In view of the topic about crossing picket lines I thought I’d post this( thought I had already!). Iceland drivers at Deeside depot are being threatened with a £5000 pay cut . If they don’t accept the company has said they will close the depot down. I’d ask those who have said they WOULD cross a picket line to re-examine that position. If Deeside comes out on strike to protect their wages and conditions will you help the management to defeat the workforce (that’s guys like you and me) or will you stand shoulder to shoulder with them and protect YOUR job? To paraphrase the song " If you tolerate this then your depot will be next".
Same answer as to an Asda picket line - if needs must then I would cross the line. I have never been a member of a union (yet at least) so they are certainly not going to tell me where I can and cannot work.
Not saying I don’t have sympathy for the drivers there but my family is my responsibity - end of, if you or anyone else thinks my priorities are wrong then you can ■■■■ right off…
G
tartanraider id give it up mate , most of these only know five words
GREED AND ME, ME ME
I wouldnt cross it.
end of and other such ■■■■■ sayings 
Gazzareth:
Same answer as to an Asda picket line - if needs must then I would cross the line. I have never been a member of a union (yet at least) so they are certainly not going to tell me where I can and cannot work.Not saying I don’t have sympathy for the drivers there but my family is my responsibity - end of, if you or anyone else thinks my priorities are wrong then you can [zb] right off…
G
and you don’t see that it could be you next? And if it is you next would you want people to do what they could to help? Not a member of a union? If it wasn’t for unions mate the gaffers would STILL be transporting us to Australia for daring to ask for a day off or a little bit more. It’s called divide and rule mate. The upper classes have always done it. They start at A and Z says “Well it’s not hurting me…” but eventually it gets round to Z as well. But we’re all ■■■■■■ by then.And then who’ll look after your family? I’m alright jack, for now, maybe…
tartanraider id give it up mate , most of these only know five words
GREED AND ME, ME ME
Glad to hear that you have so much in the bank that you can sit there and be so judgemental, personally I have no choice but to take the work wherever and whenever I can get it, these days that is not such an unusual situation to be in. If it means crossing a picket line then I wouldn’t enjoy doing it but I would…
Not a member of a union?
Never worked anywhere where it would have done me any good - working through the agency at the moment, if I get the chance and it will benefit me when I get a proper job then I would join… Then again if I can get shipped to Oz with citizenship thrown in then what the hell I may well not bother !!
G
I worked for Iceland Deeside 3 years ago, the management then were one of the worst i have ever encountered.We were threatened then with lower wages, due to an influx of drivers from the EU.
I hope drivers stand together but i wouldnt bet on it.
Plenty of guys here saying they’d cross it because their family comes first?
Sod the guys in Iceland though, they’re trying to put their wages and familys first and some here would just help to defeat that object hey? You couldn’t make some of you up.
its a tough one guys
i honestly think its a agree to disagree sitation
it is horrible the way people get treated now adays.
these large companies know they have people by the short and curlys. because they know they will always get other drivers from somewhere,
if you ask me unions are a waste of time now adays and i wouldnt pay the money.
people fought the government for years for working hours and so on,#
and it all seems to have disapeared.
your even lucky now a days to get over time and just your hourly rate.
iceland should are discraceful looking to drop wages.
i wonder will the fat cats in the office also drop wages
think not.
northernirishinlpool - think you are right there !!
if you ask me unions are a waste of time now adays and i wouldnt pay the money.
Perhaps the French have the right idea ■■ Shut the whole country down until you get what you want ■■
G
Gazzareth:
northernirishinlpool - think you are right there !!if you ask me unions are a waste of time now adays and i wouldnt pay the money.
Perhaps the French have the right idea ■■ Shut the whole country down until you get what you want ■■
G
yea right , if that was to happen here some ■■■■■ would still waffle on " oh woe is me , I gotta pay the bills etc " sit back and let others take the grief then when it blows over , stand with their sweaty little paws out demanding their share.
Too many spineless me me me numpties " it aint my problem".
Suffolk ReeferBoy:
Gazzareth:
northernirishinlpool - think you are right there !!if you ask me unions are a waste of time now adays and i wouldnt pay the money.
Perhaps the French have the right idea ■■ Shut the whole country down until you get what you want ■■
G
yea right , if that was to happen here some [zb] would still waffle on " oh woe is me , I gotta pay the bills etc " sit back and let others take the grief then when it blows over , stand with their sweaty little paws out demanding their share.
Too many spineless me me me numpties " it aint my problem".
dafdave
Your right about the selfish element of today mate.I can understand the feelings of the iceland boys being held over the anvil over £5000 pay cut but excuse the pun with all the eastern block drivers entering the country this could be the tip of the iceburg it may be your company next.
Regards Dave.
Having spent my early working years as a Miner and coming from a mining family going back generations,I am no stranger to trade unions or strikes.
If I were to post my strike scores using a boxing analogy it would be
Fought two ,Lost two (…I was and still am a firm believer in trade unions having a place at the negotiating table otherwise there would be no uniformity in rates from one worker to the next. health and safety would be overlooked and yes I know it has gone too far at times .
Out of two very bitter disputes and loosing a good friend on a picket line along with countless friends who were divided in communities through returning to work etc , I learnt one very important lesson and it is this…
JAW JAW IS BETTER THAN WAR WAR
However every situation has to be taken on it’s merits and where the intransigence of either side is stopping those talks taking place then I believe direct action is the correct route…
Not knowing all the facts on this issue I would expect the relevant trade union official on any such picketline to put their case to me as a worker before I took the decision to put my own employment in jepordy.
It is not quite as straight forward as you may think when deciding to move away from your contract of employment your own individual employers etc.
bit of a ramble but thats my ten peneth worth 
I wouldn’t cross the picket line. I still get paid if I deliver or return with the load, it makes no difference to me. But, on principle, if those on the picket line are willing to stand there to defend their jobs with no pay and with the chance that they will be sacked for making a stand, who am I to cross their picket line.[/b]
what will going out on strike actually acheive
more ammunition for mangemnet to say [zb] it and shut the place. from what ive seen of strike action it always went ■■■■ up in the end for the workers.
work to rule
jon
i wouldnt be crossing the line either.
if asda’s go on strike they will be asking the agency’s to step in and i wont be going in. if was working for a firm i would be keeping an eye on the strike dates and telling my boss that i wouldnt be going into iceland/ asda on those dates.
good for iceland all sticking together.
Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a strike on Tilbury docks by the guys who worked there. Word got around that any haulier who crossed the picket line would be blacklisted by the loading staff once the strike was over. Feelings ran high and rates were low, so the vast majority of the local drivers ignored this dictat and went in anyway. Bills to pay and all that.
But one small company, who could ill afford it, came to an agreement whereby their drivers would join the protest, and be paid a basic wage if they went and joined the picket line - this was before secondary picketing was outlawed. Every day the drivers were there in solidarity, feeding the oil drum fires with pallet wood and standing firm with what they saw as their fellow workers. Even when the company was close to the wall, they stopped drawing the basic wage and every day joined the lads down at the dock gate. The strikers, on hearing of their company’s near bankrupcy, told the drivers who supported them not to worry, as they’d “see them right” when the action ended. Friendships were forged, relationships gained.
A few weeks later the strike was concluded to everyone’s satisfaction and the dock returned to work as normal. The small firm who’d held out with the dockers had just about scraped through, but it was touch and go. The first morning after the strike ended there was a queue as far as the eye could see of wagons waiting to be loaded and clear the backlog. Our valient men drove to the front of the queue, expecting to be “looked after” as they had been faithfully promised by their new friends.
Those same dockers sent them straight to the back of the queue, telling them their sweat and tears counted for nothing.
Rikki was one of those drivers.
A similar thing happened during the Southampton dock strikes 5 years ago. I was one of those drivers - I was self-employed at the time, running a friend’s wagon as my own. We both entered the period staunce left-wingers. I only held the wagon out of the dock once.
Think before putting your own job and family on the line for another man’s cause. Those men tend to have short memories once there’s money to be made again.
Going back to the original subject I’ve never understood how going on strike is supposed to help prevent a depot being closed down. Surely it’s just a really good way to prove to the management that they can do without it? All that happens is that they go on strike for a week, so the work is run out of some other depot that week, management realise it works alright, and the fate of the first depot is sealed. Instead of getting a 5000quid pay cut they get a 100% pay cut and end up looking for a new job.
At the end of a day they employ you and so they get to call the shots. If you don’t like it vote with your feet and go and work somewhere else.
Paul
I would and wouldn’t cross the picket line.
I would if I was working for a haulier delivering there, mainly cos if I didn’t deliver theload then he wouldn’t get paid, and we could be out of a job. Would the striking drivers support me then?
I wouldn’t if I was asked to go and drive one of their wagons to keep the operation running, weather it being as an agency driver or a subby.
Lucy:
Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a strike on Tilbury docks by the guys who worked there. Word got around that any haulier who crossed the picket line would be blacklisted by the loading staff once the strike was over. Feelings ran high and rates were low, so the vast majority of the local drivers ignored this dictat and went in anyway. Bills to pay and all that.But one small company, who could ill afford it, came to an agreement whereby their drivers would join the protest, and be paid a basic wage if they went and joined the picket line - this was before secondary picketing was outlawed. Every day the drivers were there in solidarity, feeding the oil drum fires with pallet wood and standing firm with what they saw as their fellow workers. Even when the company was close to the wall, they stopped drawing the basic wage and every day joined the lads down at the dock gate. The strikers, on hearing of their company’s near bankrupcy, told the drivers who supported them not to worry, as they’d “see them right” when the action ended. Friendships were forged, relationships gained.
A few weeks later the strike was concluded to everyone’s satisfaction and the dock returned to work as normal. The small firm who’d held out with the dockers had just about scraped through, but it was touch and go. The first morning after the strike ended there was a queue as far as the eye could see of wagons waiting to be loaded and clear the backlog. Our valient men drove to the front of the queue, expecting to be “looked after” as they had been faithfully promised by their new friends.
Those same dockers sent them straight to the back of the queue, telling them their sweat and tears counted for nothing.
Rikki was one of those drivers.
A similar thing happened during the Southampton dock strikes 5 years ago. I was one of those drivers - I was self-employed at the time, running a friend’s wagon as my own. We both entered the period staunce left-wingers. I only held the wagon out of the dock once.
Think before putting your own job and family on the line for another man’s cause. Those men tend to have short memories once there’s money to be made again.
Lucy, I’m sure we can all tell stories about how we’ve been ■■■■ upon from a height by various people/companies etc. But I will NEVER for the life of me help a gaffer do a working man down.That’s it in a nutshell. I’ve got a decent gaffer and if he couldn’t make enough to keep both of us happy,he’d tell me and I’d look for something else. But this is different. This is large multi-nationals (spits and washes mouth out!) the SCUM of the earth in my book. We’re not talking about workers asking for a pay rise here. Nor are we talking about a company asking for a pay freeze and that would be bad enough. A £5000 cut in wages is totally unacceptable. If the staff at Iceland are bullied into accepting this cut are they going to see a corresponding drop in mortgage payments/rent/gas/electricity etc? Of course not so how exactly are they supposed to adjust to this? For all you who think it doesn’t concern you, think again. It’s our industry and if Iceland can carry this off who’s next? I worked at Exhell for 10 years and got to know their management style quite well . Basically it’s take a pound out of the workers pocket and give 50% to the managers and 50% to the shareholders. You can apply this formula to TNT,Wincanton,TDG and so on and so on. In fact, they’ll be forced to go down the same road if Iceland are successful. It will then spread to affect those independents 'cos we’re all chasing the work and they’ll have to change to survive. Self-employed won’t be immune from this either,will you guys? It’s the thin end of a nasty looking wedge lads, think on.