Is it just me, or does anyone else feel very uneasy with the idea of the Army being used to support fuel companies in an industrial dispute?
I really do wonder what sort of country we are becoming…considering that between the Armed Forces a huge number of trades are mirrored with that of a civilian nature, is this a sign of things to come?
Would the Army start delivering East Eggs if we went on strike at Easter? no.
The nation needs fuel, I have several friends who are fuel tanker drivers and they are some of the best paid drivers I can think of.
If they want to go on strike moaning then fair enough, but the product still needs to be delivered.
That’s what we pay taxes for. People who support us in times of crisis, the colour of their uniform is of no consequence (to me).
Don’t worry, we’re not going to turn into a despotic, Orwellian nightmare of a society by having a few soldiers on the streets.
That’s what CCTV was invented for, much cheaper you see. 
I don’t like the idea of the Army getting involved. It’s an industrial dispute, they should be kept out of it.
Scarab:
I have several friends who are fuel tanker drivers and they are some of the best paid drivers I can think of.
If they want to go on strike moaning then fair enough, but the product still needs to be delivered.
They’re so well paid because they’re willing to stick together when their terms and conditions are being eroded. Your attitude is typical of why the hourly rate for drivers is ■■■■■■ You’re just happy to sit back and take a shafting, or as some on here say, if you don’t like it find somewhere else.
Good on the tanker drivers for sticking up for themselves. The Army should be kept well out of it.
MikeCunn:
I don’t like the idea of the Army getting involved. It’s an industrial dispute, they should be kept out of it.Scarab:
I have several friends who are fuel tanker drivers and they are some of the best paid drivers I can think of.
If they want to go on strike moaning then fair enough, but the product still needs to be delivered.They’re so well paid because they’re willing to stick together when their terms and conditions are being eroded. Your attitude is typical of why the hourly rate for drivers is [zb]. You’re just happy to sit back and take a shafting, or as some on here say, if you don’t like it find somewhere else.
Good on the tanker drivers for sticking up for themselves. The Army should be kept well out of it.
Well said.
I firmly beleive that if we all stuck together and did something about the working conditions and pay that we have to suffer, then we would be a force to be reckoned with, we are the blood that flows in this Countries veins, we need to stop the flow for a short period of time, see what the rest of the body does then!
Please don’t blame the army. The government changed the rules deciding that fuel delivery was of national important. Do you think that the army what to be in the middle of a strike, when they have just had a pay cut in real terms but still needs to get involved in this sort of crap.
will the army charge the companies for delivering the fuel or is it a freebie for them?
if it’s going to be a freebie then there is no way that the bosses will even talk constructively.
From what I know the Government now can charge for the use of Military in aiding the civilian companies. This changed I believe after the fire strikes.
stevenmac08:
Please don’t blame the army. The government changed the rules deciding that fuel delivery was of national important. Do you think that the army what to be in the middle of a strike, when they have just had a pay cut in real terms but still needs to get involved in this sort of crap.
Who’s blaming the Army?
Fuel IS of national importance, you can’t deny that?
If all of a sudden there was no fuel, there’d be many on here going “the government should ensure we get our fuel, we are the backbone of the nation blah blah”
Yet when the government does actually say “Yeah ok, we need to make sure the fuel still gets through” it’s not ok because it’s the tanker drivers who are stopping it?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; If you don’t like the terms and conditions where you work, find somewhere else! nobody has a god given right to a job. If the industry you’re in can’t sustain your lifestyle then go work in another one.
YES, I agree it’s a lifestyle not a job, BUT there are many many more people who see it just as a job, and these people will always work for less than you or I because it’s a job that can be valued lowly. You can shave a monkey, train him in an artic and have him delivering loads within a week.
If a job is that easy to get into, then it will always be low paid.
To work at somewhere like Comet or Currys these days you have to go on a 14 day product acclimatisation course, to clean toilets you have to do health and safety courses, MSDS stuff for working with bleaches etc.
2 days and a test in a C and then another 3 days for your +E and you can drive an artic, yes it might cost you £3,000 but that’s because of the price of fuel…oh, hang on, we’re back where we started 
Scarab:
Would the Army start delivering East Eggs if we went on strike at Easter? no.The nation needs fuel, I have several friends who are fuel tanker drivers and they are some of the best paid drivers I can think of.
If they want to go on strike moaning then fair enough, but the product still needs to be delivered.
What he said.
There’s a lot of crap talked on here about drivers sticking together, not getting out of bed for less than so much an hour, etc, I daresay much of it by blokes who’ve never had to struggle to find work or feed their kids in their lives.
The tanker drivers are hard done by in the same way as British airways cabin crew were hard done by, and they’ll end up with the same result. Bear in mind they’re still neither underpaid nor overworked, and as for all the bulldust that gets talked about it being a particularly dangerous job I don’t hear any tales of Calor Gas drivers going on strike every few minutes; anyone who recalls what happened to one of Meachers’ some years ago on the M3 will know what I mean.
In case anyone’s forgotten , other European countries have ADR tanker drivers as well; and furthermore, if any blockade does succeed do you really think that hauliers will get any sort of priority for deliveries outside the food chain? Not bloody likely; and that means a lot of drivers could be stood down or even laid off permanently.
Be careful what you wish for.
Well, I would be quite happy to stand alongside the tanker drivers, and I would hope to see a few more of us do the same… we are getting shafted right left and centre and all we do is bend over even more…Now would be a good time to get our message across.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; If you don’t like the terms and conditions where you work, find somewhere else! nobody has a god given right to a job. If the industry you’re in can’t sustain your lifestyle then go work in another one.
thats the whole point of the dispute.
They DO like their terms and conditions, its the bosses who are trying to reduce them.
Am I right in thinking that after the last dispute the fuel distribution companies started to change employed drivers for owner drivers? The reason for this is simple and it will follow after this dispute also, bit by bit all fuel delivery drivers will eventually be self employed. The unions these days do not have any power such as they had years ago - the good old tory party saw to that in the thatcher days (no capital on thatcher, she doesn’t deserve it!). As for us Brits sticking together - there is no chance, the surrender monkeys could teach us a lot on that score.
Must admit, I used to believe “if you don’t like your job, get another one”.
However, this has changed since working for a huge company. They seem to think that they can treat drivers however they like.
Good luck to the tanker drivers for having the bottle to stick up for themselves.
If they don’t stick up for themselves, thier jobs will go the same way as alot of others, IE. wages being screwed to the floor!
The army were last used to cover a tanker strike in 1979.They were deployed to N/Ireland only to cover deliveries to hospitals etc.Shell tankers had Government service stickers placed on them,strike didnt last long we were in and out quickly.
DonutUK:
Is it just me, or does anyone else feel very uneasy with the idea of the Army being used to support fuel companies in an industrial dispute?I really do wonder what sort of country we are becoming…considering that between the Armed Forces a huge number of trades are mirrored with that of a civilian nature, is this a sign of things to come?
You would soon moan on here if your boss had to start laying boys off because of no fuel for the units!!! Cant have it both ways
I recall when the miners went on strike and the tanker drivers broke their picket lines to deliver gas oil to power stations 
In 2005, Philip Green, the big cheese at Topshop paid his wife a dividend of £1.2 billion. As she was a Monaco resident no tax was due to the British Government. It is estimated the Phil the Creep avoided a tax bill of £285 million as a result. This sort of legalised fraud has being going on since Methuselah was a boy. When these ■■■■■ get away with this ■■■■ for centuries I’m hardly going to come down on the side of the tanker drivers greedy employers. More power to their elbow.
green456:
I recall when the miners went on strike and the tanker drivers broke their picket lines to deliver gas oil to power stations
Divide and rule…google that.