Evening all.
I’m after a bit of advice from anyone with a bit of experience with regard a situation I’ve found myself in.
Basically I’ve ended up working for another company as the company I worked for sold up with all its drivers moving to new company. We were given virtually no notice, it was literally a case of next week your working for them on exactly the same terms and the only difference will be that your pulling out of their yard which increased my commute from 5 miles to 22 miles (one way)
At my old firm we were paid by the hour, we had the opportunity of regular overtime paid at time and half of which we’d average about 15 hours a week. I did 1 or 2 nights out for them a week paid at £35 per night out so for me I was quite happy as I no longer had to tramp 4 nights a week, it was local and money was there.
Things aren’t quite the same at new employer. Their lads are on a basic salary which covers 11 hours a day including 1 hour break. The rest of the weekly wage is made up based on how many jobs you do per day, how much product you deliver and few other things like bringing product back to the depot for their tanks. All of which you have pretty much no control over and its passed on by planners. The salary is 28k from what ive been told with £2.80 being given for any job you do. My hourly rate is 12ph and 18ph overtime.
When we met the MD of our new employer we were told that it’d be beneficial to us to be on their terms and we’ll be put on their terms as soon as its possible to do so but that might be a few months away. All drivers were scratching our head as to how we’d be financially better off on those terms.
However, im no longer scratching my head because I’m doing a basic 8 hour day for my new employer which is earning me zero in overtime and I’m doing a 40 mile round trip to work each day for the privilege too. Their terms will see me better off based on that.
I’ve only done a week so I’m trying not to kneejerk but for me all the signs are that I’m going to struggle getting overtime here and asa result see my wages drop significantly, especially with the commute.
The system is also extremely unfair in many ways. A driver for example who has a set run in one of the major cities nearby has less mileage to do to get to his drops and also has more drops in close proximity so can do a lot more jobs than a driver who’s doing more rural work that could be 30 or 40 miles from the depot. There are also bonuses given for delivering a certain product but whether you get that product isn’t in your control. A driver I was with today for example has had no opportunity to earn more via this.
I’m feeling extremely deflated with this new set up and my thoughts are that I’m ■■■■■■■ in the wind here. Its a big outfit and on the face of it, in theory, it could be a step up but I’m just not getting the feeling it will be for me. Now, do I go with my gut and look to jump ship ASAP without wasting time or do I let it settle, accept im likely to earn less money for a period in the hope it gets better.
Obviously there’s covid to contend with too.
My feeling is that this just isn’t going to be for me, not just from a wages point of view but from a work place culture point of view either.
protection is your friend in that case.