Who here is going on strike?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
41

In defence of Unite or as was TGWU, and i’ve belonged to the union bearing both names for more years than i care to count.
Its never done me any harm, indeed since first starting a job with proper union representation i’ve managed with the odd hiccup to stay at the higher end of the job and every good job has been unionised, period, the union top floor i couldn’t give a monkeys about, nor any dalliances they might entertain with the present party poorly masquerading as Labour.
The top floor are not the union, the union are the members at branch level, their elected stewards and the local reps who offer advice and help and get the legal teams involved if necessary.

I’m a natural conservative, in that i believe in preserving things and not fixing what wasn’t broke in the first place.
Like natural working class Labour voters, the party (Tory) of now mostly fake conservatives that might once have represented my views has deserted me and millions like me, just as the Labour party has deserted its grass roots working class, again millions of them.

I have no party to vote for, so have given up bothering to vote, and before the usual platitude of ‘‘if you don’t vote you can’t complain’’ arrive, well i answer that with, if you go into a shop and they have only rubbishg to sell, you walk out again without buying any rubbish just because you were supposed to.
I refuse absolutely to vote for someone who i wouldn’t give the time of day to in order to try and keep out another waste of space that some media vulture is paid to tell me is the worse of two options that should never have appeared on the ballot in the first place.
That sadly is where we are with politics now, but worse than that we are moving swiftly close towards a totalitarian state, with each side more desperate than the other to steal your freedoms, freedoms which sadly too many have been only too willing to sell cheaply or surrender completely.

42

Juddian:
The top floor are not the union, the union are the members at branch level, their elected stewards and the local reps who offer advice and help and get the legal teams involved if necessary.

I’m a natural conservative, in that i believe in preserving things and not fixing what wasn’t broke in the first place.

Agreed. I’ve long viewed unions as “work insurance”, and in that capacity they do far more good than harm.

43

Sidevalve:

Juddian:
The top floor are not the union, the union are the members at branch level, their elected stewards and the local reps who offer advice and help and get the legal teams involved if necessary.

I’m a natural conservative, in that i believe in preserving things and not fixing what wasn’t broke in the first place.

Agreed. I’ve long viewed unions as “work insurance”, and in that capacity they do far more good than harm.

The shop floor is totally governed by the leadership and a fish rots from the head down.
That was my experience of union membership.
In my case the leadership acted in the employers’ interest to the point where it made an agreement reducing my terms and conditions without consultation let alone ballot.
Unions can’t run with the hare and the hounds and that’s what they did since abandoning the miners and with them the working class.
As for union ‘legal help’ like everything else it’s dependent on how much the case meets the union’s political aims it’s not for the benefit of the individual member.
In the case of road transport it will always be sacrificed by the Unions in favour of looking after what they see as the rail industry worker elite.
Now more than ever we need an RHA which means what it says and drivers to stand together.
The unions aren’t the industry’s friend in the perfect storm that’s about to be unleashed on the it from all sides and which has been brewing for decades.

44

Unions ,look no further than the Firemen ,train drivers and what were the dockers …Tanker drivers from late sixties to Magies reign all far better conditions than non union haulage drivers.

45

It’s all well been in a union when you work for a huge multi national company who earn millions in profits each year but if you work for a small family haulage firm who just get by, then it would be unfair for the drivers to totally screw the family firm to the point where they have to close the firm down due to it not been financially viable.

46

ArcticMonkey:
It’s all well been in a union when you work for a huge multi national company who earn millions in profits each year but if you work for a small family haulage firm who just get by, then it would be unfair for the drivers to totally screw the family firm to the point where they have to close the firm down due to it not been financially viable.

Agreed, but on the whole you don’t need a Union in the type of firm you mention.
In my experience that type of firm look after and value their drivers, the drivers ‘go that extra mile’ and the firm show their appreciation.
Result?..everything’s cool.

47

ArcticMonkey:
It’s all well been in a union when you work for a huge multi national company who earn millions in profits each year but if you work for a small family haulage firm who just get by, then it would be unfair for the drivers to totally screw the family firm to the point where they have to close the firm down due to it not been financially viable.

So, if its a a small outfit, running on a shoestring, the drivers should accept worse pay than a bigger, financially secure company?

48

robroy:

ArcticMonkey:
It’s all well been in a union when you work for a huge multi national company who earn millions in profits each year but if you work for a small family haulage firm who just get by, then it would be unfair for the drivers to totally screw the family firm to the point where they have to close the firm down due to it not been financially viable.

Agreed, but on the whole you don’t need a Union in the type of firm you mention.
In my experience that type of firm look after and value their drivers, the drivers ‘go that extra mile’ and the firm show their appreciation.
Result?..everything’s cool.

Yep, i work for a smaller more personal type of firm, old skool where i can still take my son in the cab and the bosses 12 year old son gets on a forklift and unloads a few pallets in the yard. We’ve had a payrise but i know bigger companies are paying more but i feel i’m earning a good wage and the conditions suit me. If i had a bump, there would be no inquest and counselling by the managers, i don’t have lots of paperwork to fill in at beginning of shift or the end, christ we don’t have to fill anything in when we fuel up. Everything is so lax at our place and never pressured. Can do what hours suits us within reason. This is why i wouldn’t strike and leave my gaffer in the lurch.
Maybe if i was at a huge company then i would feel less committed to them. That said, i couldn’t ever join a union as they all seem to be militant leftists and i see a lot of their boards been held at lgbt alphabet rallies and any other social injustice bandwagon they want to jump on like blm protests

49

Franglais:

ArcticMonkey:
It’s all well been in a union when you work for a huge multi national company who earn millions in profits each year but if you work for a small family haulage firm who just get by, then it would be unfair for the drivers to totally screw the family firm to the point where they have to close the firm down due to it not been financially viable.

So, if its a a small outfit, running on a shoestring, the drivers should accept worse pay than a bigger, financially secure company?

Just go to a better paying firm if you’re not happy where you are. Some drivers still moaning at our place. A couple have jumped ship and some are still wanting more money even after a payrise. If it was that bad then they should just leave, theres plenty of vacancies now

50

robroy:

ArcticMonkey:
It’s all well been in a union when you work for a huge multi national company who earn millions in profits each year but if you work for a small family haulage firm who just get by, then it would be unfair for the drivers to totally screw the family firm to the point where they have to close the firm down due to it not been financially viable.

Agreed, but on the whole you don’t need a Union in the type of firm you mention.
In my experience that type of firm look after and value their drivers, the drivers ‘go that extra mile’ and the firm show their appreciation.
Result?..everything’s cool.

Mine certainly does. The result being that UNITE will be a member short at the end of next month.

Two reasons; firstly I don’t care much for the political aspirations of its new General Secretary, and secondly, for the reasons Robroy describes, I don’t need them any more.

If it wasn’t for the first bit I might have considered carrying on paying my subs. Their loss not mine.

51

Carryfast:
The shop floor is totally governed by the leadership and a fish rots from the head down.
That was my experience of union membership.
In my case the leadership acted in the employers’ interest to the point where it made an agreement reducing my terms and conditions without consultation let alone ballot.
Unions can’t run with the hare and the hounds and that’s what they did since abandoning the miners and with them the working class.
As for union ‘legal help’ like everything else it’s dependent on how much the case meets the union’s political aims it’s not for the benefit of the individual member.
In the case of road transport it will always be sacrificed by the Unions in favour of looking after what they see as the rail industry worker elite.
Now more than ever we need an RHA which means what it says and drivers to stand together.
The unions aren’t the industry’s friend in the perfect storm that’s about to be unleashed on the it from all sides and which has been brewing for decades.

The job of the union is to protect the workforce, simple as that. Mostly it protects them from the worst excesses of management. In certain cases it must protect the majority from that one poisonous and divisive individual who’s actions potentially threaten to bring the whole lot crashing down. We all know one such individual, we’ve all met at least one such individual and I’m going to take a shot in the dark that you were that individual. It goes without saying that you’ll not recognise yourself described as such and will bluff and bluster about how unfairly you were treated, but if I had to lay money on it I’d wager that that was why the union turned upon you.

52

To Paraphrase Ben Franklin…

“Those who would give up wage security to achieve job security - deserve neither, and will ultimately lose BOTH”.

Unions have wasted FAR too much energy over the years “protecting the NUMBER of jobs” rather than the terms and conditions OF those jobs.

Firm says “Take a pay cut, or face compulsory redudancies”?
Union says “Everyone Out!”
A month later, Union capitulates, manangement gracefully announce that no compsulsory redundancies will now be made, all (newly) minimum waged jobs are 100% secure… Union thinks this is a “Big Win for Them”.

Was it worth it?

TRUE job security - is earning enough to cover all one’s overheads, and not being under constant threat of dismissal for petty reasons…

Thus, a high-paying outfit - might not be the “best job in town” after all.
Maybe they’ll get rid of you at the drop of a hat, especially if there’s a union person earning far less than an agency or contractor, with the Union member seething to grass said “outsider” up at any and every opportunity to “get rid of them”>

I’ve always prefered working at Non-unionzed firms over the years, but needs must and all that - It isn’t always possible…

…But for the future? - Maybe we are now beginning to see private hauliers grasping the nettle here, and offering jump-bid wage rises:-

To gain market share
To mop up drivers whilst they are still available, and yet to be recruited elsewhere
Simply to get the Job done, or go under because you cannot otherwise.

I’d say that for a driver in their 30’s right now, with around 5 years agency experience under their belt.

“You’ve never had it so good!”

53

Winseer:
TRUE job security - is earning enough to cover all one’s overheads, and not being under constant threat of dismissal for petty reasons…

Sums it up nicely. My late father had a saying, “A good job is worth twenty quid a week”. When I asked him what he meant by that, he explained that if you worked somewhere where you were comfortable, felt secure and could see a sustainable future, had good management and work colleagues and actually enjoyed most of what you did, you didn’t have to chase top dollar.

It’s a philosophy I’ve adopted myself; whilst it’s a given that we all have bad days, there’s no point in suffering unnecessarily in a place where you’re going to spend about a third of your adult life.