limeyphil:
sack them, then get some proper drivers.
Oh I get it. Drivers are resistant to changes in their terms and conditions that they may have been on for years so they should be sacked and replaced?
People on here complain how badly drivers are treated compared to other industries yet a few posters on this thread are advocating exactly that. People in other lines of work strike for less. BA, London Fire Brigade?
These drivers have a right to complain without being sacked, thankfully we have laws against it.
Couldnt agree more with you Mike,the drivers on here have all said "what are they moaning about i do 4/5 nights out a week ".
Yeah good for you lot,maybe these blokes have got young families and were taken on knowing theyd be home every night,theyl probably roll with it anyway cos theyl have no choice ,but i dont see why they should be pilloried for letting him know they are not happy about it.
If you got a young family change your career
didnt say i had a young family did i.
you just pick out the points that suit you mate.
and i did change my job so as not to be tramping anymore and if my firm changed to a lot of nights out myself and the other 23 drivers wouldnt be happy either.
jimmi:
if you dont want nights out drive a rigid on pallet network crap. if you want a top bollock motor you have to expect nights out. Truck drivers do nights out its part of the job (and in my contract) if you dont like it stack shelves.
You seem to be missing the point. These drivers have ‘top bollox’ motors already and probably don’t want the life change that Tramping will bring. It’s no good saying it’s all part of driving a truck because it hasn’t been for these drivers at this company. Also you say it’s in your contract, that’s the key point. It’s probably not in theirs, and if it is, then tough [zb] for them.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d do their job in a heartbeat, nights out included, but if I took a job where I was home every night then was expected to Tramp, I’d also have something to say and wouldn’t expect to be sacked.
jimmi:
Im 32 and grew up around transport its what it is if you dont like it dont do it. Just dont winge about it.
I’m 31 and have grown up with my dad in transport, so what? He was home every night.
im not missing the point mike if your in haulage i dont care who you work for you must expect nights out at some point hgv driving isnt a 9-5 job, its a 24/7 industry and you have to be flexible just remember if you dont do it someone else will.
jimmi:
if you dont want nights out drive a rigid on pallet network crap. if you want a top bollock motor you have to expect nights out. Truck drivers do nights out its part of the job (and in my contract) if you dont like it stack shelves.
You seem to be missing the point. These drivers have ‘top bollox’ motors already and probably don’t want the life change that Tramping will bring. It’s no good saying it’s all part of driving a truck because it hasn’t been for these drivers at this company. Also you say it’s in your contract, that’s the key point. It’s probably not in theirs, and if it is, then tough [zb] for them.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d do their job in a heartbeat, nights out included, but if I took a job where I was home every night then was expected to Tramp, I’d also have something to say and wouldn’t expect to be sacked.
jimmi:
Im 32 and grew up around transport its what it is if you dont like it dont do it. Just dont winge about it.
I’m 31 and have grown up with my dad in transport, so what? He was home every night.
im not missing the point mike if your in haulage i dont care who you work for you must expect nights out at some point hgv driving isnt a 9-5 job, its a 24/7 industry and you have to be flexible just remember if you dont do it someone else will.
If they dont want nights out then you dont work in general haulage simples! You work for a builders merchant or supermarket or skip firm. I you drive a truck on any other type of work then nights out are part of it.
whisky:
my mate run’s four trucks 3 105’s 1 scania v8 all singing n dancing pay’s £30 k a year yet the drivers moan about doing nights out in these economic times they rarley have to do nights out but work is scarce so me mate went and found some yet it involve’s four/five nights out a week what you think ■■?
So for years would it be fair to assume that the job was generally day work with the odd night out and these employees were offered jobs on that basis?
Did your mate speak to the drivers explaining times are hard so what would they think about him looking for tramping work?
Imp:
If they dont want nights out then you dont work in general haulage simples! You work for a builders merchant or supermarket or skip firm. I you drive a truck on any other type of work then nights out are part of it.
Am I missing something here? it looks like these drivers got a job with a company that do the ODD night out and all of a sudden they are being asked to give up their home life for 4 or 5 nights a week. That is a very big change to what they have had in the past so it is not like they are moaning for the sake of it…
The fact that the company has these all singing all dancing trucks has no bearing on the fact that the company appear to have changed the job from day work to never home work, in fact I can never understand why any mention of what the company owns has any bearing to what they expect the drivers to do.
Are we meant to work harder because the company owns super mega xxl trucks■■?
whisky:
my mate run’s four trucks 3 105’s 1 scania v8 all singing n dancing pay’s £30 k a year yet the drivers moan about doing nights out in these economic times they rarley have to do nights out but work is scarce so me mate went and found some yet it involve’s four/five nights out a week what you think ■■?
So for years would it be fair to assume that the job was generally day work with the odd night out and these employees were offered jobs on that basis?
Did your mate speak to the drivers explaining times are hard so what would they think about him looking for tramping work?
Imp:
If they dont want nights out then you dont work in general haulage simples! You work for a builders merchant or supermarket or skip firm. I you drive a truck on any other type of work then nights out are part of it.
Am I missing something here? it looks like these drivers got a job with a company that do the ODD night out and all of a sudden they are being asked to give up their home life for 4 or 5 nights a week. That is a very big change to what they have had in the past so it is not like they are moaning for the sake of it…
The fact that the company has these all singing all dancing trucks has no bearing on the fact that the company appear to have changed the job from day work to never home work, in fact I can never understand why any mention of what the company owns has any bearing to what they expect the drivers to do.
Are we meant to work harder because the company owns super mega xxl trucks■■?
thanks for your replies… the work he does is good clean multi drop work. nights out are in contract of employment. he provides good kit so cant understand the problem…ok some one said about mega space cab should have no bearing in what he provides for said drivers but surely it does i.e working environment space etc etc or another way putting it park truck up no pay surely its about being flexible in tough times…
whisky:
thanks for your replies… the work he does is good clean multi drop work. nights out are in contract of employment. he provides good kit so cant understand the problem…ok some one said about mega space cab should have no bearing in what he provides for said drivers but surely it does i.e working environment space etc etc
When you say nights out are in the contract, unless the norm has been lots of nights out then even if it is written in the contract an employee would be able to argue that the contract has been varied considerably as in practice the job has always been a few nights out here and there, but suddenly they want maximum nights out. Think of it the other way round, if you work for a company that has you out 5 or 6 nights a week and suddenly says right from now on you will have 1 night out every other week, (so still getting nights out) would you be happy as the contract is still giving you nights out? I know I would be seriously ■■■■■■ with the company because it turns it into a completely different job to that which was on offer when I started
The only bearing the truck has is he (the boss) could use it to attract drivers, but it doesn’t pay the drivers bills, at the end of the day the driver doesn’t own it and it is a company asset.
If the new contracts are keeping the company earning and therefore the drivers, surely its a good thing? nothing’s set in stone these days and times change, if they are’nt happy with whats happening its time to look elsewhere
all depends on the individuals involved, am a night tramper and i bet there would be drivers who would refuse nights, so does this make them none truckers, if you except to do a job which your happy with, home everynight 30k a year good tackle am sure we would all resist to except the change i no i would, if a local job came along and the wage was enough to live on i would drop tramping like a brick and actually have a life away from the stresses of being down the road, and actually start living in the house am paying for,
the industry is 24/7 but arnt most jobs, if you dont want to live in a truck all week it dont make u any less more proffesional, probably means more to some people to have a family life, ive missed out on one of my kids growing up, he is leaving school in a few years, summit no v8 scania can replace,
and just to add why is it that drivers carnt have the top of the range units if they do day work, i think all units should come like this as standard your probably still gonna be spending most of your day behind the wheel so why not have all the comforts
jimti:
Are we meant to work harder because the company owns super mega xxl trucks■■?
In a word, Yes.
Think on this, the operator has finance more than likely, and I expect the finance on each motor, before insurance and any maintenance plan, is almost certainly in the region of 1400 at the very minimum each month. The last Renault I had on finance was about 450 a month.
If you really want to drive a high end motor then you do the work as it is given out. If not, then you find another job. This gig is fickle as hell. You are required to be flexible. If you are inflexible, then the firm will collapse and the drivers end up on the dole.
Hells bells, is this industry completely full of prima donnas now?
jimti:
Are we meant to work harder because the company owns super mega xxl trucks■■?
In a word, Yes.
Think on this, the operator has finance more than likely, and I expect the finance on each motor, before insurance and any maintenance plan, is almost certainly in the region of 1400 at the very minimum each month. The last Renault I had on finance was about 450 a month.
If you really want to drive a high end motor then you do the work as it is given out. If not, then you find another job. This gig is fickle as hell. You are required to be flexible. If you are inflexible, then the firm will collapse and the drivers end up on the dole.
Hells bells, is this industry completely full of prima donnas now?
So on that analogy I must have been mugged off big style driving a 10 year old truck working my balls off. I couldn’t of worked any harder with a new truck
I don’t buy it, every day of the week I would drive an old base spec motor for more money, any company that can’t afford the finance on it’s trucks should have got lower spec trucks to begin with, it isn’t like nobody saw this downturn coming ffs
Jimti appears to have got over the effects of smoke inhalation and is one of the few making sense on this topic
As a driver, would I expect to earn less to drive a top of the range motor? No [zb]ing chance, now on that note I wouldn’t drive around in a piece of junk either, but I’ve been around long enough that I don’t need to, I’m a hard worker and as such I expect to be looked after, both in fiscal and vehicluar terms
As a small fleet owner I had new top of the range trucks, ok so they were Stralii, but the 540s with some shiny bits did I expect my drivers to contribute to my finance bills, because I decided to get new motors? Did I bollox, the trucks were mine, when I sold them the money went in my bank, not my drivers
And in answer to the OP, moaning and refusing are two different things, if I was on day work and suddenly had to spend nights out for the same money, well I doubt I’d be jumping for joy, yes, ultimately I would do it, but I’d certainly be moaning about it
Bottom line is it doesn’t matter what has gone before, the work he has now demands nights out from now on so the drivers should adjust to it or move on to a different job. No amount of moaning is going to change the work pattern the owner has, simples.
Between the 3 of them BobtheDog, --newmercman–and Silver_Surfer have got it about right.
My view is this. if people want to spend all day at home with the wife and kids, then refuse to adapt to any new work patterns. Tell the gaffer it is “My way or No Way”. Get a job at Tesco or Aldi. Who according to lots of posters on here pay far superior wages to most haulage companies, and see how the missus enjoys spending that £200 a week they,ll be bringing home. Failing that, say bollox to work, go on the Old King Cole. You might then get offered a job back tramping with your old company. Knock that back three time and you,ll get no dole for the next 3 years. Times are getting harder. Go with the flow, or stand the consequences of any decision that you might make, with regard changes in work patterns.
That is , of course just my personal opinion. Many will not agree with it. In which case, and seeing as how it is a nice day, I,m off for a walk.
Like haulage throughout the years, things change, jobs change, work changes, roads change, and it sounds like the gaffer has got the kit to accommodate that. He probably should’ve had a word with the drivers and say, the contract we had before has finished and this is whats going to be required of you now, he has an obligation to keep his lorries earning the best he seems fit, after all it is his company and he’s paying a fair wage. He probably should say to the lads, circumstances have changed and this is what i need now, then its up to them.
Me personaly, if it says general haulage on the packet, be prepared to be away, if your home then its a bonus. Can’t take anything for granted when it says general haulage…
did I expect my drivers to contribute to my finance bills, because I decided to get new motors? Did I bollox, the trucks were mine, when I sold them the money went in my bank, not my drivers 