edd1974:
I watched the report about shortage of bin men
I genuinely find this hard to believe.
And feel it’s all propaganda with viola/and the council.
As a way for the council to get more in tax/pay to have your bins emptied.
There’s not a genuine shortage just propaganda to get more money from people.
I am a bin man mate job used to be lovely, in at 6.30 done by 2 most days. Right now it’s absolutly terrible so much work put on existing rounds, i was in at 6.30 then done at 17.15 that day we had 1600 bins and 2 loads to the tip, the tip is an hour each time. Im now looking hard to get out of the job i don’t want long days for rotten pay, i want a maximum 40 hours per week and a bit of respect. Like most drivers the problem is, these private firms want every last penny it should never be a profit based job the cost should be the cost, needs to be council run again.
beanie:
Just been watching both BBC and ITV breakfast channels.
ITV reporter was outside a Wetherspoons pub in Eastbourne reporting on how Wetherspoons are having difficulty in getting supplies of beer due to a shortage of drivers. Ironically it was all the beers that are brewed in Burton on Trent (Carling, Coors, Bud Light), not a mention of John Smiths from Tadcaster.
BBC reporter was in Stafford at Veolia recycling site, about bins not being emptied due to a shortage of drivers and how we take every day tasks for granted with the aid of drivers. The head of HR for Veolia was interviewed and she did mention the IR35 situation, how 2,000 drivers leave the industry every week and only 1,000 join but used the interview as a recruitment campaign!
Both reports highlighted the RHA pushing for a change in immigration rules. Not once in either report, was the salary/wages issue brought up, I wonder why that is?
That Wetherspoons must have been a prerecorded press release as the original one on the news page(maybe someone has a link or saw it too) also blamed a shortage of Heineken products on a strike by GXO dray drivers which Unite quickly pointed out never even took place,I don’t know if they quickly withdrew it after that
BBC has just had a Torbay councillor whingeing about losing his HGV binmen to companies who pay better and of course wanting cheap labour to ‘resolve’ the problem.
He joins the list of of big money wailing about the effect of supply and demand, but I’m sure that none of these organisations or companies want to talk about how supply and demand operates in their favour. The oil companies for instance never put up the price of road fuel during the summer do they? They really can’t grasp that there are large numbers of low paid workers on whom the country depends to function and it is they who deserve to prosper, rather than those who have secured themselves a career in highly paid non- jobs. Do we really need to pay enormous salaries to those who express their opinion on TV about how well 22 men have been kicking a pig’s bladder around a field during the past afternoon?
ITV has been running a short series called Undercover Big Boss depicting the Managing Director of companies working at the sharp end for a few days and discovering how out of touch they have become. ALL so far have found that they have completely undervalued the actual people upon whom the very survival of their company depends. One of the most shocking was Pickfords Removals.
I cannot believe how some drivers get so hung up about what the public will think of us. Who actually cares? The general public have never given a second thought about us from day 1. They will know that there is a driver shortage and that is it. Surely you are not expecting that the public will be throwing rotten cabbages at our trucks or us on the streets. Nobody is refusing to work unless their wages are in excess of 50k PA. Stop putting such a silly twist on what the public or the media will be portraying.
I don’t believe there is a shortage of HGV drivers (yet). According to Gov figures there are tens of thousands of HGV licence holders who do not currently drive for a living.
10 or 12 years ago I was working for a local council (ad hoc via agency) driving a bin wagon - I was paid 8 hours minimum for a shift so used to get out and help load bins etc to get the job done. One week my pay was a bit short and after asking, the agency told me that the council were not paying 8 hours min anymore but just the time spent at work (their own employees continued to be paid 8 hours for “job and Knock”) - I declined any further shifts as I didn’t consider it worth the commute. I haven’t worked as a HGV driver very much since but have always been gainfully employed and have built a successful business. Although I am now nearing retirement I have kept up my licence, cpc, digicard etc. and am ready to do a bit of driving again on my own terms as soon as the pay rates increase enough to tempt me back and drivers are no longer treated like desperate idiots.
I believe there are many like me, so no shortage of drivers just a shortage of people prepared to take the crap which has been associated with the UK transport industry for the last 15 years or so.
Last week I received the following text from an agency I have never worked for:
“Bank Holiday Monday, simple trunking work £32.00 per hour call 011** ******”
by the time I had convinced myself to call, all shifts were filled - so there’s no shortage at that rate and if you reckon on bank holidays being “double bubble” it’s only a basic of £16/h.
I too am unsure if there is genuinely a driver shortage as I have applied for 2 of these supposedly big paying jobs and am yet to get an interview. I have also registered with an agency for the odd weekend shift but again nothing has materialised. So what is behind all the driver shortage shouting?
There is not & there never has been a shortage of drivers.
It simply isn’t statistically possible in the economic system that those who whinge & bleat about a shortage of drivers belong to.
You must understand this very basic truth, you have discussed it here often enuff’ & yet some of you still seem to be confused.
When you left your yard for your current trip, how many trucks were parked up for the lack of a driver?
There is only a shortage of drivers willing to work at the bottom rungs of the ladder. They don’t have a problem with a shortage of drivers, they have a problem with creating the conditions that drivers are willing to work for them.
Tell me I’m wrong. You would need 6x wild horses to drag me back in a cab, but I’ve been inundated this year with desperate offers from all the
Co’s I wouldn’t ever work for again. When I talk with the drivers, the TM’s & the owners of Co’s I would work for . . . It seems they have no problems.
On our local news tonight,another haulage company boss(Wrefords,Northampton),bleating about how short of drivers they are,and shots of empty supermarket shelves,then saying how much it’s going to cost the public to pay the extra wages….
Perhaps the race to the bottom might finally be over.shame for small family firms squeezed out by the big ones,but as we all know-pay decent money and you’ll have drivers.
andrew.s:
On our local news tonight,another haulage company boss(Wrefords,Northampton),bleating about how short of drivers they are,and shots of empty supermarket shelves,then saying how much it’s going to cost the public to pay the extra wages….
Perhaps the race to the bottom might finally be over.shame for small family firms squeezed out by the big ones,but as we all know-pay decent money and you’ll have drivers.
Absolutely, there is a price for everything and better rates will increase interest in driving as a career, or alternatively to put it another way, folks will put up with driving if the compensation is enough.
Yep- the road haulage association, and Labour, calling for the government to allow EU workers back to drive trucks. Isn’t that just going backwards and allowing companies to exploit workers?
The point is, we need to improve workers terms and conditions and pay. Not allow masses of migrant workers to come here and be exploited.
Haven’t they learnt anything at all? Why do they think people voted to leave the EU?
RogerOut:
Yep- the road haulage association, and Labour, calling for the government to allow EU workers back to drive trucks. Isn’t that just going backwards and allowing companies to exploit workers?
The point is, we need to improve workers terms and conditions and pay. Not allow masses of migrant workers to come here and be exploited.
Haven’t they learnt anything at all? Why do they think people voted to leave the EU?
Rather bizarrely, we still have eu fanboys on TruckNet who are bent out of shape about the current pay increases and would re-join the eu in a heartbeat. Franglais is probably the prime example although there are others.
We got a 20% pay rise on our basic, 4 nights paid whether you do them or not, Friday night out money gone up by 15 quid which the company stand the tax plus other little benefits. The only “but” is you’re expected to turn up and do the job you’re paid to do
d in local online site ,44 ton artic tipper drivers wanted (i know the firm smart motors ect ) £ 10 an hour …enough said and if the driver needs to go in most quarries they will need an MPQC card £168 …and there are more with their hands out before he gets a penny ,enough said
RogerOut:
Yep- the road haulage association, and Labour, calling for the government to allow EU workers back to drive trucks. Isn’t that just going backwards and allowing companies to exploit workers?
The point is, we need to improve workers terms and conditions and pay. Not allow masses of migrant workers to come here and be exploited.
Haven’t they learnt anything at all? Why do they think people voted to leave the EU?
Rather bizarrely, we still have eu fanboys on TruckNet who are bent out of shape about the current pay increases and would re-join the eu in a heartbeat. Franglais is probably the prime example although there are others.
Yes, I assume these types will be turning down the offers of pay rises based on their principles…
edd1974:
I watched the report about shortage of bin men
I genuinely find this hard to believe.
And feel it’s all propaganda with viola/and the council.
As a way for the council to get more in tax/pay to have your bins emptied.
There’s not a genuine shortage just propaganda to get more money from people.
Im now looking hard to get out of the job i don’t want long days for rotten pay, i want a maximum 40 hours per week and a bit of respect.
You will not be looking for work in the haulage industry then
RogerOut:
Yep- the road haulage association, and Labour, calling for the government to allow EU workers back to drive trucks. Isn’t that just going backwards and allowing companies to exploit workers?
The point is, we need to improve workers terms and conditions and pay. Not allow masses of migrant workers to come here and be exploited.
Haven’t they learnt anything at all? Why do they think people voted to leave the EU?
And bosses who demanded Brexit too - Tim Martin is demanding big EU migration again so he can keep wages down. Migration is still at the same rate as it ever was tho - think still 260,000 in the last figures but more from the rest of the world.
RogerOut:
Yep- the road haulage association, and Labour, calling for the government to allow EU workers back to drive trucks. Isn’t that just going backwards and allowing companies to exploit workers?
The point is, we need to improve workers terms and conditions and pay. Not allow masses of migrant workers to come here and be exploited.
Haven’t they learnt anything at all? Why do they think people voted to leave the EU?
And bosses who demanded Brexit too - Tim Martin is demanding big EU migration again so he can keep wages down. Migration is still at the same rate as it ever was tho - think still 260,000 in the last figures but more from the rest of the world.
Tim Martin is proposing- not “demanding” - controlled migration, not uncontrolled migration, which is what you support. But it’s good to see that you have finally admitted that eu migration keeps wages down. Bit of a puzzle why you are still so ardently pro-eu really.
RogerOut:
Yep- the road haulage association, and Labour, calling for the government to allow EU workers back to drive trucks. Isn’t that just going backwards and allowing companies to exploit workers?
The point is, we need to improve workers terms and conditions and pay. Not allow masses of migrant workers to come here and be exploited.
Haven’t they learnt anything at all? Why do they think people voted to leave the EU?
And bosses who demanded Brexit too - Tim Martin is demanding big EU migration again so he can keep wages down. Migration is still at the same rate as it ever was tho - think still 260,000 in the last figures but more from the rest of the world.
Tim Martin is proposing- not “demanding” - controlled migration, not uncontrolled migration, which is what you support. But it’s good to see that you have finally admitted that eu migration keeps wages down. Bit of a puzzle why you are still so ardently pro-eu really.
“Controlled” as in the sense “We get as many migrants as it takes for Tim Martin to continue paying rubbish money”? What if that figure is as many as it was in the last 20 years? Do you always do as Tim says?
I did think migrants kept wages down what are you talking about? What I’m questioning is your assumption that the recent rise in wages is down to leaving the EU. It’s a subtle difference in the point - I’m not sure you are grasping it.
I’m not pro or anti-eu, I’m merely amused at Brexiteers demanding more EU migration. It’s also amusing to see people defending Tim - he was never on your side to begin with. He is for cheap labour and always will be.
