selby newcomer:
Some of the trg lads I speak to are getting dropped for days here and there with very little notice, just being told we don’t need you tomorrow, I asked about them supposedly being on guaranteed hours and was told its a load of old [zb].
See what I mean “Rikki-UK”…
Again I don’t know anything about this agency, but if I was told it was full time and guaranteed hours I would get that in writing (its called a contract) and if they then said no work this week I would happily stay at home and get paid, but your on standby - and yes I have been on this sort of agreement in the past, and yes I did get paid the only stipulation was for the hours I was getting paid for being at home I couldn’t go out on the beer and had to be available in case they needed to call me in at short notice. If I was at home on pay from 8am and they called me in at 1pm those 5 hours came off any available shift I could do… in the real world you did a full shift and got paid the 5 hours on top, but with digitachs etc times have changed. Those sort of agency contracts died a death when drivers were two’a’penny over recent years, but now drivers are starting again to be in short supply then it is coming around again that drivers can dictate their terms, we are a long way short of where we were, but I can get work tomorrow and if the agency doesn’t fulfil its agreement there is a multitude that will let me work when and where I wish, and if contracted pay me when they have no work, and are desperate for drivers
24 hour standby Rikki? Sod that! I would do standby if I was being paid 8 hours but only while I am being paid. At 8 hours and 1 minute I would be off standby. They can’t expect a dayshift driver to sleep for 16 hours then do a shift. The body does not work like that which is why I do not swap shifts. There is a time window and I don’t start before it and I am not on standby unless I am being paid. No shift? No problem, I can go elsewhere or take a day off. Not that I am in that situation just now but generally speaking…
Agree Scanny, when with Best connection I was on guaranteed 8 hours starting from 7am if they hadn’t called by 3pm my time was my own and got the 8 hours pay , if they then called to do a late/night shift I got the 8 hours + whatever shift I did- and if I couldn’t be arsed or had a few beers I still got the 8 hours
In my circles I’ve never heard of drivers having the upper hand on anything & with the forecast influx of labour I can’t see it happening, who knows…
At the moment we have 3 contracts from 1 depot. Booker, Iceland and Iceland Irish. I jumped over to the Iceland Irish which means x amount of drivers are booked each day but they don’t know how many are actually required until the loads are picked. The left over drivers are only required to turn up to get 8 hours pay and while they MAY be moved to another contract, they are not obliged to do so. Its a pretty good deal really although in 5 weeks I have only been me moved twice. I didn’t lose any money on either occasion and they were both a one hit which is what the Irish contract is anyway