i’ve been working for an agency pure staff from bilston.they stuck me on N R EVANS job fetching home bargains trailers on nights from liverpool to aldridge 10 pm to 10 am.they continually phoned me during the daytime for stupid things so at the finish i stopped answering the ■■■■ thing.so they threw their dummy out the pram last night saying they couldnt work like that and took me off the job and left me without work…i couldnt believe it,talk about being inconsiderate the ■■■■■■ steam was coming outta my ears yesterday,which also contained recieving a parking ticket on my van for being overheight… 
i emailed jobs.gov last week over an agency advertising ghost jobs and they said agencies have to abide by the rules of there actually being a job there, anyway they sai it would be looked into even though im with the said agency and never get work hmmmm
iceman1:
i emailed jobs.gov last week over an agency advertising ghost jobs and they said agencies have to abide by the rules of there actually being a job there, anyway they sai it would be looked into even though im with the said agency and never get work hmmmm
i had that numerous times,what i say now on the phone is ,is that specific job available if not i put the phone down.iceman 1,you know aswell as me how long it takes to go to these agencies and register then to be told the job you have gone for has gone,or like you say was it ever really there to begin with
wideboybob:
it just makes me mad that the job i love is going down the pan.
Me too, but twas ever thus - operators cut rates to score a contract, clients get used to cheaper rates and so push hauliers to cut quotes. Margins get tighter so there are two options for haulage - either (1) go bulk (lots of wagons and drivers) and hope that either the margins work out or you can offset the loss on one contract with the fat off another; or (2) go in low and hope you can screw someone else into the floor. In the end all this cost pressure has to go somewhere, and in my experience it’s nearly always the driver whether they’re an employee or a subbie.
When you expand that model to a continental or global scale, you eventually end up at the point where local labour is (allegedly) “too expensive” (and OMG if we dont cut costs the industry will go out of business and OMG won’t somebody think of the children). In real terms local labour is never any such thing (unless you’re referring to a limited niche market, and in this case we are not), it just looks that way to the accountants and shiny bums in their air-conditioned 19th floor offices of the multinational corporation they work for, with coffee and foot massages on tap. Nevertheless they’re the people with the clout, so if British (or US or Australian or German) drivers are “too expensive” then they will employ eastern Europeans (UK) or Mexicans (US) or Chinese (on 457 visas in Oz) at lower rates (and there is a panoply of rules as to which minimum rates foreign workers get paid for doing the same job a local can do, but for much less moolah). And if the only way a small local operator can stay in business is to cut rates to the bone, and as an ex-small business owner myself I understand why they would do that, then it’s only logical that there will be driving jobs advertised at subsistence rates, especially where the rules and regs either specifically permit it (EU citizenship) or are so intangibly worded that any corporate lawyer can easily run a case to show their client has the right.
Gone are the days when we - as drivers - stood up for each other. These days it really really is every man for himself, and as much as I am part of it I hate it.
curnock:
iceman1:
i emailed jobs.gov last week over an agency advertising ghost jobs and they said agencies have to abide by the rules of there actually being a job there, anyway they sai it would be looked into even though im with the said agency and never get work hmmmmi had that numerous times,what i say now on the phone is ,is that specific job available if not i put the phone down.iceman 1,you know aswell as me how long it takes to go to these agencies and register then to be told the job you have gone for has gone,or like you say was it ever really there to begin with
That is exactly what happened to me recently. I lodged all my details, experience &c with an agency that claimed it dedicated itself to drivers and driving jobs. To cut a long story short, I discovered that many of the jobs I was applying for through them DIDN’T ACTUALLY EXIST - they were simply guaging interest even though they hadn’t actually scored the contract to fill the (potential, not acutally existing) positions. And this is in Oz, so I daresay the same applies in the US, Canada and much of the EU.
Combine that level of contempt for people’s real actual lived work experience with pi$$-poor wages (given the stress and crap we go through) and is it any wonder many of us long for the days of a strong, supportive union. [zb] 'em, I’ve joined the TWU (Transport Workers Union) here (Oz) for good or ill.
Wheel Nut:
Jazzandy:
I’m beginning to wonder if unions were not such a bad thing after all!Keep wondering
Wheel Nut, you are without doubt a winner…your posts are superb, and thought provoking!
Thank you, Cheerio for now.
Well posted, Wheel Nut. That says everything about the support that the good old British lorry driver can expect from his trade union.
Thank God I’ve retired.
the job in question !!,whats the old saying,good wagons cheap wages
i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww73 … C_0251.jpg
Wheel Nut:
Jazzandy:
I’m beginning to wonder if unions were not such a bad thing after all!Keep wondering
There’s no such union now the tgwu doesn’t exist.
Steve.
£400-00 a week is £10-00 an hour which is nearly £4-00 an hour above minimum wage which seems o.k. to me in these troubled times,let us not forget ,a driver does not own the vehicle but is hired to drive it in a safe and proficient way.there are many unemployed drivers out there who would jump at this job.i bet i have started something here but it is what all ex employers on this site are really thinking.bring on the arguments,(friendly and sensible) please. 
curnock:
the job in question !!,whats the old saying,good wagons cheap wages
i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww73 … C_0251.jpg
All flash = no cash.
Hey,The days you stopped in the evening and tomorrow began at an other place have gone for always. There are cheap drivers enough for decades in the east of Europe. And the worst is that the goverments allow it. In one Europe everyone must can fight with the same weapons. And everyday it goes worse and worse.Here in Zeebruges and Ostend nearly no Belgian is still pulling trailers. Everything is done by the eastern Europians. If you employ a driver or an other workman in Belgium you have to pay the Belgian rates,but on an other flag they may do what they want here. And they and even the Belgian goverment are killing the Belgian hauliers off.
I have known a haulier here,who employed Bulgarians with Belgian numberplates but what happened on paper they go the wage here obliged. But after they came back of the bank they had to give back 50% of the money to the boss (of course under the table). And the Bulgarians were even happy with the rest of the wage because they had work and earned still lots more as at home.
So you will understand why we are so happy with the open borders to eastern Europe 
.
If we had the ECC with only Belgium,france Germany,Britain,the Nederlands,Danmark and Italy,we could fight with the same weapons.
We drove to Italy and the Italians came to here,but now the Easterns come and even do our work inside Belgium.
I don’t know how it is in Britain but here it becomes terrible awful,enormous and shockingly,and the worst is it will never change anymore only everyday new regulations for us AND ONLY FOR US.
Cheers Eric,
Bewick:
ramone:
On the other side of the coin ,theres a reason why they are advertising and still will be in weeks to come ,some local firms near me are always advertising for drivers there used to be a saying ,good jobs are never advertised.Theres very few jobs up here now mainly agency only ,the last company i worked for relocated and made all their drivers redundant only to then use agency only drivers thats the road they seem to be going down now ,they save on NI contributions,holiday pay and if they want shut of a driver its so much easierAm I glad to be out of it “ramone”
,I no longer recognise the industry I spent over 30 years in
!! Cheers Dennis.
I will second that mate 