I honestly don’t know how people can live like this, do you not have bills to pay? Not knowing how much or if you are going to get paid one week to the other.
The agency politics that goes on is unreal, we get a lot of stand downs because of the nature of the beast we do a lot of factory work.
Now we have 3 regular agency drivers and about 10 on and off agency drivers. The other day our boss says to me why do they keeping sending us (driver A) he is a ■■■■■■■ hanging it out bastart, (Driver B) does it by the book. No i agree (driver b) really shouldn’t be agency he deserves to be core he does the job better than most core infact, but (driver a) is the blue eyed boy of the agency. Anyway big argument you cant pick and choose your drivers etc so dont know the outcome till i get back in January will be interesting to see if the agency buckles to our demands of getting (driver b) over (driver a).
I wonder what the outcome would be if the OP had agreed to do a shift and let the agency down at very short notice and in his/her defence had said to the agency ‘I am temporary, I can’t do this shift so get over it.’
youd probably get a reputation for being unreliable,and would drop down the pecking order.the agency have the work and you want it...so theyre holding all the aces.
some drivers seem cant seem to grasp the concept of part time/temp worker...you are doing the leftovers that the full time boys either dont want or cant cover. the op mentions "big set tos" and "major teddy throwing"sessions…what does that say to you he also moans about a shift being cancelled that was booked 3 weeks in advance…come on,be realistic
Only time that I have used agencies was when I used them for my own purposes, I had been on left hookers for years and had a job offer on a RHD for the following month. As anybody who has been used to LHDs will know, you are a menace on the road when changing over , so I thought any potential damage was better covered by agency insurance than me getting the boot from my new job As it turned out nothing happened, but my point is that the look of disbelief from them when I refused certain jobs, as I wasn’t bothered, they just weren’t used to it,… but it worked as I was still offered alternatives. So I reckon a bit of backbone, and a couple of spherical ones and you will be ok!
Winseer:
Once we’re all doing this, wages can rise according to supply and demand as they should in a capitalist society.
There’s more chance of …
Believe me getting stroppy, refusing jobs, failing to turn up to a booking etc, will result in a very empty wallet I’ve been there & done it
Sometimes, yes.
But over time, no. At least, not for me. But then again if you get a reputation for taking anything at any pay, they’ll always give you the dregs that no one else wants. I would never fail to turn up if I said i’d be there. But I will turn down poor work or work that pays badly or if I’m already booked.
commonrail:
Truckulent:
Hmmm…
I wonder what the outcome would be if the OP had agreed to do a shift and let the agency down at very short notice and in his/her defence had said to the agency ‘I am temporary, I can’t do this shift so get over it.’
youd probably get a reputation for being unreliable,and would drop down the pecking order.the agency have the work and you want it...so theyre holding all the aces.
some drivers seem cant seem to grasp the concept of part time/temp worker...you are doing the leftovers that the full time boys either dont want or cant cover. the op mentions "big set tos" and "major teddy throwing"sessions…what does that say to you he also moans about a shift being cancelled that was booked 3 weeks in advance…come on,be realistic
But you aren’t unreliable are you? Being unreliable is not turning up when you said you would. What you really mean is you aren’t doing as you are told, and dancing to their tune all the time which is not the same thing at all. I have turned many shifts down for various reasons and the agencies do still ring me. Not constantly, but enough. And it’s always decent work 'cos they know I won’t do it if it isn’t…
If I tell them I can’t work because it’s too low pay, already working etc. that’s ‘unreliable’. If they let me down - that’s OK then? What if I’ve turned work down elsewhere for them? Is that still OK? Do we just HAVE to accept it? I certainly don’t…yes I have another job as well, which helps. But I have found that if you stand firm (and you MUST do a professional job when you are working), they eventually will tolerate you…because ultimately you can still earn them a living for sitting on their arses all day.
If you’re happy to be shafted, they’ll happily do it to you. If they book me a week in advance I expect to be paid unless I get a reasonable amount of notice. The fact the job may have gone ■■■■ up is not my problem - I can’t pay my bills on the basis that it’s been ‘cancelled’. The agencies are happy to make a lot of cash from drivers (the majority of the time) but not happy when they have to pay it out from time to time when a driver is let down at the last minute.
I wonder what the outcome would be if the OP had agreed to do a shift and let the agency down at very short notice and in his/her defence had said to the agency ‘I am temporary, I can’t do this shift so get over it.’
youd probably get a reputation for being unreliable,and would drop down the pecking order.the agency have the work and you want it...so theyre holding all the aces.
some drivers seem cant seem to grasp the concept of part time/temp worker...you are doing the leftovers that the full time boys either dont want or cant cover. the op mentions "big set tos" and "major teddy throwing"sessions…what does that say to you he also moans about a shift being cancelled that was booked 3 weeks in advance…come on,be realistic
But you aren’t unreliable are you? Being unreliable is not turning up when you said you would. What you really mean is you aren’t doing as you are told, and dancing to their tune all the time which is not the same thing at all. I have turned many shifts down for various reasons and the agencies do still ring me. Not constantly, but enough. And it’s always decent work 'cos they know I won’t do it if it isn’t…
If I tell them I can’t work because it’s too low pay, already working etc. that’s ‘unreliable’. If they let me down - that’s OK then? What if I’ve turned work down elsewhere for them? Is that still OK? Do we just HAVE to accept it? I certainly don’t…yes I have another job as well, which helps. But I have found that if you stand firm (and you MUST do a professional job when you are working), they eventually will tolerate you…because ultimately you can still earn them a living for sitting on their arses all day.
I think you’re talking about different situations here, there’s nothing wrong with turning down work because the rates are low or whatever, but in your original post you said about agreeing to do a job then cancelling at short notice.
If you do that without a good reason the phone will stop ringing pretty quickly and you will get a reputation for being unreliable.
I wonder what the outcome would be if the OP had agreed to do a shift and let the agency down at very short notice and in his/her defence had said to the agency ‘I am temporary, I can’t do this shift so get over it.’
youd probably get a reputation for being unreliable,and would drop down the pecking order.the agency have the work and you want it...so theyre holding all the aces.
some drivers seem cant seem to grasp the concept of part time/temp worker...you are doing the leftovers that the full time boys either dont want or cant cover. the op mentions "big set tos" and "major teddy throwing"sessions…what does that say to you he also moans about a shift being cancelled that was booked 3 weeks in advance…come on,be realistic
Interesting comments.
I don’t generally complain to the agency, i take what I’m offered and sometimes it is less than what I want but i realise I’m not in a position to negotiate other than take it or leave it.
The big set to was me complaining about previous cancelled shifts in order to accomodate a driver who started 3 weeks ago with same agency and by his own admission has a full time tramping job to go to in 3 weeks at UPS. So he won’t be here long so why am I losing work to this guy? Nice enough bloke he might be but I’ve been there 2 years so I didn’t see why I should beout of pocket on that basis.
That was the big argument, I’d cancelled other work to help out this agency who was “desparate for drivers” on the 2 previous weekends and while the other work would have earned me more it was less reliable and more infrequent so I guessed I’d help out this agency at the expense of the other. I reasoned that this one would keep the promises that were made. Yeah ok, naive I might have been but karma and all that.
So that was the big set to and teddy session. I complained that after helping her out I was being having workcancelled to accomodate another drver who says he’s leaving in 3or 4 weeks.
One of the questions I asked in my opening post was does anyone know of a decent, and I obviously use that term loosely, in the Leeds/Wakefield area. Anyone?
One thing to consider, the agency doesn`t just call you and cancel your shift for the fun of it.
Ive had shifts over the last two weeks cancelled by Morrisons, *then* the agency rings me and tells me. Ive got a 5-00am on Thursday booked but we`ll see, it might get cancelled. The customer, in my case Morrisons, books a number of drivers to cover all eventualities, then nearer the time when the exact amount of freight is known they ring the agency and cancel.
These companies are in panic mode this time of year. As a temporary worker, I accept that and understand the way it is.
I believe its the customer who does the ■■■■■■ about, not the agency.
Winseer:
Once we’re all doing this, wages can rise according to supply and demand as they should in a capitalist society.
Wages do rise and fall according to supply and demand which is why rates have not gone up since the recession started, there’s plenty of drivers but not much demand for them.
Only when we’re more in demand will the rates go up, and that won’t happen until people generally are earning money and feel confident enough to spend it.
Firstly I have made my opinion clear as far as agencies are concerned, this is a tactic where they commit you for certain days this time of year to cover any demand required.
A client will call and request 20 drivers knowing full well they won’t need half that number, on Thursday and Friday of last week we had 30 agency drivers to many on both days, better to have too many they would rather pay agency blokes to sit around than to ■■■■ them of by cancelling, lots of firms will just cancel at the last minute.
If you want a steady income then maybe you should start looking for a job on the books, It’s going to be very quiet for the early part of 2013.
cheekymonkey:
Realistic?
I believe its the customer who does the ■■■■■■ about, not the agency.
I asked the agency controller why she cancelled/changed shifts and was it customer or agency. Her answer, “bit of both”
What she probably meant was ‘we’ve found a driver that’s prepared to do it for less money.’ When a new bod is used instead of someone like yourself that has been there a while it’s generally 'cos new driver is prepared to work for less, sadly.
The customer can eff about all they want. My deal is with the agency and if they cancel I expect to be paid unless they’ve given sufficient notice. The fact that their customer has let them down isn’t my problem.
If you supply company A with goods and you have a written contract in place with your supplier and then company A says ‘we don’t want them’ at the last minute, your supplier would still expect to be paid unless sufficient notice was given. I would still expect to pay for the goods even though my customer no longer wanted them…it would be my problem…
A slightly different scenario yes, but a similar principle involved.
The agency expect to make money when I do work, so if their customer let’s them down, I’m bloody sure I’m not suffering if I can help it! The agency will always blame anyone but themselves. Generally, if you are cancelled it’s either the customer has sufficient drivers for that shift, or a fellow driver has agreed to do it for less.
No problem if they give notice. Eight hours pay please if they don’t.
Sadly, if you try and get 8 hours out of them for being cancelled, you’ll spend more time sat at home with that agency, and I can assure you that they won’t pay you no matter what you think.
My agency have kept me fairly busy this year, but we’ll see what the next few weeks throw up.
Quinny:
Sadly, if you try and get 8 hours out of them for being cancelled, you’ll spend more time sat at home with that agency, and I can assure you that they won’t pay you no matter what you think.
My agency have kept me fairly busy this year, but we’ll see what the next few weeks throw up.
Should be interesting.
Ken.
Aint that the truth!
What agency you with? Don’t you work for DHL at Whitwood?
he also moans about a shift being cancelled that was booked 3 weeks in advance…come on,be realistic 
, so I thought 
any potential damage was better covered by agency insurance than me getting the boot from my new job 
As it turned out nothing happened, but my point is that the look of disbelief from them when I refused certain jobs, as I wasn’t bothered, they just weren’t used to it,… but it worked as I was still offered alternatives. So I reckon a bit of backbone, and a couple of spherical ones and you will be ok!