Hello, everyone… I was dragged shopping to Meadowhall yesterday, just looking around, seeing everyone shopping,I thought, what if, we we’re to all go on strike, the week before Christmas, imagine the impact this would have, no food, no petrol, industry at a standstill, the majority of the general public think we’re the devil’s own, except when they want everything we deliver. Anyway I know nothing will change, but it just bugs me to think we are so important to society, but we are looked on so low… That’s my rant over for 2011, hope you all have a good new year…
what a good idea lets all go out of our way to get stabbed in our sleep … im with ya … 
oh and hello by the way , how rude of me … 
bowser:
what a good idea lets all go out of our way to get stabbed in our sleep … im with ya …oh and hello by the way , how rude of me …
WTF we can’t go on strike… Will no one think of the pot noodles 
Been done winter 76, 15 days of strike, we bought the nation (well a lot of it) to a standstill and they gave in. Swifts caved first and gave us a 15% pay raise on the basic 40 hours which put us well over 150 quid for a 50 hour week and in 1976 that was a damm good wage mate.
We were the orriginal ‘Flying pickets’. In Northapton we blocked the gates of Avon cosmetics and various other factories and transport companies stopping all but essential deliveries to shops.
It just shows that if you all stick together you do have the power … trouble is … nobody sticks together anymore.
We need a union!
stagedriver:
We need a union!
no we need velcro shirts , we’d all stick together then … 
Pat Hasler:
We were the orriginal ‘Flying pickets’.
its a lovely thought indeed! sadly trying to stick together is the problem, like the last fuel strikes, when they tried to speak to the directors of wincantons, they were all on the golf course…
perkibre:
it just bugs me to think we are so important to society, but we are looked on so low…
You’re a lorry driver, what do you want everyone to do, clap you?
stagedriver:
We need a union!
You know there’s this geezer called Barry who…
perkibre:
Anyway I know nothing
Correct.
Mike-C:
perkibre:
it just bugs me to think we are so important to society, but we are looked on so low…You’re a lorry driver, what do you want everyone to do, clap you?
No maybe not, but a bit of recognition & consideration would be nice.
Thats all.
I hate unions, they make my eyes water…
Mike-C:
perkibre:
it just bugs me to think we are so important to society, but we are looked on so low…You’re a lorry driver, what do you want everyone to do, clap you?
+1
The original idea of unions was a good thing for improving conditions for workers, but they did have too much power in the 70s which turned a lot of the public against them. I think now that a strong union representing drivers, with an intent to improve pay and conditions for us would be a good thing, I know that companies do need to make profit to survive and things are tight, but a lot of drivers jobs now work on a" If you don,t like what we make you do then ■■■■ off" basis. I,m not sure if I agree with a strike, but even if it did come to that it would never get off the ground as most people have a mortgage these days, could this have been the hidden agenda when working people were encouraged and allowed to buy their council houses in the 80s with the effect of making strikes unviable, and keeping us in our place, if it was it seems to have worked.
Rollo Tomasi:
Mike-C:
perkibre:
it just bugs me to think we are so important to society, but we are looked on so low…You’re a lorry driver, what do you want everyone to do, clap you?
No maybe not, but a bit of recognition & consideration would be nice.
Thats all.
Do you praise the plumbers everytime you flush the crapper?
They do it because they get paid, just like us, It’s not a calling.
Stevie
could this have been the hidden agenda when working people were encouraged and allowed to buy their council houses in the 80s with the effect of making strikes unviable, and keeping us in our place,
it certainly was.
But it’s not the be all and end all of the argument against strikes.
Suppose for a moment that all truck drivers did go on strike and were unable to pay their mortgages, what are the building societies going to do about it.?
Foreclose? I doubt it as there would be so many houses on the market as a result, that prices would tumble and even selling them off cheap they would be unlikely to get their money back.
I guess that the majority of strikers would simply be hit with a penalty in the form of the unpaid payments accruing.
A strike would need to be evaluated by the loss of earnings for one, two or even three weeks, compared to any increase gained payable for the rest of your career.
Not like '76 when we won a good deal and then sat back and let them take it all back over the next few years.
del949:
could this have been the hidden agenda when working people were encouraged and allowed to buy their council houses in the 80s with the effect of making strikes unviable, and keeping us in our place,
Suppose for a moment that all truck drivers did go on strike and were unable to pay their mortgages, what are the building societies going to do about it.?
Foreclose? I doubt it as there would be so many houses on the market as a result, that prices would tumble and even selling them off cheap they would be unlikely to get their money back.
That is exactly what happened in the early 90’s and after their homes were repossessed they still owed the balance after the houses were sold at rock bottom prices.
stevieboy308:
Rollo Tomasi:
Mike-C:
perkibre:
it just bugs me to think we are so important to society, but we are looked on so low…You’re a lorry driver, what do you want everyone to do, clap you?
No maybe not, but a bit of recognition & consideration would be nice.
Thats all.Do you praise the plumbers everytime you flush the crapper?
They do it because they get paid, just like us, It’s not a calling.
Stevie
You make a good point, but so does the other guy, why are we hated so much for doing an important service to the public, OK I,m a big lad I can handle it, and it,s water off a ducks back to me, but you,ve got to admit the stick we get from a lot of the public is uncalled for, so why is it?