New EU Countries It's Starting already

[davey_driver]

Just thought I would share an e-mail I recieved today in my mail box, as you all know we are involved in the transport industry and I do offer answers to questions relating to drivers hours through another internet site which lists transportcafes

I have just spoken to John who has suggested I email you!

We are doing some research on the best way to reach drivers (for jobs) and in particular drivers in mainland Europe including Eastern Europe who may want to work in the UK. John thought you might know those websites/message boards or other networks that would reach that audience?

Any help would be appreciated.
Liz Robinson
Txxxxss Ltd

My reply to her was simply:

Hi Liz

Sorry but I feel I am not in a position to help you on this, we feel that the plight of the UK Driver should be dealt with first before allowing EU Drivers to come across here to fill vacancies, it is only the wage in the UK that has the transport industry in a crisis with many companies still offering minimum wages to professional truck drivers who have spent a lot of their own personal finances to obtain their HGV Licences.

Until Emplyers accept that wages should be higher for professionals, the industry will stay in it’s rut, the bringing of drivers from the new EU States will not help this situation as the UK minimum wage will appear as a fortune for them, it dissapoints me that 2 months before the new countries join the EC, there are people who are already looking to take advantage of these people with the pretence of “Good” wages.

I would however offer the chance of you visiting the Professional Drivers Forum at www.trucknetuk.com and make your post there, I somehow, however, do not think you would be happy with the replies you get from other drivers, I myself can be found in a posting on that site under the heading low wages, and point out quite clearly that I have no objection to these guys coming over here, after all, they are only human and would be only wanting to make a better life for their families, but I feel that until real wages are paid for men and women who are in charge of vehicles that can carry millions of pounds worth of cargo each day, then nobody would benefit except the likes of employment agencies who will want their cut out of the wages of course.

Trucknet do not permit links to be added without prior agreement, however, anybody can join in free of charge by registering.

Regards

Davey

Now if anybody thinks I’m wrong just feel free to speak up

[ohterry]

SPOT ON

[cornish_trucker]

Don’t think it could have been put any better - well done

[froggy]

Not a lot to add.hit the mark.

[jon_boy_100]

hi dave

well said mate

what happens if the language gap causes loads to become late/lost and contracts disappear due to lack of quality of the drivers

will they still look cheap then

[Lasurazes]

Fair play to you Davey, theres skullduggery afoot loosing a rake of skint countries into the EU, dunno what exactly it is, but Im sure of it.

Mal.

[dave_1]

jon boy 100:
hi dave

well said mate

what happens if the language gap causes loads to become late/lost and contracts disappear due to lack of quality of the drivers

will they still look cheap then

just because they are foreign and might not all speak english does not mean that these drivers are lacking quality. these drivers have been driving around europe for many many years and deserve our respect. thay are after all FELLOW TRUCKDRIVERS just trying to do the best they can for their families.
if i was in the same situation i would be doing the same.

sure the situation in general stinks but blame europe, blame the government BUT DONT BLAME THE DRIVER.

[Lasurazes]

sure the situation in general stinks but blame europe, blame the government BUT DONT BLAME THE DRIVER

Amen to that brother.

[muckles]

dave:
just because they are foreign and might not all speak english does not mean that these drivers are lacking quality. these drivers have been driving around europe for many many years.

Does this mean that most of the driver that would be interested in working in this country are the drivers that have already worked here, but for East European Hauliers?

[alf_apsey]

If mrs Robinson wants to research about jobs does that mean she is looking for drivers to work europe if so she can pm me as im in need of a driving job working in europe

[davey_driver]

dave:
just because they are foreign and might not all speak english does not mean that these drivers are lacking quality. these drivers have been driving around europe for many many years and deserve our respect. thay are after all FELLOW TRUCKDRIVERS just trying to do the best they can for their families.
if i was in the same situation i would be doing the same.

sure the situation in general stinks but blame europe, blame the government BUT DONT BLAME THE DRIVER.

Dave never a truer word has been said, I think however, there may only be around 40% who have actually driven on the current EU Rules, admittedly my Guestimate and not official figures.

There will be drivers who have drove on their own countries roads who have never been over a border in their life but think that a better life lays ahead in May for them by coming over to the UK to fill the Vacancies in Transport Driving.

I myself have driven in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany etc on a few occassions, however, I cannot profess to know their road signs, luckily I have always managed to get to my destination without getting lost, and I do not claim to be any brighter than these people. If I can do it then so can they, however, where I have also been lucky is the fact I was delivering to Woipey near Metz to a large company called Faure & Marche, weekly, also delivering a ships propellor to an Engineering company on the Banks of the Rhine a couple of miles south of Koblenze, my last trip last week to a company in Rodderdam Rheine Germany, again just a couple of miles off the main A2 if I think right. Luckily my destinations have always been easy, with a second man to read the maps if required.

What would worry me about the expertise of these drivers is when it comes to delivering to the likes of Newcastle Big Market, Piccadily in London, Brmingham City Centre or even to companies in residential areas, it’s frightening to think that total strangers to the EU let alone the UK are being encouraged by Employment Agencies to come to this country to take control of large vehicles on our roads, whether motorways or inner cities roads etc.

I for one would stop and offer help the same as I do now when I see a foreign vehicle parked up on a roundabout trying to guess which exit to take next, it’s a sad fact of life but in the UK the british people dont give a monkey’s about offering help, even if they just pointed the driver in the right direction it would be better than driving past them.

I only hope that before the drivers are permitted to take on the driving jobs in the UK, they are given a 1 or 2 week course teaching them the Highway code, the road signs and ensuring they understand A-Z’s etc etc etc and they are PAID for doing so.

[davey_driver]

Recieved this E-mail today from the MD of the company who initially made the request above in post 1,

Now there is nothing saying they require it to be kept confidential, and I interpret this e-mail as a way of explaining their aims, I feel it only fair to allow them to respond to our posts, but would appreciate it if they registered on Trucknet to respond personally

My name is Nick Miller. I am the MD of Tar***s , and I have read your comments with interest. Our traditional business is IT and we have seen a downfall in business due to companies shipping their IT offshore to countries such as India. There are many IT professionals now out of work and many of them are quite bitter about what has happened. The killer blow is that quite a substantial number of cheap imported Indians are coming over here under the cover of dubious “internal transfer” arrangements KPMG for instance have offices in Bangalore and use the transfer method to import cheap labour to the UK. Unlike labour agencies these abuses are sponsored as much by large International corporates as by “fly by night agencies”. Up to this point the UK has had an extremely vibrant and highly paid market of “contract IT workers” The very nature of IT work is that much of it is done on a project basis (like driving), so a mobile supply of highly skilled flexible labour force was and is a highly desirable feature of IT.
But because there has been a considerable skills shortage in IT rates have in recent years become excessive and contractors had become too well paid and too much in demand to the point where many clients began having problems attracting and retaining their contractors. As a result they started looking at alternative sources of supply; offshoring/importing labour undermined the contractor market with a vengeance My point here is that I have seen and experienced some of the concerns and anxieties that you have expressed.

We intend to set up an import facility for experienced Eastern European drivers for large driver employers such as Mastercare, DHL etc. We have teamed up with UK training and assessment centres to test drivers, and we eventually want to set up centres in places like Poland and the Czech republic. Our aim is to supplement the UK market of drivers and not to replace it with cheapies from eastern Europe. we only want the best and we intend to pay them proper market rates.

We are not a recruitment agency, we are a subscription based service company who aggregate the demand of multiple employers in order to build an infrastructure that will enable employers to access labour markets, quickly, efficiently and at low cost (without having to use agencies or advertising). We also want to use the experience of recruiting many hundreds, possibly thousands of drivers to help employers to retain their drivers. From a drivers point of view we want to be the single supply “agent” for a large proportion of drivers jobs. We do not “own” CVs/applicants in the way agencies do, drivers will use us to apply directly for jobs without having to scour multiple adverts, register with multiple agencies or have to fill out multiple application forms. We are creating a huge referral scheme that will reward drivers/businesses associated with driving/tramsport managers/CB retailers who reccomend friends who are not happy in their jobs. We intend to create a perfect market for the recruitment of drivers (i.e every driver is fully aware of every job from every employer along with pay rates and conditions). In other words bad employers will have nowhere to hide. We will also by virtue of the sheer numbers of drivers that we place be able to help drivers to change careers as it is our intention to “roll out” this model accross all job/skills categories.

Tar***s is designed to reduce costs in both terms of time (spent by drivers looking for jobs) and in terms of cash spent paying agencies unnecessarily high rates. This may or may not raise the profile of drivers, but it will certainly sharpen up employers who ignore their workers.

Ok so we are cashing in on the Eastern European market, but we are not undercutting you guys. Of course pressure will come off your pay rates but eventually demand will begin to rise accross eastern Europe and UK drivers will have greater choices themselves.

And maybe some of the savings that companies will make from advertising and agencies will find its way to you. One thing is for sure, driving cannot be sent “offshore”!

Best Regards

Nick Miller

[atkig11]

I’m impressed…Not

quote

Ok so we are cashing in on the Eastern European market, but we are not undercutting you guys. Of course pressure will come off your pay rates but eventually demand will begin to rise accross eastern Europe and UK drivers will have greater choices themselves.
quote

Really

It looks to me like a bit of a double whammy

Collect subscriptions on one hand
Charge finders fee to companies who cannot get British drivers because they will not pay the money we deserve for the job.

cheers
STEVE

[tiggz]

Davey Driver:
My name is Nick Miller. I am the MD of Tar***s , and I have read your comments with interest. Our traditional business is IT and we have seen a downfall in business due to companies shipping their IT offshore to countries such as India. There are many IT professionals now out of work and many of them are quite bitter about what has happened. The killer blow is that quite a substantial number of cheap imported Indians are coming over here under the cover of dubious “internal transfer” arrangements KPMG for instance have offices in Bangalore and use the transfer method to import cheap labour to the UK. Unlike labour agencies these abuses are sponsored as much by large International corporates as by “fly by night agencies”. Up to this point the UK has had an extremely vibrant and highly paid market of “contract IT workers” The very nature of IT work is that much of it is done on a project basis (like driving), so a mobile supply of highly skilled flexible labour force was and is a highly desirable feature of IT.
But because there has been a considerable skills shortage in IT rates have in recent years become excessive and contractors had become too well paid and too much in demand to the point where many clients began having problems attracting and retaining their contractors. As a result they started looking at alternative sources of supply; offshoring/importing labour undermined the contractor market with a vengeance My point here is that I have seen and experienced some of the concerns and anxieties that you have expressed.

The above paragraph makes yer think that this guy is a nice bloke, he feels for his side of the industry…!!! yeah right… Mr Miller is trying to find another money making scheme!

We intend to set up an import facility for experienced Eastern European drivers for large driver employers such as Mastercare, DHL etc. We have teamed up with UK training and assessment centres to test drivers, and we eventually want to set up centres in places like Poland and the Czech republic. Our aim is to supplement the UK market of drivers and not to replace it with cheapies from eastern Europe. we only want the best and we intend to pay them proper market rates.

How about you try supplimenting this side of the UK before hand to see if it works? What about the 1,000’s of people that would love a career at being a professional driver in the UK, but can’t due to the ever increasing cost and not being taken seriously!

We do not “own” CVs/applicants in the way agencies do

Sorry but no agency has ever said that i am obliged to work for them and them only and if they did they would get a very polite but direct response!

We intend to create a perfect market for the recruitment of drivers (i.e every driver is fully aware of every job from every employer along with pay rates and conditions). In other words bad employers will have nowhere to hide. We will also by virtue of the sheer numbers of drivers that we place be able to help drivers to change careers as it is our intention to “roll out” this model accross all job/skills categories.

A perfect market for the recruitment of drivers■■? this guys having a laugh…

Ok so we are cashing in on the Eastern European market, but we are not undercutting you guys. Of course pressure will come off your pay rates but eventually demand will begin to rise accross eastern Europe and UK drivers will have greater choices themselves.

how this guy got to being an MD i’ll never know, i think he should be running for the next prime minister you’ve changed your direction so many times i’ve lost count…!!!

And maybe some of the savings that companies will make from advertising and agencies will find its way to you. One thing is for sure, driving cannot be sent “offshore”!

Best Regards

Nick Miller

No it won’t make it’s way to us uk professional drivers, it will makes it’s way to your pocket and the advertising it takes for you to muster up this master plan in the EU.

I’m going for a large cup of coffee!

[ollie]

We intend to set up an import facility for experienced Eastern European drivers for large driver employers such as Mastercare, DHL etc.

I was a Class 1 driver with Mastercare, they made me redundant a few months ago…