we all refuse to drive for them (that means sticking together) They will get the message soon enough!
jammymutt:
But arent there enough of these people over here already?.Thats as safe as i can word it before it gets booted.
Any proper debate on the use of immigrants and/or Eastern Europeans as cheap labour is not likely to get booted… as long as the debate is about the issues and not simply based on a drivers skin colour or place of birth.
Discuss the issue using reasoned researched debate= No Problem
Make sweeping dogma/innuendo based statements=Booted
There are justified concerns amongst drivers on this issue civilised sensible discussion will, as always on this site, be left alone!!!
My personal view
If a driver in a Eastern European Country can legally work for a UK based company at 50% less wages than we can, but at 200% more than he can earn locally … would you blame him for taking up the opportunity??, To earn more money to provde for their partner and children a better higher standard of living?
Imagine if the wages in Holland were 200% higher than in the UK… how many of us would be making tracks for the Hull ferry…(I am ■■■■ sure I would be)
Or do we blame the companies looking to employ these people??
In a UK industry with the highest costs in Europe, companies especially International hauliers just cannot compete, In order to survive they have to cut costs to keep their rates down, legally employing drivers from abroad is one of the easiest ways to ensure they stay in business… Fair on us the drivers…NO… but a fact of business life, if you can get it cheaper to keep your overheads down, You do it!!!
What we need is a Europe wide standarisation on taxation and wages for the Transport industry… however I think we will all be seeing snowflakes in Hades before Brussels ever agrees to that
TruckNet UK:
What we need is a Europe wide standarisation on taxation and wages for the Transport industry… however I think we will all be seeing snowflakes in Hades before Brussels ever agrees to that
What we need is a UK govenment who takes the problems in the UK transport industry seriously!
And you would be seeing snowflakes in Hades if it ever happend! unless it was forced to it!! remember the Petrol strike?
What we need is a UK govenment who takes the problems in the UK transport industry seriously!
I think you added a couple of words in error… your post should actually read
What we need is a UK govenment who takes the problems in the UK seriously!
:mrgreen:
TruckNet UK:
What we need is a UK govenment who takes the problems in the UK transport industry seriously!
I think you added a couple of words in error… your post should actually read
What we need is a UK govenment who takes the problems in the UK seriously!
:mrgreen:
I wasn’t thinking! 
The artical, if i remember rightly, only showed a passing concern for wages. It concentrated more on the fact that east european drivers mostly don’t speak english ,therefore can’t read road signs and that east european countries hav e appalling road accident figures due to low standards of driving.
no critic if we all listened to you then the average driver would be more poorer than he/she is already.if we all refused to stop working for these companies then they would get more of these drivers over here and pay them the same as they pay you or less and this would please your boss.and as for you’s that shout for march 2005 ( wtd ) and the large pay rises that you think will follow then sorry to disappoint you’s but wake up and smell the coffee. if you only work the 8 hours and your boss needs the work covered then what do you think he’s going to do 
yes that’s right give a call to one of these europeon drivers where he will get the job covered at under half the cost. while your sat in the house with just 8 hours under the belt some europeon driver is taking money from you which of course is a fortune to these guys and there family and hes laughing at you. who’s the silly one
tortoise:
Has anyone seen todays Daily Express?
There is nothing that the Daily Express, Daily Mail or the Sun likes more than a good scare story about foreigners coming here and taking our jobs and abusing our benefits system. In this part of Norfolk we have loads of Portuguese workers, about 15,000 I believe, most of them work in the food packing industry, however there are still pages of jobs in the local newspaper each week. The agency I work for employ loads of Portuguese, but I have never met a Portuguese truck driver working for them. I did know of one working for a British Haulier but he run between the UK and Portugal where he was based and earned a lot less than the equivalent UK drivers. I think this is much more likely scenario than loads of East Europeans coming over driving for Tesco’s etc.
To answer Jammymutt’s comment:
But aren’t there enough of these people over here already?
They are doing work that nobody else will do.
I have seen this first hand when I go to farms picking up potato’s almost all the grading is done by East Europeans, 30 years ago the local women, including my mother, did this work but rural communities have changed, as have opportunities for women. Most of the women who would have done this work in the past no longer live in the villages because of the price of housing or can get better pay and better conditions working in Supermarkets.
I do have concerns about EU enlargement, but I think we need a more balanced view of the problem than is given to us by the press.
kitkat:
no critic if we all listened to you then the average driver would be more poorer than he/she is already.if we all refused to stop working for these companies then they would get more of these drivers over here and pay them the same as they pay you or less and this would please your boss.and as for you’s that shout for march 2005 ( wtd ) and the large pay rises that you think will follow then sorry to disappoint you’s but wake up and smell the coffee. if you only work the 8 hours and your boss needs the work covered then what do you think he’s going to do
OK lets just think about this for a second!!
Right
No Company will employ persons who have never drove over here without the help of Drivers who know the roads & laws Guess what■■? thats right thats YOU and ME!!!
Do you read the news??
Quite a few Transport companies have agreed ground breaking Wage deals for their drivers BECAUSE of the incomming WTD!
48 Hours a week that works out as
4 days at 10 HOURS= 40
1 day at 8 HOURS= 8
TOTAL 48 HOURS
Stop and think
Why would anyone move to the most expensive Country to live in , in Europe to earn less that the people who allready do the job and are struggling to pay their way now■■?
A jaunt in another country may at 1st feel like a great thing to do, and if he/she does laugh I DONT BELIEVE HE/SHE WILL BE LAUGHING FOR VERY LONG!
Then we may see who the silly one is!
Critic: Sorry but you’re completely wrong if you think drivers from poorer countries won’t try their luck in England. I live in Brasil, where I know a few truckers, (and the minimum wage is 60 quid a month) ALL the drivers I know here would like nothing more than to have a go in England. They would be very happy earning 100 quid a week. They already work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, most of them driving ancient trucks on bad roads. They can fix gearboxes on the side of the road, change tyres before you’ve made a cup of tea, rope, sheet, fix dodgy fridge motors, you name it They are an employer’s dream. The idea of earning 450 quid a week driving a new Scania on good roads…they’d be in paradise. And EXACTLY the same goes for our Eastern European colleagues. A 6 months work and they’ve got enough to go home and buy a farm.
I didn’t think Brasil was joining the EU 
and if an East European Driver can earn enough in 6 months to buy his house and live well. Most may just do that and then go back to drive locally and be near family.
6 months work for 6 months money at low pay less living expenses(the Most expensive in the EU) wont add up to much. remember £3.00 for a sarnie and a £1 for a coffee is the same no matter what your nationality is!!
Also if this was gonna happen why are the big movers in the Transport industry making ground breaking wage deals??
Most Drivers have in the last few years had inflation busting wage deals(well they have in the north east)
I still see no reason why this wont continue!
The driver shortage is mostly a southern problem and I dont see that many northern drivers bothering to move 100 or so miles to get a well paid job.
I have no doubt some will come here but I personaly dont think many will stay when they see the street arent paved with gold!
It’s my honest opinion that when barriers are lifted in May, Drivers will make their way to the UK to better their lives from the poor poverty stricken regions they currently live in.
Fair do’s they will not help the situation that the drivers in the UK are trying to abolish, i.e low wages long hours etc etc etc, but please remember one thing, these people are currently worse off than the british driver, their only aim will be the same as what we personally would do, that is to provide for their families, even if it means a new beginning in another country.
Having said all this, any employer who is prepared to take advantage of these people, will deserve everything they get if they try to pay low wages. These immigrants are only use to driving on the Right, learning to cope with the british roads system will be one hell of a job to start with, and needless to say, if they are being treat like low life with low wages, they wont give a ■■■■ about the respect for the vehicle they drive, this will inevitably lead to lack of care via checking oil levels, water levels, tyres etc etc etc simply because, they will be well aware that if they get sacked from one job, there will still be plenty more low paid jobs that the british driver would not take.
Remember one thing here, a low wage to us, is a ■■■■ fortune to them, and I personally would hate to see a Professional driver in the UK ignore, shun, blank or however you want to put it, these people for simply trying to improve their standards of living.
At the end of the day, these foreign countries have totally different road systems to us, and cheap shkate employers will feel the pinch when their insurance policies come up for renewal,
Davey Driver:
Remember one thing here, a low wage to us, is a ■■■■ fortune to them, and I personally would hate to see a Professional driver in the UK ignore, shun, blank or however you want to put it, these people for simply trying to improve their standards of living.quote]
I agree with you 100% davey as far as I am concerned a driver is a driver and I will always help a fellow driver if i can!
Don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but…
WTD
Drivers hours and tacho regs
Hauliers wanting to make the most out of their vehicles
therefore
rent
council tax
food
clothes
transportation - inc road tax, UK fuel costs
beer & ents at UK prices
and
tax
these apply to anyone working in this country so I think it may take more than six months to raise the money to buy a farm
of course, unless their driving standards are up to scratch they may ‘buy the farm’ a lot sooner - only this time they might take a few unsuspecting bystanders with them
not a comforting thought
Jules
Boots O’Lead:
so I think it may take more than six months to raise the money to buy a farmJules
ROFLMAO
I have always wanted a farm!