Tosco Doncaster strike?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Just had this come through from the great Unite…

Doncaster Tesco drivers need your support
It’s time us ‘plebs’ started fighting back!

I know that all shop stewards feel under pressure, especially as our members are under attack everywhere. It would be good to be part of a good fight against employers who are exploiting our members.

In Doncaster, Tesco and Eddie Stobarts are just two employers that are playing a leading role in driving down the wages of its drivers and warehouse workers.

Our members in Doncaster have voted for strike action and have already been involved in annoying Stobarts by disrupting one of its sponsored horse race meetings. As these top bosses drink champagne in their private boxes, there is no doubt that they are also discussing other ways that they can make cut and replace workers with cheap labour. It’s not just public school educated Tory ministers who see us as just “plebs”.

The next step will be to demonstrate outside Tesco stores. With true Yorkshire grit, over 200 drivers in Doncaster will do their bit, but to be really effective we need to be presence felt outside Tesco stores all over the country.

We need shop stewards, who have a local Tesco, to let us know that they can spare a few hours to take action in order to support our Tesco members. We can all spare a few hours, the only question is whether we are prepared to have a go?

If you are prepared to be involved in this campaign, and I hope you all are, then please email me back indicating your local Tesco store and how many people you can organise to go with you — don’t worry if it’s just you, we will find others to join you…

This type of action has to be the future if we are to defend our members against the constant attacks they are under. If we do this right, it will send a powerful message not only to Tesco and Stobarts, but to other employers who think they can treat workers this way.

Please respond to me via email at lynncheetham@yahoo.co.uk

Please also take a moment to forward this email on to your colleagues.

Thanks

Paul Davies
Unite Logistics Sector National Organiser

Demanding Justice leaflet

2

Beat me to it!!

I was expecting this tbh especially as Toscos profits are down 15%.
I worked for Stobart at the start up of Goole and very quickly left as they are one of the most horrid companies to work for.
I recall the time Middlewich was winding down and we were sending Stobbie drivers across to cover striking shunters. It always make me feel uncomfortable.
The fact that long serving Tesco drivers on decent money with decent perks and conditions, can all be Tuped across to Stobarts on £7.20ish per hour seems totally wrong to me.

From Tesco’s perspective it is a no brainer as ESL will be massively undercutting Tescos transport costs. At Goole they were running at a 3% profit margin. The only way this was achievable was simply by the volume of work and paying rubbish wages to drivers and office staff for long hours.
They did though have a little earner whereby if Tesco needed an ad hoc run sending that wasnt part of the pyramid they would charge stupidly inflated open book prices which the DC manager would be forced to sign off on.

I hate the part Stobarts are playing in driving down drivers wages, and I hate Tesco for getting into bed with them and poohing on loyal employees. I really would love to see massive picket lines both at stores and DC’s sending both companies a strong message.

3

If I can spare an hour, I’ll get over to my local Tesco’s. It’s another good reason not to shop there. Tesco control 30% of the UK grocery market and have over 2,000 stores in the UK. In 2010 they made a profit of £3.4bn, yet they will still go to great lengths to avoid paying tax. Using complex legal structures Tesco has avoided stamp duty land tax to the tune of £90-£100m and £23m in stamp duty.
Tesco has its headquarters in the sleepy Hertfordshire town of Cheshunt. Something else that you can find there is Cheshunt Overseas, a limited liability partnership that has enabled Tesco to avoid £16m in tax through overseas business rules.

4

Unions what a joke.

5

Saaamon:
Unite what a joke.

Fixed it for you.

6

Loyal employees?

Have you seen what those lazy buggers were getting paid? For doing how much work? It was taking some of them a whole shift to do 4 hours work ffs…

Turned up to a Tesco site in Liverpool last month to find a Tossco driver parked in a stupid position, right on top of the gate. Asked him if he could move over a bit to make it easier to get in, “no…” Apparently, the tracking software has it’s boundary for the store there so it looks like he’s still unloading. According to the back door man he’d been there for 2 hours already…

Funnily enough, never seen a Doncaster driver that looked like he’d been inside a trailer more than once a week. Ffs there’s some of them turn up with shirt and ties and an ironed hi vis…

If that’s the attitude is it any wonder that Tesco give the contracts out to other people?

Ever heard of the saying don’t ■■■■ on your own doorstep? Get what you deserve… Is it hard work tipping a trailer of cages? Sod off and let someone new have a job…

7

So, LankyPhil. Is it Ambient at Goole, or Fridge at Widnes you work from for Stobarts?? :laughing:

8

Bunch of ignorant ■■■■■ at Harlow. ■■■■ 'em!

9

i’ve never really understood the job cuts / redundancies / closing depot etc – ok we’ll strike

10

Sometimes you have to grow a pair and do whatever you can, the alternative is to bend over and smile.

Fighting may not change the outcome, but its better than just taking it like a good little poodle and hoping all jobs come down to basic minimum wage and a premium truck to pose in.

11

Tesco
Mormon
Helicopter
Meeting
Dixon
Fleet
Jockeys

Any more keywords you can use?

12

lankyphil:
Loyal employees?

Have you seen what those lazy buggers were getting paid? For doing how much work? It was taking some of them a whole shift to do 4 hours work ffs…

Turned up to a Tesco site in Liverpool last month to find a Tossco driver parked in a stupid position, right on top of the gate. Asked him if he could move over a bit to make it easier to get in, “no…” Apparently, the tracking software has it’s boundary for the store there so it looks like he’s still unloading. According to the back door man he’d been there for 2 hours already…

Funnily enough, never seen a Doncaster driver that looked like he’d been inside a trailer more than once a week. Ffs there’s some of them turn up with shirt and ties and an ironed hi vis…

If that’s the attitude is it any wonder that Tesco give the contracts out to other people?

Ever heard of the saying don’t [zb] on your own doorstep? Get what you deserve… Is it hard work tipping a trailer of cages? Sod off and let someone new have a job…

+1^^^^
Tesco is a ■■■■ company & their drivers are all a bunch of stuck up tossers who deserve what’s coming to them (especially Harlow, TH, WB & WG), let’s hope tesco continues on this downhill spiral & others prosper…!!!

13

coreysboys:
So, LankyPhil. Is it Ambient at Goole, or Fridge at Widnes you work from for Stobarts?? :laughing:

Widnes. How did u guess :wink:

14

bald bloke:
Just had this come through from the great Unite…

Doncaster Tesco drivers need your support
It’s time us ‘plebs’ started fighting back!

I know that all shop stewards feel under pressure, especially as our members are under attack everywhere. It would be good to be part of a good fight against employers who are exploiting our members.

In Doncaster, Tesco and Eddie Stobarts are just two employers that are playing a leading role in driving down the wages of its drivers and warehouse workers.

Our members in Doncaster have voted for strike action and have already been involved in annoying Stobarts by disrupting one of its sponsored horse race meetings. As these top bosses drink champagne in their private boxes, there is no doubt that they are also discussing other ways that they can make cut and replace workers with cheap labour. It’s not just public school educated Tory ministers who see us as just “plebs”.

The next step will be to demonstrate outside Tesco stores. With true Yorkshire grit, over 200 drivers in Doncaster will do their bit, but to be really effective we need to be presence felt outside Tesco stores all over the country.

We need shop stewards, who have a local Tesco, to let us know that they can spare a few hours to take action in order to support our Tesco members. We can all spare a few hours, the only question is whether we are prepared to have a go?

If you are prepared to be involved in this campaign, and I hope you all are, then please email me back indicating your local Tesco store and how many people you can organise to go with you — don’t worry if it’s just you, we will find others to join you…

This type of action has to be the future if we are to defend our members against the constant attacks they are under. If we do this right, it will send a powerful message not only to Tesco and Stobarts, but to other employers who think they can treat workers this way.

Please respond to me via email at lynncheetham@yahoo.co.uk

Please also take a moment to forward this email on to your colleagues.

Thanks

Paul Davies
Unite Logistics Sector National Organiser

Demanding Justice leaflet

re “tory public school educated ministers”

Oh plllleeeeease we all know that the tories have always been in it for themselves but please try not to convince people that either the unions or the labour party stand for the working man.
union boses with their £150k plus pay packages are interested only in linig their own pockets and as for the labour party,everything it ever stood for was lost during the blair years and worst still blair and his cohorts have become hugely wealthy ,knackered the economy ,and they have done this with the blood of our young men on their hands, all in the ■■■■ for wealth and exploitation of other nations natural resources.
They all make me want to puke.

15

stevieboy308:
i’ve never really understood the job cuts / redundancies / closing depot etc – ok we’ll strike

It’s a folly to bolt the stable door with a carrot…

16

Living in cloud cuckoo land. All that’ll happen is Stobbards will ship in a bunch of drivers for elsewhere in their network to cover. “Oh but they wouldn’t dare cross the picket line!”. You reckon? Watch.

17

You get what you put up with. Once Union power was destroyed by Thatcher all those years ago, the entire North lost it’s ability to pay-bargain properly.
What good is a protest that allows subs to cross picket lines still? If the strike doesn’t shut down the entire site, then it didn’t work did it!? The firm merely improves their cashflow on that month by docking everyone’s pay. They win. Workers lose. They’ll always lose, because effective union action - like parking a combination across the front gate, hiding the keys, cannot happen because it’s illegal apparently. Well, so is Unionism as a whole then - let’s face it! It wouldn’t even surprise me if the next serious strike comparable to the miner’s strike ended up with the authorities shooting people dead like in South Africa recently - because they’ll argue that militant unions are terroists who don’t have the sympathy of the country… Well, who’s fault would THAT be?
The system can’t even get a plod in jail over killing a protestor right down here in London, so what chance getting a marksman in jail for murdering a striking crowd down’t yard?
A few millionaires might make a few extra bucks on firearm sales, and the price of Lead might rise… Otherwise, our biased press would merely tell the world “They had it coming, because you all hate strikers right?!” :angry:

Soap Box.jpg
Anyways, 'nuff said!

Down here, if we don’t like the hourly rates, T&Cs, heavy-handed management styles, or even lack of serious H&S policy - we, the local workforce, will not be applying for that particular job. ‘Having a job’ as opposed to ‘having a living wage’ isn’t worth selling one’s soul for you see…
The cost of living & mortgages isn’t that different north-south (outside London) so it can only be a difference in mentality that holds sway here. Shop prices in Leeds are just as Expensive as around here in Kent, House prices in suburban manchester are also comparable to around here. Yorkshire is completely out of my league, prices wise! Beats me why they remain so high, with the lack of jobs apparent, but there you go.

Northern bosses are clearly using employee mentality against them to “divide and rule” like in the middle ages. Low Pay put up with = serfdom - make no mistake. :frowning:

If firms like ESL ever go ■■■■-up, it will be because all the premium drivers have gone elsewhere, and the next strong economic upturn leaves them high and dry in the transport industry for payout liabilities. It’s only a matter of time until insurance companies get wise to the systemic shrinkage that comes from insured firms employing substandard staff, then just claiming on the insurance when it all goes wrong. The “2 years experience, must be over 25, 6 points OK” culture is already being eroded by the lack of new blood coming into the industry, along with more drivers at the high end now hanging up their keys for good. If the average retirement age for a driver has been pushed up from 60 to around 67 since the 2008 credit crunch, then you could argue that the next two years are absolutely key for the entire future of the industry! AND we’ve got the DCPC thing to look at in that timeframe as well!

Come 2016, the transport world is going to look a lot different - one way or the other. Mark my words. :neutral_face:

18

Another good insightful post Winseer, thankyou.

The only way genuine working class (not the shirkers and doley boys, they are NOT working class) people keep some sort of standard of living is by sticking together and that can only be achieved through a union of some sort, a brainwashed by the MSM populace is divided and easily picked off.

I hope other stobby drivers don’t break their colleagues picket, but they will, in droves and the old bill will be there to ensure they do…as always impartial… :unamused: .

I too am looking forward to when the penny drops with some of these companies re the diminshing number of competent and conscientious drivers, rapidly depleting as the old school hang up their keys, often for the very reason that they are treated as novice kids by 19 year olds in admin.

Roll on the next 5 years.

19

I agree strongly with the preivious two posters.
Interesting times ahead I feel, not just in the transport business.

20

Great post Winseer.