I am wondering if there is any sort of support for the idea of a dedicated Commercal Driver’s Union/Truckers Union, dedicated purely to drivers of Trucks and other vehicles which have a statutory requirement for a specific licence and/or ongoing training such as the driver’s CPC arrangements? Alternatively, is there anyone out there trying to get such a Union off the ground?
I have now been driving 7.5t for 20+ years, class C for 2 years, and am about to take the C+E test. I have worked for both direct employers and for Agencies, am based in the Southeast and currently driving nights on Class C. It is a struggle to find a job paying more than £22k before tax, not because of a lack of jobs, but because the rates have been pretty static for years and in real terms have been eroded for years. It is not unusual to see HGV driving jobs advertised for little more than minimum wage rates.
The average annual salary for all workers in the UK in 2011 was approx £16.95 P/HR. The average for class C Drivers is currently between about £6.80/£10 P/HR and C+E between about £7/£15 P/HR. Although Both classes pay some premium for carrying hazardous materials, and so they should, both are generally below or only just achieving average earnings levels despite the fact that HGV driving is an essential skilled job with unsociable hours, little or no scope for overtime because of driving hours and WTD regulation, and a statutory requirement for ongoing CPC training which, whilst a good idea from a safety and skills standpoint, must often be completed at the expense of the driver. The tanker drivers currently in dispute were described last week as the highest paid drivers in the country with the best benefits available in the industry, and are allegedly earning “up to” £45k a year. This figure is bandied around as if it is a huge amount of money, which it isn’t when you consider the fact that they are in fact transporting a large bomb.
It seems to me about time some sort of minimum hourly rate was established for Truckers, adjustable according to experience and qualification, and at a level set to reflect all the issues above. At the end of the day, if no trucks ran the country would grind to a halt in hours, so it would be a very powerful lobby indeed. I may be missing something, and I am far from a militant by any standard, but it seems most drivers I talk to are fed up with feeling unappreciated and dramatically under rewarded and might support some move down the Union route if it were specifically for them and not part of, say, TGWU or UNITE or similar.
Hi,don,t think you will get a lot of support from most of the blokes on here from previous post,s it seem,s like there,s an I,m alright Jack attitude,shame really,good idea.
When i first started driving i was a member of URTU, as far as i’m aware they are still going, but i hear very little of them.
Since then everywhere i have worked that has been unionised has been TGWU, latterly UNITE, to be fair with odd exceptions where reps have been ‘pliable’ shall we say, the union or rather the elected reps have done reasonable jobs, and the unionised jobs have always been better than the non unionised.
A single drivers union would be excellent, unfortunately the politics of greed and envy forbid drivers sticking together for the general good, as witnessed by the tanker drivers threads here over the last few weeks…which must have made marvellous ■■■■ reading for those who own the country and their apparatchiks, talk about divide and rule, they don’t need to, alleged drivers do it all by their own selves.
A union is its members, the workers on the ground, it is nothing without them standing together as one.
As for overtime, this is where modern drivers go wrong, they shouldn’t be doing two weeks work in one to earn a reasonable wage, those days should be over.
Thanks for comments so far.
I’m not looking to start a Union myself as such - wouldn’t know where to begin - just wondered if anyone had been giving it any thought at all. Seems it might be a case of lots of moaning like a bee-atch but never doing anything about it. I agree there seems to be an “Im alright Jack” attitude around, but given there are NO safe jobs left anymore, wonder how all the Jack’s will feel when they are out n their a*ses and can’t find another decent paying job?!
Yes, tongue in cheek about overtime issues (of course), although unless employer wants drivers to do “other work”, fact is can’t drive more than the average 45 a week can we? A bloke who does factory work can do whatever hours he wants so earning £8 p/hr might be ok for him,but earning £360 a week before tax driving trucks is crap money or wouldn’t you agree?
As for “oh no not this again”, if it keeps coming up, maybe you should consider throwing your weight behind the idea rather than dismissing it so readily?
Well you have the URTU if you want a drivers union.
IMO the unions have done as much as big business or Mrs Thatcher or whoever to shaft the workers.
I am all for something like the PDA which can use economy of scale to offer drivers insurance for licence or legal advice. But why should I pay unite to fund labour or support public sector workers to strike.
In principal, a good idea the train drivers I believe have their own union.
As far as improving the lot of the average driver you have no chance, the only thing current drivers can hope for is the poor pay and the driver C.P.C will put new drivers off resulting in a lack of drivers and an increase in demand would lead to better pay. If such a union were to exist I would almost certainly join.
With some class 1 jobs paying less than £8 per hour and no overtime rate my own experience tells me we are at the bottom of the trough, how long it will last I wish I knew.
bobbya:
Hi,don,t think you will get a lot of support from most of the blokes on here from previous post,s it seem,s like there,s an I,m alright Jack attitude,shame really,good idea.
I don’t see it as an I’m alright Jack attitude,my hourly rate is only average, I think most on here have the sense to realise that with so many firms going to the wall, the money just isn’t about for many companies and it would create an in road for many more foreign firms with even cheaper labour .
from the way i read it that since the abolistion of the closed shop i think you stand no chance of a union starting just for drivers, companies are under no obligation to reconise a union,and as majority of drivers are employed by small operators and not by multi-nationals, there would be no desire to put their employer in a postion where a strike could end up with the business closing and them having no employment. i am sorry to say that wages are set to a level that the employer can afford o.k you might not think that is high enough and you might be possibly right.
but until there is a set level for rates within the haulage industry that no one is allowed to under cut, and that can return a good profit for the company and so leave more avalible for wages, you might as well weee in the wind, i am sorry to say this but it is the brutal truth with the rising fuel costs and the large companies working on a 1% profit margine being able to do work at alot lower rates than any small operator can even hope to get near
kr79:
Well you have the URTU if you want a drivers union.
IMO the unions have done as much as big business or Mrs Thatcher or whoever to shaft the workers.
I am all for something like the PDA which can use economy of scale to offer drivers insurance for licence or legal advice. But why should I pay unite to fund labour or support public sector workers to strike.
Firstly, there is no obligation for a trades union to fund any political party and there never has been. It was a matter of choice, and was a decision taken by various unions historically with the idea that the Labour party was the party of the workers. Clearly that is no longer the case even if they are a tiny bit less right wing than Cameron and his Cabinet of posh, rich, self serving mates. I for one would prefer a union which kept its assets for the support of its members in times of hardship. The labour party is now the tories with a dash of tonic anyway so cant see any point in paying them anything at all. Similarly, there is no obligation for a truckers union to support anybody, public sector or not, unless they were truckers (and members) too. The idea is to look after truckers, nobody else.
wildfire:
from the way i read it that since the abolistion of the closed shop i think you stand no chance of a union starting just for drivers, companies are under no obligation to reconise a union,and as majority of drivers are employed by small operators and not by multi-nationals, there would be no desire to put their employer in a postion where a strike could end up with the business closing and them having no employment. i am sorry to say that wages are set to a level that the employer can afford o.k you might not think that is high enough and you might be possibly right.
but until there is a set level for rates within the haulage industry that no one is allowed to under cut, and that can return a good profit for the company and so leave more avalible for wages, you might as well weee in the wind, i am sorry to say this but it is the brutal truth with the rising fuel costs and the large companies working on a 1% profit margine being able to do work at alot lower rates than any small operator can even hope to get near
Second paragraph hits the nail on the head for me. Whole point would be to establish set rates which is where I started from on this thread. I dont see foreign operators being able to plug the gap quickly enough in the event of walkout by every trucker in the uk and road blockades to boot. With that kind of power could insist on minimum rates for anyone who worked in the uk, regardless of where their employer was based. Its just another sort of minimum wage innit?
Also, sorry coffeeholic and others have minds too lazy to think about this issue - if you think its all ■■■■■■■■ as you put it, why are you even bothering to reply? Got anything constructive to say or are you just a snide jeering monkey?
wildfire:
from the way i read it that since the abolistion of the closed shop i think you stand no chance of a union starting just for drivers, companies are under no obligation to reconise a union,and as majority of drivers are employed by small operators and not by multi-nationals, there would be no desire to put their employer in a postion where a strike could end up with the business closing and them having no employment. i am sorry to say that wages are set to a level that the employer can afford o.k you might not think that is high enough and you might be possibly right.
but until there is a set level for rates within the haulage industry that no one is allowed to under cut, and that can return a good profit for the company and so leave more avalible for wages, you might as well weee in the wind, i am sorry to say this but it is the brutal truth with the rising fuel costs and the large companies working on a 1% profit margine being able to do work at alot lower rates than any small operator can even hope to get near
Second paragraph hits the nail on the head for me. Whole point would be to establish set rates which is where I started from on this thread. I dont see foreign operators being able to plug the gap quickly enough in the event of walkout by every trucker in the uk and road blockades to boot. With that kind of power could insist on minimum rates for anyone who worked in the uk, regardless of where their employer was based. Its just another sort of minimum wage innit?
Also, sorry coffeeholic and others have minds too lazy to think about this issue - if you think its all ■■■■■■■■ as you put it, why are you even bothering to reply? Got anything constructive to say or are you just a snide jeering monkey?
Really ■■ After setting a minimum wage which has improved things for a minority and given employers a low target wage to set for the majority ■■
If you set a minimum rate then that becomes THE rate [period] and we will all be expected to work to it. No 2 companies have the same operating costs in terms of buying power and bulk fuel prices, making this grossly unfair across the board. Not to mention how the rate would be set ? Does it cost the same to run a ragsider as say a low loader or a tanker ■■
All setting a rate would do is make the situation worse and the big players richer
Didn’t really think your eutopian haulage plan through now did you ■■
wildfire:
from the way i read it that since the abolistion of the closed shop i think you stand no chance of a union starting just for drivers, companies are under no obligation to reconise a union,and as majority of drivers are employed by small operators and not by multi-nationals, there would be no desire to put their employer in a postion where a strike could end up with the business closing and them having no employment. i am sorry to say that wages are set to a level that the employer can afford o.k you might not think that is high enough and you might be possibly right.
but until there is a set level for rates within the haulage industry that no one is allowed to under cut, and that can return a good profit for the company and so leave more avalible for wages, you might as well weee in the wind, i am sorry to say this but it is the brutal truth with the rising fuel costs and the large companies working on a 1% profit margine being able to do work at alot lower rates than any small operator can even hope to get near
Second paragraph hits the nail on the head for me. Whole point would be to establish set rates which is where I started from on this thread. I dont see foreign operators being able to plug the gap quickly enough in the event of walkout by every trucker in the uk and road blockades to boot. With that kind of power could insist on minimum rates for anyone who worked in the uk, regardless of where their employer was based. Its just another sort of minimum wage innit?
Also, sorry coffeeholic and others have minds too lazy to think about this issue - if you think its all ■■■■■■■■ as you put it, why are you even bothering to reply? Got anything constructive to say or are you just a snide jeering monkey?
the problem is with the likes FTA and the RHA they have no back bone, and as for bringing drivers out on strike all you do is end up with the large companies as small operators cannot let their wagons sit doing nothing and not earning the banks would soon foreclose and end up just going to the wall, and i for one do not want to work for a large operator thank you very much where you are just a number
