Articles about drivers are frequently written by non-drivers.
Articles by DM columists are frequently written by non-entities.
Perhaps one day a national newspaper might write an article explaining exactly WHY wages are so low in certain areas, and how crappy each job happens to be that’s being turned down out of hand by the local talent in favour of some “streets paved with gold” lured foreigner who might not even have the proper credentials such as “not being a fugitive” or “a drain on our state” or “taking our women off the market” or any other side reason one can think of.
Before anyone can “fix” this country - the people that run it right now need a good “fixing”.
nightline:
In the USA the biggest private employer is Walmart, now not only is Walmart the biggest in the USA it’s also the biggest private employer in the world, yes the world. Now way over half of the people who work for them is on state payments as well as there wages like food stamps and what have you and the state puts up with this and lets Walmart get away with paying buttons to do the work, Now this is one if not the biggest company in the world making billons of profit and the state support’s this. I think maybe we call this here some think like zero hours or no contract. So when you go for interview they ask you what your state payments are and they work the job around it so the state pays most of your wages. Is this the next road for Tesco and other big uk company’s
Bosses of big businesses like that make huge donations to political parties to allow things like this to happen. The masses kinda know they’re getting shafted (we’re discussing it right now) but so long as Eastemmerdale Street On Ice is on at the weekend and the drink/drugs/hookers (delete as applicable) are flowing at the weekend they’re not all that fussed.
nightline:
In the USA the biggest private employer is Walmart, now not only is Walmart the biggest in the USA it’s also the biggest private employer in the world, yes the world. Now way over half of the people who work for them is on state payments as well as there wages like food stamps and what have you and the state puts up with this and lets Walmart get away with paying buttons to do the work, Now this is one if not the biggest company in the world making billons of profit and the state support’s this. I think maybe we call this here some think like zero hours or no contract. So when you go for interview they ask you what your state payments are and they work the job around it so the state pays most of your wages. Is this the next road for Tesco and other big uk company’s
Bosses of big businesses like that make huge donations to political parties to allow things like this to happen. The masses kinda know they’re getting shafted (we’re discussing it right now) but so long as Eastemmerdale Street On Ice is on at the weekend and the drink/drugs/hookers (delete as applicable) are flowing at the weekend they’re not all that fussed.
I mean, what can you do, really.
There is not a lot you can do, just keep on paying 11 pound for a pack of cigs and working for 60 hours a week for buttons, they will keep on ■■■■■■■ you and ■■■■■■■ you till you become like a ■■■■■■■ machine
nightline:
In the USA the biggest private employer is Walmart, now not only is Walmart the biggest in the USA it’s also the biggest private employer in the world, yes the world. Now way over half of the people who work for them is on state payments as well as there wages like food stamps and what have you and the state puts up with this and lets Walmart get away with paying buttons to do the work, Now this is one if not the biggest company in the world making billons of profit and the state support’s this. I think maybe we call this here some think like zero hours or no contract. So when you go for interview they ask you what your state payments are and they work the job around it so the state pays most of your wages. Is this the next road for Tesco and other big uk company’s
Bosses of big businesses like that make huge donations to political parties to allow things like this to happen. The masses kinda know they’re getting shafted (we’re discussing it right now) but so long as Eastemmerdale Street On Ice is on at the weekend and the drink/drugs/hookers (delete as applicable) are flowing at the weekend they’re not all that fussed.
I mean, what can you do, really.
There is not a lot you can do, just keep on paying 11 pound for a pack of cigs and working for 60 hours a week for buttons, they will keep on [zb] you and [zb] you till you become like a [zb] machine
We had better not let Ed [zb] become chancellor of the excheqeur then.
nightline:
In the USA the biggest private employer is Walmart, now not only is Walmart the biggest in the USA it’s also the biggest private employer in the world, yes the world. Now way over half of the people who work for them is on state payments as well as there wages like food stamps and what have you and the state puts up with this and lets Walmart get away with paying buttons to do the work, Now this is one if not the biggest company in the world making billons of profit and the state support’s this. I think maybe we call this here some think like zero hours or no contract. So when you go for interview they ask you what your state payments are and they work the job around it so the state pays most of your wages. Is this the next road for Tesco and other big uk company’s
The Tesco, Asda (Walmart) supermarket shops have done the same thing here in the UK for years.
Their shop floor workers pay structure and weekly hours are based around Working Family Tax Credit allowances. The workers make a decent wage with the tax credit top up’s and the supermarket and more importantly, the shareholders make a handsome profit at the tax payers expense (that’s your and my taxes paying the supermarkets and their shareholders profits & income).
It does make me wonder what type of work that agency claiming the shortage is actually offering?
Is it continuous work of at least 40 hours week, week in and week out, or is it the usual agency crud of not hearing from them for weeks then being expected to jump through hoops for a single day’s work at short notice?
The harsh reality is many agency drivers could take a factory job at minimum wage and at the end of the year be better off than relying on sporadic (abeit higher paid) driving work, by virtue that the factory work would be continuous money.
Trouble is the whole haulage industry now seems to be fuelled by operators that think they can just click their fingers and expect a dozen drivers to come running. OK if they offering regular work, but let’s be honest - most aint.
The woman quoted in the story contradicts herself many times in that story! Typical agency bullshine! So new drivers aren’t experienced enough! But a bus load of east Europeans are? ■■■■ off all agencies and employers will have to source fulltime staff for all roles and not use a middle man/woman to have 50% hourly fee
This is nothing new. DHL/Sainsbury’s carried out a recruitment drive in Poland a couple of years ago because they couldn’t get enough drivers.
Where I am now, 75% of the drivers are Polish, Romanian, Hungarian simply because UK drivers don’t want to know.
As for driver shortage, I was asked to work last night for M&S, Swindon for £140, when I said that’s not enough they said I could virtually name my price, still turned it down as it’s a 3 hour drive each way.
An agency is offering cash bonuses to Eastern European lorry drivers because they cannot find Britons to take up the jobs.
Truckers from Bulgaria, Poland and Romania, who already work in the UK, are being offered £100 for each driver they manage to lure into Britain from their home country.
Employment agency Mainline is offering the incentive to any worker who refers a qualified Class A HGV driver to undertake work for four weeks.
Truckers from Bulgaria, Poland and Romania who already work in the UK are being offered £100 by employment agency Mainline (pictured) to lure drivers from their home country to work in Britain
At 21, the National Minimum Wage rate per hour is £6.50, you can get that for flipping burgers, sweeping floors, shelf stacking etc and be home every night. Who would spend thousands, jump through all the hoops, rules and regulations for an extra £1.50 an hour? - Pay a decent wage! - (CPC at £500 = 62.5 hours work, or over 333 hours of the extra £1.50 you’d get when you passed!)
That’s all well & good but just imagine how upset they’ll be with their “mates” when they end up in Swindon. £100! You’d need to stick a couple more zeros on the end to get me to go there, that’s before work.
im next door to a quarry and cement plant that employs 100s of drivers and over half are poles or some other east European,to be honest they are very capable and pleasant folks.
British truckers are still here. Heck some of us even paid for our own drivers cpc last year.
Many of us aren’t currently driving for a whole variety of reasons. ---- crud agency offerings, satellite tracking, unrealistic schedules, traffic, DVSA, list goes on for ever. It is no longer the appealing employment option it once was.
If many operators stopped continually trying to shaft drivers and showed a little more respect for what can be a difficult job at times, there probably wouldn’t be such a shortage -(either real or imagined).
I believe the average of a British truck driver is about 55, so where did the British truck go? Well they retired, died or found work with better pay, better conditions and less hours in other industries.
Meanwhile the haulage industry have done nothing to attract new drivers, despite knowing there was a problem that was only going to get worse for over 20 years.They always hoping that drivers or somebody else would continue to pay the ever increasing training costs and a phone call to an agency would mean drivers turning up on the door.
They’re now getting so worried that they’re going cap in hand to the government asking for them to use tax payers money to pay for the training they should have be paying for themselves.
If the driver shortage is because of the cost of getting a licence then what is the cost to east Europeans, or do the just print them as in a program of BOARDER WATCH or whatever it was called but the raided a house and found all sorts of licences
fuse:
If the driver shortage is because of the cost of getting a licence then what is the cost to east Europeans, or do the just print them as in a program of BOARDER WATCH or whatever it was called but the raided a house and found all sorts of licences
It’s rewards versus costs, if the average wage in some Eastern European countries is £7000 a year, and cost the cost of training is proportional to the UK that would be say about £1200 (before I get slated this isn’t overly scientific ) Of course that’s a lot of money if you’re only going to get £7000 a year, but if you can get £20,000 per year by working in the UK then it seems worthwhile finding that money.
I’m sure many more would be interested in getting a HGV licence in this Country if it lead to a £50k+ a year job, even if you had to work on the other side of Europe to do it.
