Just received an email today from the RHA asking for support and to sign a survey/petition to lobby the home office to allow immediate access to the global labour market to ease the current situation. This is to enable additional transport workforce to live and work here by offering housing etc to attract those who have left to return. The end is nigh so it seems?
Baaaa, Baaaa, Baaaa. Mint Sauce.
Nothing new or unexpected from the RHA. Their only agenda is to promote members interest. Flooding the market with cheap labour is definitely a remedy they would welcome. Regards Kev.
Just send it back with '■■■■ YOU in massive letters right across it.
It’s like asking turkeys to vote for Chrustmas.
You can sure as hell bet that those amongst us who agree with every ■■■■ thing told to them by authoritative figures, and comply by second nature will be thick enough to sign it. 
The RHA…
Backhanders boys club getting things wrong again?
Bit of a first innit?
Seriously, are the even fit for purpose?
yourhavingalarf:
The RHA…Backhanders boys club getting things wrong again?
Bit of a first innit?
Seriously, are the even fit for purpose?
I don’t think they are mate, its all for the hauliers and not for the drivers
Can some one put the RHA toys back in its pram please 
Yorkshire Tramper:
I don’t think they are mate, its all for the hauliers and not for the drivers
It’s always…
Been that way. Time was when you saw the RHA logo painted on the corner of a lorry, it garnered a little respect from me. Those days are long gone.
yourhavingalarf:
Yorkshire Tramper:
I don’t think they are mate, its all for the hauliers and not for the driversIt’s always…
Been that way. Time was when you saw the RHA logo painted on the corner of a lorry, it garnered a little respect from me. Those days are long gone.
When I first set up as Haulier in the early 90s I joined the RHA, they were helpful with “O” licence advice and also getting good finance info for vehicles and trailers. I kept up the membership for a few years as the info was up to date and relevant. After a while all I seemed to get from them was news of upcoming “junkets” abroad for an AGM or such like.
In common with most small businesses this was not an option, so I reviewed my needs, balanced with the cost of membership and did not renew at year end. I never regretted the decision. Regards Kev.
Our leaders are weak and could easily bow to pressure, especially with media pressure building.
Others have already posted it on this board:
Those eastern europeans - have returned east, because they cannot rum their IR35 abuse co-ops any longer. They won’t be back "just because they’ve been invited with permanant leave to remain dangled before their eyes. They’re DONE with blighty. It was a great wheeze whilst it lasted.
The scramble now for employers - is to corner the market in the more experienced and premium quality drivers, often by poaching long-standing full timers from other firms, rather than offer “start opportunities” to new drivers.
That’s an advantage over a firm’s competitors that only cold, hard cash - can bring.
Observation: RM are no longer the top hourly rate payers in this industry that block-book their drivers.
Thus, people like me who’ve already left RM - are at the front of the queue, with others still there - shying away from “jumping ship whilst the sun is still shining”… 
The great mystery to me - is why people on <£12ph Full Time at this point - STILL won’t get off their arses and cross the floor, as it were…
If you don’t get up and nail the job before long, it’ll send you to an early grave, most likely…
The lower the hourly rate - the higher the pressure to work limitless hours per week to make ends meet with the bottom line…
What’s better? - To take home £800pw on a full time job that has you at work 84 hours per week or more
OR do 48 hours at an agency for the same takehome?
There’s plenty of people on here - already flashing their payslip data, demonstrating that this is perfectly possible these days…
No, I’m not one of them - as I don’t do “any five from seven” as you all well know. 
Winseer:
Thus, people like me who’ve already left RM - are at the front of the queue
Christ 
. The ‘shortage’ must be a lot worse than I thought.
DCPCFML:
Winseer:
Thus, people like me who’ve already left RM - are at the front of the queueChrist
There’s a couple of long term drivers where I’m at who are leaving to go work elsewhere. Wages have risen where they live to the point that what Howdens pay is no longer that much better that it’s worth travelling 30 miles for - it wasn’t that long ago that they were over 25% above the norm for the area and certainly for agency the best paying gig in the county other than fuel tankers. It’s been a dead man’s shoes place to get a job for as long as I can remember and the only reason people left was because of losing their licence, getting made redundant or getting the sack.
We’re in strange times. My reckoning is there’s another 6-12 months of this rapid increase in wages then it’ll all settle down and it’ll be small to non-existent pay rises for the next several years.
From Roadway Magazine.
Note the word PUBLIC.
There is strong public support for a relaxation of immigration rules to tackle the HGV driver shortage crisis, and other labour shortages.
We are continuing to call for truck drivers to be included on the Shortage Occupation List as a short-term measure to ease the pressure on the UK supply chain while a UK-based workforce is trained up.
This featured on the 12-point action plan we submitted to government earlier this year, but has yet to be acted on.
A poll for PoliticsHome shows that 47 percent of respondents support a relaxation of rules for professional drivers coming to work from the EU, while 21% opposed it. Further, 56% said that they supported adding HGV drivers to the Shortage Occupation List, compared to 11% who oppose it.
The independent survey of 2,000 people was carried out by Redfield & Wilton Strategies between 18-19 August. 61% of respondents who had read or heard about it — 61% — said they were concerned by it.
These results come as McDonald’s have confirmed they’re unable to supply bottled drinks and milkshakes in any of the GB branches, as they’re unable to get enough truck drivers to secure the supply.
Last week Nando’s closed 50 branches as they were unable to get chicken delivered to their restaurants. These outages of critical products come as supermarkets across Britain are affected by empty shelves.
RHA managing director Rod McKenzie told Channel 4 News that these outages will continue, and will get worse, until government takes action to bring the HGV driver shortage crisis to an end.
Time for the freshly elected head of Unite to make it crystal clear to the government that any hint of giving in to this shareholder driven campaign to reintroduce foreign workers, in this and other sectors, will result in a call for all out strike action.
Wheel Nut:
From Roadway Magazine.Note the word PUBLIC.
There is strong public support for a relaxation of immigration rules to tackle the HGV driver shortage crisis, and other labour shortages.
We are continuing to call for truck drivers to be included on the Shortage Occupation List as a short-term measure to ease the pressure on the UK supply chain while a UK-based workforce is trained up.
This featured on the 12-point action plan we submitted to government earlier this year, but has yet to be acted on.
A poll for PoliticsHome shows that 47 percent of respondents support a relaxation of rules for professional drivers coming to work from the EU, while 21% opposed it. Further, 56% said that they supported adding HGV drivers to the Shortage Occupation List, compared to 11% who oppose it.
The independent survey of 2,000 people was carried out by Redfield & Wilton Strategies between 18-19 August. 61% of respondents who had read or heard about it — 61% — said they were concerned by it.
These results come as McDonald’s have confirmed they’re unable to supply bottled drinks and milkshakes in any of the GB branches, as they’re unable to get enough truck drivers to secure the supply.
Last week Nando’s closed 50 branches as they were unable to get chicken delivered to their restaurants. These outages of critical products come as supermarkets across Britain are affected by empty shelves.
RHA managing director Rod McKenzie told Channel 4 News that these outages will continue, and will get worse, until government takes action to bring the HGV driver shortage crisis to an end.
Let’s be realistic : the public doesn’t give a ■■■■ about our pay or conditions or anything else. All they care about is that Tesco has everything they need when they do their shop on Friday night. If that means that Tomasz and Krzysztof need to be shipped in from Latvia and paid 50p per hour to make it happen, they would be fully in support of it and turn a blind eye to the drivers being paid a pittance as it doesn’t affect them.
I remember about a year ago in the USA when there was talk of a $15 minimum wage (eg. for fast food restaurant workers), everyone was fully in support of it, thought it was a fantastic idea, very overdue etc. Then some reporters went and interviewed customers exiting McDonald’s, Burger King etc, asking them if they were happy with paying an extra $1 for their Happy Meals in order to pay for these new $15 minimum wages. Oddly, no-one liked that idea and said they wouldn’t be prepared to pay it.
Conor:
DCPCFML:
Winseer:
Thus, people like me who’ve already left RM - are at the front of the queueChrist
There’s a couple of long term drivers where I’m at who are leaving to go work elsewhere. Wages have risen where they live to the point that what Howdens pay is no longer that much better that it’s worth travelling 30 miles for - it wasn’t that long ago that they were over 25% above the norm for the area and certainly for agency the best paying gig in the county other than fuel tankers. It’s been a dead man’s shoes place to get a job for as long as I can remember and the only reason people left was because of losing their licence, getting made redundant or getting the sack.
We’re in strange times. My reckoning is there’s another 6-12 months of this rapid increase in wages then it’ll all settle down and it’ll be small to non-existent pay rises for the next several years.
I’m not even sure there’s that long in it. A lot of rates have risen yet there are still vacancies at these places. Won’t be long before some firms start thinking what’s the point in raising wages as its not having the desired affect.
Fortunately, for drivers:
The government have proven they couldn’t organize a ■■■■-up in a brewery.
The RHA have proven they are no friends of drivers, so won’t be trusted by insiders that have real solutions.
Market Forces, normally kicked to the back by successive Governments - have now come home to roost.
Either you pay the rising new going rates - or you flouder as a business See other threads “Where’s all me drivers gone”…
EEs, Romanians and Moldovans in particular - have had the IR35 loophole closed, which means curtains in the medium to long term for those agencies like Staffline, and others - that seem to have a disproportionate number of them organizing the work as “Agency Consultants”… That means more plum jobs divided up among the other agencies run by actual British born people keen to dish jobs out to actual experienced-on-British-road drivers, oddly enough.
Unions - are about to prove that they, too - are in effective, and people will start to question "Wot has our Union ever gotten us outside of Labour being in power for the last 11 years?"
The attempt at present, is to deny rock-solid pay rises in the directly employed sector, whilst allowing rates to float properly only in the agency sector.
That’s fine to a certain extent, provided the work drops dead in January as expected by so many, thus making now underpaid full timers realize that they were correct not to jump shift after all…
BUT… What if the work remains as busy as ever, the shortage of drivers wanting <£12ph directly employed FT jobs continues, and then we throw the wildcard in - Some agencies have been closed down by the IR35 crackdown?
The same or slightly less work - divided up among fewer agencies, that already have their books full now of experienced UK drivers still here, that have not gone home, because someone at HMRC has ■■■■■■ on their chips for the tax dodges they cannot get away with any longer…
The more astute firms out there - will be offering their full timers BIG pay rises NOW then.
That already includes the likes of Aldi, Lidl, Tescos, but not so Sainsburys to date…
Whilst it is no surprise that Sainsburys have voted for strike action - what would such a strike achieve - even if they got everything they wanted (which they wouldn’t, even with a top-notch Union Rep doing the “negotiating” - Right?)
Is there a driver shortage?
For the first time ever I’ve had 3 failed loads this week, all in the food supply side of things. I get the occasional 1 failed load, but not 3 in a week - 2 of which in the same night.
The reason for the failures were running out of time after waiting 3+ hours to start being tipped etc, and being pulled out. But the places I was at were rammed with lorries and drivers. It appeared to be a huge shortage of warehouse staff to load/unload that was the problem. There were plenty of lorry drivers hanging around on bays, in booking-in yards etc, doing nothing.
I don’t buy the lorry driver shortage narrative.