Yesterday when I finished work I got chatting to one of my fellow agency drivers and he told me something quite interesting…
He said that later this year, the EU is to bring in a new law stating that agency drivers are to get the same pay as the full time/employed drivers for the company that they’re working for. Now as he was saying this, a familiar, yet unpleasant smell passed by my nose…since I hadn’t passed wind I concluded that he was leaking the so called BS that so many people speak of…
…but has anyone heard anything similar by other people? Whilst I didn’t enjoy his smell, I thought I’d give him a slight benefit of the doubt. IF this rumour did turn out to be true, what changes do you think this would bring to our industry?
Agency rates have dropped alot in the last year that if you work out what the firms drivers are on. You will find they are on more than agency drivers taking all the company benefits in to consideration. Tell me how many agency’s now pay double time for a Sunday none! The agency i have been working for asked me if i would work Xmas day 22.00 start i asked how much£1+ i will not say how much they said it was that bad i told them some thing connected with ■■■ and travel.
Agency rates have dropped alot in the last year that if you work out what the firms drivers are on. You will find they are on more than agency drivers taking all the company benefits in to consideration. Tell me how many agency’s now pay double time for a Sunday none! The agency i have been working for asked me if i would work Xmas day 22.00 start i asked how much£1+ i will not say how much they said it was that bad i told them some thing connected with ■■■ and travel.
i know of an agency that still pay double time, how does sunday 7pm start till 7 am monday. £15 an hour all the way through driving a puddle jumper
I haven’t kept track of it since the original proposals were made last year, but he was talking about the Agency Workers Directive, or Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (in the UK) which are due to come into Force in October this year. There are due to be a lot of changes, but it’s still unclear how it will affect the industry. One of the main points is that after an employee has been with a contract for 12 weeks through an agency must be entitled to the same working conditions (“duration of working time, overtime, breaks, rest periods, night work, holidays, public holidays and pay”) as if they were hired directly by the hirer to do the same job. *UK Government Web Archive
It’s actually quite a minefield and even though the government has agreed to accept it in the large part I think there are still a lot of negotiations going on to see what can be opted out of. Needless to say, the agency guy I deal with occasionally has heard of it but knows nothing about it…
My Miss work’s for one of the supermarket chains and she told me that they said about it to her in December (her manager) and that due to that fact they will have to make some changes about employing agency staff. What they actually did is that they started to take people on permanent contract as taking agency will rise the cost of the company.
What they said is that if I’m not wrong now that any agency staff will gain this right after working 12 weeks for the particular company, so I personally think that agency will give you/us job for few week in one place and for few days somewhere else to avoid it, but I have no clue what the regulation says in details.
I work for other supermarket chain and what they are doing now is the same - they are recruiting more staff ( I was rejected due to the others matching their criteria more than me I’m good enough to work with them through agency but not to be permanent )
tallyman:
I haven’t kept track of it since the original proposals were made last year, but he was talking about the Agency Workers Directive, or Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (in the UK) which are due to come into Force in October this year.
I heard it will be from About March/April. But I’m not giving my head for it.
Adam_Mc:
He said that later this year, the EU is to bring in a new law stating that agency drivers are to get the same pay as the full time/employed drivers for the company that they’re working for.
I hope to god they don’t say the pay has to be the same because pretty much universally every job I’ve been on with agencies, I’ve been on higher pay than the companies employees. Record one was at Reed Boardall in the late 90’s where my basic rate was their overtime rate.
i heard this off a printing manager last april cos he does the hiring and firing and used alot of agency workers to drive the flt, its meant to be implemented this october but its only a good thing if your agency pays less than the employer pays am not sure if the rule will apply across the board so you may find yourself earning less on the agency if its rates are higher than the employer so could be tricky
Well…I haven’t clicked on any of the links yet but it seems as though this old fella was talking some truth For me this would be great…I could work 20% less than I do now and get considerably more pay and other benefits such as 15% off shopping and so on…but I wonder if maybe the law would stipulate a new “Minimum Wage” for truckers who would be at a loss if they went down to £7.50 and hour. I’d just leave. I’ve given myself until about June/July…if I’m not employed full time by Sainsbury’s then I’m going to look towards leaving trucking altogether.
Adam_Mc:
Well…I haven’t clicked on any of the links yet but it seems as though this old fella was talking some truth For me this would be great…I could work 20% less than I do now and get considerably more pay and other benefits such as 15% off shopping and so on…but I wonder if maybe the law would stipulate a new “Minimum Wage” for truckers who would be at a loss if they went down to £7.50 and hour. I’d just leave. I’ve given myself until about June/July…if I’m not employed full time by Sainsbury’s then I’m going to look towards leaving trucking altogether.
you dont work from that rat hole of a sainsbury’s at basingstoke? looks like its due for demolition
Adam_Mc:
Well…I haven’t clicked on any of the links yet but it seems as though this old fella was talking some truth For me this would be great…I could work 20% less than I do now and get considerably more pay and other benefits such as 15% off shopping and so on…but I wonder if maybe the law would stipulate a new “Minimum Wage” for truckers who would be at a loss if they went down to £7.50 and hour. I’d just leave. I’ve given myself until about June/July…if I’m not employed full time by Sainsbury’s then I’m going to look towards leaving trucking altogether.
you dont work from that rat hole of a sainsbury’s at basingstoke? looks like its due for demolition
lol Yes I do…admittedly the depot was built for rigids in the 60’s, but I can’t see them getting rid of anytime soon…to be honest its not a bad depot from a drivers point of view.
mac12:
will sainsburys take you of agency and give you job
That’s what I’m hoping for but they haven’t recruited drivers for almost 3 years now…I’ve given myself until June/July to be in a full time job with them. If not then I’ll be looking to leave haulage.
I just dont understand why companies dont hire, we have agency men who are in every single day and there is always work for them. They may aswell be core. I thought the whole point of agency’s was to cover short term ie holiday cover, sickness etc. But some companies just seem to use them constantly.
merc0447:
I just dont understand why companies dont hire, we have agency men who are in every single day and there is always work for them. They may aswell be core. I thought the whole point of agency’s was to cover short term ie holiday cover, sickness etc. But some companies just seem to use them constantly.
Some agency drivers are actually quite happy to NOT to be part af the core staff.
The enjoy a more flexible approach to a particular site even though they may have been on the same job for several years. Others however only see agency work as a stop gap between full time jobs. It’s really down to the individuals POV & how much they need the financial security of full time employment
As mac12 says, the hirer has to pay the agency if they take on a driver perm - used to be equivalent of 3 months salary a few years ago. But also, many hirers want to keep the flexibility of having a percentage of agency drivers who can be laid off with immediate notice if not needed - there’s no way they can do that to core staff.
I’m good enough to work with them through agency but not to be permanent 
For me this would be great…I could work 20% less than I do now and get considerably more pay and other benefits such as 15% off shopping and so on…but I wonder if maybe the law would stipulate a new “Minimum Wage” for truckers who would be at a loss if they went down to £7.50 and hour. I’d just leave. I’ve given myself until about June/July…if I’m not employed full time by Sainsbury’s then I’m going to look towards leaving trucking altogether.