A subject cropped up in a post i made on another thread, and i wondered if it might be worth a thread of its own.
That is payback.
We’ve been through some dire times in transport over the last decade, during which some people and companies (mind you some have always been like this) basically took the ■■■■ out of their employees, either by bullying to some extent through to mild blackmail in the full knowledge that there were few places to take your skills to, not forgetting the lack of wage increases for thousands of drivers whilst the bosses might well have trousered salaries and bonuses worth a drivers lifetime earnings and bought mansions and an annual new Range Rover and swapped trophy wives for new more expensive upmarket models, all on the graft of decent staff who got shafted.
Do any of you have individuals or companies in mind (no names necessary of course), through bitter previous experience, that no matter how much they begged or what they offered there is no way on this earth they could ever tempt you back, or if you were to go back would it only be payback another way?
Any sorts of payback could be covered here, not suggesting anything illegal or immoral of course, its just that sometimes these bullying bigheads need taking down a peg or three, and finding a good alternative job then helping your competent mates out by letting them know of this other job, and putting a word in if a change is what they want too, can be quite rewarding in so many ways… 
always several ways to skin a cat
To be fair there are some decent employers, large and small, who struggled equally to keep afloat and keep their staff working during the downtimes, and struggled to make ends meet themselves, no one has an argument with the decent sticks.
Norfolk co. ruled by the owner with an iron rod. We all had decent trucks, sign written with your name on the door, all the bells and whistles ect. Trailer over weight? ‘Trucks capable get on with it’… Pulled Norfolk Line tilts, pay was load rate related…need i say more…
Don’t know if this is the right thread for this but our TM got a right dressing down last night. A driver came into the office and asked to have a word with the TM, all polite and such. He told him that he couldn’t get access to the Adblue tank because its almost always blocked by trailers or rigids. To this, my TM replied in a sarcastic tone “Why do you move it?”. Oh boy that didn’t go down well with our new compliance officer. This compliance officer is ex-VOSA so he knows the rule book inside out. Our TM has been known in the past to run drivers bent or very close to bent so this guy who’s just come in and tearing the place up is not sitting well but its good for us drivers though. Well, this sarcastic comment from my TM was the straw that broke the camels back. The compliance officer just let rip at my TM. “Why do you always give sarcastic answers to drivers who have problems? No wonder drivers are getting ■■■■■■ off! No wonder why we are LOSING drivers!”
All this is coming off a week where we had a fair few problems with trucks and tacho’s. We have a few trucks where the night heaters don’t work. My TM just dismissed the complaints because we (shift workers) not doing nights out anyway. Our tachos now much match what we put on the timesheets, no one was keeping track of this so the records are all wrong. We’ve had 3 drivers hand in notices in short succession with more either planning to leave or retire. We can’t get drivers, only 3 night drivers, the rest are all agency and its been like this for over a year now since we’ve had this new contract.
We all were worried when this ex-VOSA came in but now, I believe he’s the only one standing up for the drivers at our place!
now this comes from a family member …not me you understand! . Well once apon a time in thatchers Britain (first term) up north he was working as a driver and unfortunately 2 jobs in 6 months as the companies went bust. He landed a job with a small parcel firm driving a 7.5 ford cargo ( was meant to be an artic on traction work out of irish sea ports) anyway on his first day he finds his motor has no glass in N/s mirror and a look around road tax disk was the same on all the other motors ,same reg. 
so after a bit of kin around they taped a small mirror in its place and off he went (rent was due etc) asked about fuel card ,was told phone in …so left yard at 6am come 6pm still delivering in big city 2hrs away and needing fuel phones in and told go to ****** well he arrives and is shown the heating oil tank for the house and a piece off hose …ok so heads back with a dozen or so drops on …same next day …3rd day he gets told take unit and pick up a ferry trailer down south and pull into yard on way back well he is told by the boss to go and have a tea down the street and come back in half an hr…well he does and noticed all the trailer tyres are now changed to ■■■■■■■■■■■■ ones well he runs it to the port drops trailer ,picks up another and back to yard park inside see you in the morning(18hr day) well this carries on for another day and my reli says enough !!! so asks for his wages and is given 20 pound cash for each day!! words are exchanged and my reli has to leave or he would need new knees (blackndecker)…anyway on the Monday goes and signs on dole ,have you worked in the last 2 weeks nope well asked into back office and told he worked for *****for a week and paid 100cash (mmmm how would they have known that then)…so no dole ,lucky not to be taken to court. Funny thing the company was raided by customs,dot,police and put out of business the following week. they blamed my reli but he still swears he never did it ,he was going to smash the windscreens . true story.
I’m not necessarily sure I want payback, but I’ll always ensure I steer people clear of a poor situation in the hope that a shortfall occurs and improvements are made… (Some hope Juddian! 
)
As for Radar’s comment about the increasing numbers of agency drivers, and difficulty in retaining FTW’s.
I think the best step forward we can hope for in regards to real proper jobs where you are considered an asset, is to change the cost difference (tax) of agency workers. Large scale ‘COST EFFECTIVE’ agency employment is a cancerous leach on society and the working class… 
(An accountant shouldn’t be able to tell a boss that they can run a large percentage of their “full time” staff agency, cheaper than FTW’s 
)
This along with a glut in labour, and the RESULTING requirement to introduce the SUBSISTENCE wage!
Well I can 99% say that I won’t be going back to my old place in a hurry, probably won’t have me any way, too Gobby ! I was one of the few that pointed out the Management failings, that they didn’t act on.
I seem to have fallen on my feet now, with 48 hour average weeks, plenty of rest days, every weekend off, all of Christmas off, good salary, some long days-but hey ! This is haulage [emoji57]
I just wonder why my last company couldn’t or wouldn’t offer similar conditions ?
The MD seemed well off with his Bentley & Range Rover, kept buying numerous new wagons every year, getting the depot redeveloped as we speak, but Screws the drivers with stupid long days/every day, long waits to get loaded/unloaded & fairly low pay (for the area)
Oh well, my payback is withdrawing my labour along with around 50% of his workforce in the last 2 years & leaving them to pay astronomically high agency bills. [emoji6]
Evil8Beezle:
I’m not necessarily sure I want payback, but I’ll always ensure I steer people clear of a poor situation in the hope that a shortfall occurs and improvements are made… (Some hope Juddian! )
As for Radar’s comment about the increasing numbers of agency drivers, and difficulty in retaining FTW’s.
I think the best step forward we can hope for in regards to real proper jobs where you are considered an asset, is to change the cost difference (tax) of agency workers. Large scale ‘COST EFFECTIVE’ agency employment is a cancerous leach on society and the working class…
(An accountant shouldn’t be able to tell a boss that they can run a large percentage of their “full time” staff agency, cheaper than FTW’s )
This along with a glut in labour, and the RESULTING requirement to introduce the SUBSISTENCE wage!
There is one agency guy at our place, been here for 3 years… On agency! The office has tried to employ him but he told them to get lost in no uncertain terms. As agency he’s on more money than us, hourly paid compared to us who are salaried up to 9 hours then its overtime paid hourly yet he still gets all the perks of being employed. Having his own unit is one of them.
We’ve been adveristing for full time drivers for over a year for this new contract we got, part of the stipulation was that the drivers had to be British or speak good English, the trailers must be used this contract and nothing else and no agency. I’m sure you can guess where this is going… The day drivers are mostly British with some EE thrown in and most of them speak English well enough to get by. On a night time though, its a whole different ball game. Only one agency lad is any good, the rest don’t want to know. There are only 3 full time night drivers, all the rest is either farmed out to agency or to subbies.
This place has a reputation as a poor place to work. Management ■■■■■, only interested to saving their own ends, don’t give a toss about the drivers which creates a negative work atmosphere. ‘Why should we care about the job when management don’t care about us’ vibe going on. Couple this with long hours, poor pay and sub-standard equipment you’ve got a breeding ground for resentment as evidenced by the lack of new drivers coming in.
Radar19:
Evil8Beezle:
I’m not necessarily sure I want payback, but I’ll always ensure I steer people clear of a poor situation in the hope that a shortfall occurs and improvements are made… (Some hope Juddian! [emoji38])
As for Radar’s comment about the increasing numbers of agency drivers, and difficulty in retaining FTW’s.
I think the best step forward we can hope for in regards to real proper jobs where you are considered an asset, is to change the cost difference (tax) of agency workers. Large scale ‘COST EFFECTIVE’ agency employment is a cancerous leach on society and the working class…
(An accountant shouldn’t be able to tell a boss that they can run a large percentage of their “full time” staff agency, cheaper than FTW’s )
This along with a glut in labour, and the RESULTING requirement to introduce the SUBSISTENCE wage!
There is one agency guy at our place, been here for 3 years… On agency! The office has tried to employ him but he told them to get lost in no uncertain terms. As agency he’s on more money than us, hourly paid compared to us who are salaried up to 9 hours then its overtime paid hourly yet he still gets all the perks of being employed. Having his own unit is one of them.
We’ve been adveristing for full time drivers for over a year for this new contract we got, part of the stipulation was that the drivers had to be British or speak good English, the trailers must be used this contract and nothing else and no agency. I’m sure you can guess where this is going… The day drivers are mostly British with some EE thrown in and most of them speak English well enough to get by. On a night time though, its a whole different ball game. Only one agency lad is any good, the rest don’t want to know. There are only 3 full time night drivers, all the rest is either farmed out to agency or to subbies.
This place has a reputation as a poor place to work. Management ■■■■■, only interested to saving their own ends, don’t give a toss about the drivers which creates a negative work atmosphere. ‘Why should we care about the job when management don’t care about us’ vibe going on. Couple this with long hours, poor pay and sub-standard equipment you’ve got a breeding ground for resentment as evidenced by the lack of new drivers coming in.
Lots of Agency guys at Concorde Logistics turned down the job there because they did not want to be on a set salary doing 15h days and paid for 9. On agency they got paid for the full 15h so I don’t blame them.
And in turn avoid concorde logistics in Lutterworth.
■■■■ poor planning, poor staff in office who ain’t got a clue. Only two-three have any knowledge of transport. Set salary.
The job itself delivering furniture was easy enough though you was expected to build glass tables ect… with no formal training or protective gloves.
Things will never change there until they have a clear out of that office.
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It is not a straight forward subject this one, but Juddian is correct in saying it is interesting. I am amongst the first to slate poor paying jobs, however not everyone is as assertive/reckless/confident (delete as applicable) as my good self! However we are not all in the same boat…
Scenario 1; New driver gets offered a position but the pay is poor. In all honesty I can understand somebody working there for 12 months, being paid to garner experience.
Scenario 2; Rural/Limited haulage jobs; Similar story as above. I can understand someone working for £8.50 ph if there are only 2 haulage companies within a reasonable commuting distance, and they are both crap. What’s the alternative? Don’t work and be broke and struggle to look after your children?
So sometimes you have to cut your cloth according to your fabric and I suppose I am lucky with plenty work available locally, and some of it a decent screw…and besides, there are many on here who say one company is rubbish and then someone else comes on and says it’s great!
NLC Transport Warrington.
Job and knock but phone constantly on the go each and every day taking you well past finishing time. Never had an early dart in the 2 weeks i lasted. Oh and no overtime pay.
Damages docked out of pay-packet. Lose a mudflap? thats 2 and a half hundred quid thanks.
Cowboys. Even got told this by the bentest recruitment consultant in warrington (Tempstation) so tells you all you need to know.
I thought it was illegal to dock money out of wages you’ve earned?
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I suppose my end of it is suing the firm for not backing me up when injured by faulty kit. I never understood to this day whey I didn’t get the backup I needed, which would have involved the firm paying me full sick pay whilst off ten months with the injury, and assisting me to go after the faulty kit manufacturer for a payout, instead of putting me on zero pay, attempting to reduce my pension, and looking for a reason to get rid of me instead. C’est La Vie I guess. (Settled out of court) Anyone would think that the firm owned outright the faulty kit manufacturer, which eventually saw all new trailers brought from them withdrawn from service, nationwide - with the same fault that had led to my own injury. All in all, a most strange way to play the whole thing on the firm’s party?!
Nolans, I’d slit my own throat before I worked for that shower of ■■■■■ again
Gerry Jones Transport, poor in every way imaginable.
eagerbeaver:
It is not a straight forward subject this one, but Juddian is correct in saying it is interesting. I am amongst the first to slate poor paying jobs, however not everyone is as assertive/reckless/confident (delete as applicable) as my good self! However we are not all in the same boat…
Scenario 1; New driver gets offered a position but the pay is poor. In all honesty I can understand somebody working there for 12 months, being paid to garner experience.
Scenario 2; Rural/Limited haulage jobs; Similar story as above. I can understand someone working for £8.50 ph if there are only 2 haulage companies within a reasonable commuting distance, and they are both crap. What’s the alternative? Don’t work and be broke and struggle to look after your children?
So sometimes you have to cut your cloth according to your fabric and I suppose I am lucky with plenty work available locally, and some of it a decent screw…and besides, there are many on here who say one company is rubbish and then someone else comes on and says it’s great!
well bud I have to say this post o yours hits the spot…scenario 2 is the reason I left rural Scotland aged 48 with f all but 3 skids to our name to go to Canada! and start again.
SuperMultiBlue:
Cowboys. Even got told this by the bentest recruitment consultant in warrington (Tempstation) so tells you all you need to know.
Have the pleasure of dealing with Steve? And Marta? Shocking the way they handle things at Tempstation… They play the victim told me they wasn’t getting paid a lot and if they paid me any more it wouldn’t be worth it turned out the employer was paying a day rate a lot higher than what was reflected to me! so i made it even better for them ■■■■■■ them off and got the job direct instead… Steve text to tell me he’s ■■■■■■ off, I replied sorry i’ll go back to working through you so you can take your cut! Idiots think we’re daft…
one thing I’ve learnt in my first 5 months of class 1’ing is there is too much work to allow some ■■■ behind a desk to take a cut of your hard earned days pay!!
JIMBO47:
eagerbeaver:
It is not a straight forward subject this one, but Juddian is correct in saying it is interesting. I am amongst the first to slate poor paying jobs, however not everyone is as assertive/reckless/confident (delete as applicable) as my good self! However we are not all in the same boat…
Scenario 1; New driver gets offered a position but the pay is poor. In all honesty I can understand somebody working there for 12 months, being paid to garner experience.
Scenario 2; Rural/Limited haulage jobs; Similar story as above. I can understand someone working for £8.50 ph if there are only 2 haulage companies within a reasonable commuting distance, and they are both crap. What’s the alternative? Don’t work and be broke and struggle to look after your children?
So sometimes you have to cut your cloth according to your fabric and I suppose I am lucky with plenty work available locally, and some of it a decent screw…and besides, there are many on here who say one company is rubbish and then someone else comes on and says it’s great!
well bud I have to say this post o yours hits the spot…scenario 2 is the reason I left rural Scotland aged 48 with f all but 3 skids to our name to go to Canada! and start again.
I’ll be around that age when I’d be looking to move there. Are you still trucking?
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