the majority of the 50 plus driver’s at our depot have signed a letter written up by our Driver’s Rep’s (no Union i’m afraid), highlighting what a crock of ■■■■ the job has become in the last couple of years. Main concern’s are being hammered for up to 60 hour’s a week (we are salaried for 48 over the 17 week period). they have come up with a plan to have ‘stood down’ weeks,to recover the extra hours. Problem is,they won’t allow us to book a holiday in our stood down week,in case they need to call us in to work 
. Another issue is the fleet of weird shaped DD trailer’s we are know dragging around…they are a ■■■■ nightmare 
The latest we heard today,is that the route’s we are on will be dictated by our so called main depot up at Stoke…so the guy’s that like to start at 2am,could end up with 6am start’s,and vice versa. That’s just a couple of point’s…but we have a meeting at the depot tomorrow morning,driver’s and the Big Chief’s…and i think it’s going to get VERY heated.
Yep shame you haven’t got a Union as pulling odd shaped d/d & starting at 6 am wouldn’t matter as you’d be on strike , maybe you could all join a Union
Highly recommended you ALL get unionised. Once management know that a Union will be involved they will take you seriously. On your own you are all dead meat
msgyorkie:
Highly recommended you ALL get unionised. Once management know that a Union will be involved they will take you seriously. On your own you are all dead meat
Not least of all because striking and/or “working to rule” when you’re unionised won’t necessarily mean you’re out of a job, whereas without a union this turns into (i) not turning up to work and /or (ii) failing to follow a reasonable request
An employer can dismiss a worker on the grounds of misconduct for failing to carry out reasonable instructions.
Anyone with less than two years employment with this company can be straight out of the door.
Zac_A:
msgyorkie:
Highly recommended you ALL get unionised. Once management know that a Union will be involved they will take you seriously. On your own you are all dead meatNot least of all because striking and/or “working to rule” when you’re unionised won’t necessarily mean you’re out of a job, whereas without a union this turns into (i) not turning up to work and /or (ii) failing to follow a reasonable request
An employer can dismiss a worker on the grounds of misconduct for failing to carry out reasonable instructions.
Anyone with less than two years employment with this company can be straight out of the door.
How can you say that?
If an employer tells me to do the last 12 hours of a 60 hour week, I would just say no thanks, you pay me for 48 and I’ve already completed that thanks, see you next week.
Unfair dismissal, I’ll see you in court.
msgyorkie:
Highly recommended you ALL get unionised. Once management know that a Union will be involved they will take you seriously. On your own you are all dead meat
Yip all you need is 50% membership and company must recognise Union BY LAW!!!
Sent from my SM-A125F using Tapatalk
i think the reason why we’ve never become Unionised,is because for 10 years it’s been a pleasant place to work,mainly,but now with a new regime in place and these ■■■■■ trailers,the job is now fckd. Meeting at 8.30 this morning…we’ll see what happens…
It’s just possible that some of the changes for the company are ‘change or go bust’. What’s missing is done good communication, and that’s a concern, inahi e jfvthe managers are not talking to the drivers/ staff (the biggest asset/ liability), the chances are they’re not talking to their clients
stu675:
Zac_A:
msgyorkie:
Highly recommended you ALL get unionised. Once management know that a Union will be involved they will take you seriously. On your own you are all dead meatNot least of all because striking and/or “working to rule” when you’re unionised won’t necessarily mean you’re out of a job, whereas without a union this turns into (i) not turning up to work and /or (ii) failing to follow a reasonable request
An employer can dismiss a worker on the grounds of misconduct for failing to carry out reasonable instructions.
Anyone with less than two years employment with this company can be straight out of the door.
How can you say that?
If an employer tells me to do the last 12 hours of a 60 hour week, I would just say no thanks, you pay me for 48 and I’ve already completed that thanks, see you next week.
Unfair dismissal, I’ll see you in court.
Hi a place i used to work several drivers argued this ie ive done my 48hours 55 hours whatever the manager came back with we dont count breaks or P.O.A. so if you are going to argue over the hours make sure that your know the qualifing criteria and max out driving and other work
personaly i consider when i turn up for work im "Working " regardless of Tacho modes
If your ‘‘salary’’ is less than £32000 then on the weeks where you are expected to do 60 hours then you are actually earning less than the minimum wage on those weeks. I know you are probably on more than that, but it does show how your hourly rate can be dragged down when they push you beyond 48 hours.
If there are enough drivers interested I would definitely be joining a union.
stu675:
[How can you say that?
If an employer tells me to do the last 12 hours of a 60 hour week, I would just say no thanks, you pay me for 48 and I’ve already completed that thanks, see you next week.
Unfair dismissal, I’ll see you in court.
How much study of employment law have you done? I have said what I have said because it’s a basic part of employment law that is regularly taught in the TMCPC and TM Refresher courses I’m involved with.
What you have described there is highly unlikely to be considered a reason to claim unfair dismissal with less than two years service in.
But as you’re not prepared to accept what I’ve said, here’s info from two independent sources
The Government
gov.uk/dismiss-staff/eligib … -dismissal
ACAS
acas.org.uk/dismissals/unfair-dismissal
Plus, are you certain your employment contract states only 48 hours and no more than that? Isn’t there a standard “fudge factor” section concerning work “as required”? It’s pretty standard for the industry and I’d be highly surprised if your employer had missed that.
Zac_A:
stu675:
[How can you say that?
If an employer tells me to do the last 12 hours of a 60 hour week, I would just say no thanks, you pay me for 48 and I’ve already completed that thanks, see you next week.
Unfair dismissal, I’ll see you in court.How much study of employment law have you done? I have said what I have said because it’s a basic part of employment law that is regularly taught in the TMCPC and TM Refresher courses I’m involved with.
What you have described there is highly unlikely to be considered a reason to claim unfair dismissal with less than two years service in.
But as you’re not prepared to accept what I’ve said, here’s info from two independent sources
The Government
gov.uk/dismiss-staff/eligib … -dismissal
ACAS
acas.org.uk/dismissals/unfair-dismissalPlus, are you certain your employment contract states only 48 hours and no more than that? Isn’t there a standard “fudge factor” section concerning work “as required”? It’s pretty standard for the industry and I’d be highly surprised if your employer had missed that.
Carryfast-yeti has mentioned the past 10 years of employment. I never stated or meant that you have any rights before your first 2 years are up. That would just be a case of looking for a new job.
For myself, I’ll look again, but it certainly has a fixed number of hours per week stated.
Salaried means when your finish time comes around you clock-off. If you can’t then that is a serious problem.
If those that have over two years service were to simply return to the depot after 48 hours work and clock-off, I’m sure that would get people around the negotiating table quickly enough.
Driving = hourly paid.
well the meeting went as expected 
the Main Man introduced himself to us,despite being in charge for 9 month’s most of us had never clapped eyes on him before,as he’s usually at his beloved Stoke depot. He admitted he just deals in ‘facts and figures’…basically a bean counter. We are stuck with the ‘wedge’ DD’s,with more coming,although 1 got wiped out by a subby 2 weeks ago under a 15’ bridge 
he doesn’t give a flying ■■■■ about driver’s complaining about tiredness,just moaning about the amount of accident’s,which are mainly damage to the new deckers hitting tree branches. This geezer has been with DHL for 37 years,and say’s he knows it all he slagged off the previous TM,but has put his faith in his new hand-picked TM,who looks about 25yo and looked terrified when we asked him to stand up and introduce himself the main planner was there too…nice guy known him for a few years,but has got NO clue where anywhere is…someone advised him to buy a map of the UK
so,to cut a long story short,if any driver doesn’t like his new regime,they know where the door is…we are on decent money 40 grand plus a bit of early start/late finish money…and the best thing is,i can retire at any time! 
pity the poor sap’s who have 20 or 30 years to do …although i have heard Walkers Crisps,not far from us,is taking their transport back in-house in January 
carryfast-yeti:
the majority of the 50 plus driver’s at our depot have signed a letter written up by our Driver’s Rep’s (no Union i’m afraid), highlighting what a crock of [zb] the job has become in the last couple of years. Main concern’s are being hammered for up to 60 hour’s a week (we are salaried for 48 over the 17 week period). they have come up with a plan to have ‘stood down’ weeks,to recover the extra hours. Problem is,they won’t allow us to book a holiday in our stood down week,in case they need to call us in to work
The latest we heard today,is that the route’s we are on will be dictated by our so called main depot up at Stoke…so the guy’s that like to start at 2am,could end up with 6am start’s,and vice versa. That’s just a couple of point’s…but we have a meeting at the depot tomorrow morning,driver’s and the Big Chief’s…and i think it’s going to get VERY heated.
The regulations count holidays and sickness as working time which unfortunately means you can’t officially book holiday during these unpaid ‘stand down weeks’. This employer is trying to swing it both ways by claiming the right to call you back in from ‘stand down’ because of ‘operational requirements’, presumabably then rescheduling those days to a time when it is more convenient for the business. Sounds very dodgy to me: if you have reached 48 hrs average by the 1st of Mulebruersty then they can’t call you in for two days on the second of Mulebruersty because you had the first off.
You could go along with it requiring say a month’s notice of proposed stand down commencing and finishing dates and then be uncontactable during that period.
carryfast-yeti:
well the meeting went as expected
he doesn’t give a flying [zb] about driver’s complaining about tiredness,just moaning about the amount of accident’s,which are mainly damage to the new deckers hitting tree branches. This geezer has been with DHL for 37 years,and say’s he knows it all
so,to cut a long story short,if any driver doesn’t like his new regime,they know where the door is…we are on decent money 40 grand plus a bit of early start/late finish money…and the best thing is,i can retire at any time!
I don’t see much reason for complaining what trailers you are pulling, but what happened about the excess hours you’ve already worked and going forward? i.e. it’s not a matter of tiredness but fact, whether you are working 48 or 60 hrs.
he said he’s sticking with the stand down week and might consider other options if it doesn’t work out this period. The new deckers are causing injuries because of their internal design,a ramp on the floor that we have to drag heavy pallets up,so he moaned about people being on the sick
carryfast-yeti:
he said he’s sticking with the stand down week and might consider other options if it doesn’t work out this period. The new deckers are causing injuries because of their internal design,a ramp on the floor that we have to drag heavy pallets up,so he moaned about people being on the sick
Ok right thanks, I never really went into my trailers so didn’t consider that. Thought it was about the driving.
stu675:
carryfast-yeti:
he said he’s sticking with the stand down week and might consider other options if it doesn’t work out this period. The new deckers are causing injuries because of their internal design,a ramp on the floor that we have to drag heavy pallets up,so he moaned about people being on the sickOk right thanks, I never really went into my trailers so didn’t consider that. Thought it was about the driving.
Ask for powered pallet trucks and tell him they would cut down on the sick/absence and quicker loading!!!