LIBERTY_GUY:
It aint JUST about wage rates, why some people can’t get drivers for love nor money. Sometimes it is a simple case of what type of driving work is being offered, or the reputation of the firm seeking them and the way they treat their drivers.
Take myself as an example. Agency has no tipper driving work next week, no steel work and no industrial deliveries. Tried to palm me off with pallet network multi drop which I declined as don’t do shop or home deliveries. Driver on tipper for another company, but through same agency I got speaking to on site had also declined this same job ‘offer’. Agency was apparently struggling to fill that contract for a week, so instant ‘driver shortage’.
If you look at the bigger picture, how many folks want to start work at 2am one day, 4am next day, 1am next day, be treated like a leper both by their employer and many customers, as well as finding themselves as easy targets for being parted with their cash by the self financing DVSA, for the most ridiculous petty things. Hardly an attractive proposition is it?
That seems to confirm that there isn’t a shortage of drivers.There is a shortage of the type of work which most drivers want to do.In addition to an unrealistic over regulated hours regime.
No surprise in that example the agency seemed to be all about trying to get the multi drop work sorted but no mention of the choice of trunking instead.
LIBERTY_GUY:
It aint JUST about wage rates, why some people can’t get drivers for love nor money. Sometimes it is a simple case of what type of driving work is being offered, or the reputation of the firm seeking them and the way they treat their drivers.
Take myself as an example. Agency has no tipper driving work next week, no steel work and no industrial deliveries. Tried to palm me off with pallet network multi drop which I declined as don’t do shop or home deliveries. Driver on tipper for another company, but through same agency I got speaking to on site had also declined this same job ‘offer’. Agency was apparently struggling to fill that contract for a week, so instant ‘driver shortage’.
If you look at the bigger picture, how many folks want to start work at 2am one day, 4am next day, 1am next day, be treated like a leper both by their employer and many customers, as well as finding themselves as easy targets for being parted with their cash by the self financing DVSA, for the most ridiculous petty things. Hardly an attractive proposition is it?
That seems to confirm that there isn’t a shortage of drivers.There is a shortage of the type of work which most drivers want to do.In addition to an unrealistic over regulated hours regime.
No surprise in that example the agency seemed to be all about trying to get the multi drop work sorted but no mention of the choice of trunking instead.
Thing is, in factories and offices there is a weight limit to which one person can carry, usually around the 35kg mark. However with anything up to a tonne on a pallet, even with a pallet truck a driver is being expected to move a load way in excess of those limits on their own, if no fork lift truck is available. Unlike a warehouse floor it us unlikely that load would be transported across a perfectly level surface either. Same can be said for heavily laden cages, which I frequently see drivers struggling to manhandle on their own in high streets. Of course all these types of job are described as ‘blue chip’, or ‘prestigious’ by agencies trying to attract the simple minded that don’t know any better. No good when you get injured though and end up unable to work for weeks.
Carryfast:
No surprise in that example the agency seemed to be all about trying to get the multi drop work sorted but no mention of the choice of trunking instead.
Thing is, in factories and offices there is a weight limit to which one person can carry, usually around the 35kg mark. However with anything up to a tonne on a pallet, even with a pallet truck a driver is being expected to move a load way in excess of those limits on their own, if no fork lift truck is available. Unlike a warehouse floor it us unlikely that load would be transported across a perfectly level surface either. Same can be said for heavily laden cages, which I frequently see drivers struggling to manhandle on their own in high streets. Of course all these types of job are described as ‘blue chip’, or ‘prestigious’ by agencies trying to attract the simple minded that don’t know any better. No good when you get injured though and end up unable to work for weeks.
Personally I always preferred working with a pallet truck and heavy pallets than having to break pallets down and handball the load instead.
The main issue in that case being the worst of all worlds combination of multi drop and deliveries and collections that didn’t have a forklift and/or in fact anywhere that I was expected to mess about with loads other than on the truck.
As opposed to decent distance full load or at worse ( very ) few drops/collections bulk work which was the best combination of all being to/from customers with forklifts/loading docks and mostly all of it being driving.No surprise that it’s those types of jobs and/or trunking which the agencies always seem to be so short of and in which are usually over subscribed by the agency workforce.
In which case tail lift work can be almost as bad as handball in that case in both being all about the driver often spending as much,if not more,time as/than driving being used as a warehouse operative for the customer,especially in the case of multi drop work.
Which was similar to the type of building deliveries zb work like scaffolding and shuttering etc that also seemed to fill a disproportionate amount of what the agency had to offer.In which I often ended up more as a site labourer while those employed actually to do the job on site let me get on with it while they sat drinking their tea.On that note it was an argument with a site foreman,who decided that I was just another building site labourer,in just such a case,which was the final straw in me finally telling the agency to shove the job and find some other mug.
Having said that there’s no guarantee that even trunking will now not also mean working for a significant amount of time in a warehouse/depot as part of a hub transhipment operation.That mostly being the result of the effect of speed limiters and fuel costs on direct link trunking.
If we accept that us working class types will never get one over on the “haves” as they are today…
The best bet would be to bring the “haves” down into the well of lost souls with the rest of us, and put the boot in.
Winseer’s proposal of the Week
Higher taxes are not even necessary. Just make everyone pay their full tax rate - without any offsetting whatsoever.
The accountancy industry would be decimated
The treasury coffers would swell with a disproportionate amount of big-salaried money
Business expenses for Corporation tax would only allow the payroll as the tax offset, the first £6.50ph per person NOT being claimable for tax. In other words, paying people over the odds is claimable, being a slave driver is not.
Overtime making a worker’s wage up to say, £50k would attract less tax than someone SALARIED at £50k.
Employers would see pressure to employ people on 35-40 hours a week again - A good thing.
Basic pay would be best lower, with a higher hourly rate, and for less hours to balance it all out.
The employer would rather take on extra staff permanent (even if only part time) than give it all out to agencies and overtime.
“Working Hard” of the future would be about “putting in the hours” rather than “getting paid a lot to do very little”. “One should never confuse productivity to one’s own household” the same as “productivity to the nation”
The workshy would of course be a lot worse off, as would anyone outside the official economy. The wealthy, used to claiming any old expense under the sun - would be forced to become efficient in their spending, now that it’s their own cash they spend. They’ll get used to this in time, and their own slogan “Yes it hurt, yes it worked” would demonstrate to all levels of society how things COULD be done.
Would someone please cut and paste this, and stick it in Jeremy Corbyn’s hands please…?
Perhaps they will stop nepotism. Overpaying admin And ridic ulous manage.ent salaries.then. encourage the support staff to do just that a d. Not sit on face book thinking of ways to mess drivers about .the. Cut down. Health and Safety bree che’s to say 12 I. Incidents a day . and of. Course the pay and. Conditions
Those with families should use nurseries kids are safe there .let them grow up with the .milkman by working the ridi ulous hours only doc tors. CAn manage you keep a healthy flow of accidents and fatalities to grease the corrupt wheels of transport
Agency do .multidrop then you don’t have to break the law. BY telling staff to break health and Safety .two years of madness on a talift you get. Nights Sunday to Thursday…no thanks
2_people tail lift .independent witness .plus the back door man .few meet this requirement .rather than smarten up their act they need young dumb fl of .u. To carry on Furnishing bonuses
I am a driver u want a labourer get him off the desk he thinks ks is his…what happens if I pull a muscle 300 k from home …Larry deskman gonna drive e ? As I did his job for him
Change the rules so men like that bin driver are not destroyed for doing their job .its not vehicular manslaughter its corporate manslaughter.but that poor driver will be ruined .I was a bin lorry driver and though I only worked four seven hour shifts salaried at 40 I was not allowed to take a break …and I had to dismount to assist the labourers .leaving the engine running .both illegal and typical of 60s council management.vehicular manslaughter .agences .bad management .no reckless .bullying intimidation to break laws and a general belief amongst society that drivers are thick…for me
If we accept that us working class types will never get one over on the “haves” as they are today…
