You pay peanuts,you get monkey's

[kw]

I know some of you more pc members will say I’m going over old ground regarding employing East European driver’s but here’s something that a friend of mine in Sweden related to me the other day.

This friend of mine works for a well known high-profile Swedish transport company who specialises in Spain & Portugal.They employ German as well as Swedish driver’s,and have within the last couple of month’s started employing Polish driver’s.
Of the first four Polish driver’s who started,two have already been fired,one of them missed the pin whilst reversing under a trailer and put the fridge unit through the back of the cab (they all have brand new Scania Topliners) the other one did something equally damaging.

The Polish driver’s are paid substantially less than the Swede’s or German’s,in fact they get 1,800 euro a month,out of which they have to pay their own tax,insurance,healthcare and expenses and are expected to be away for several weeks at a time after which they can go home for a week or so.

The Swede’s are understandably concerned,they have been told that their jobs are not under threat,but,if and when any Swedish or German driver leaves the company for whatever reason then they will be replaced by Polish driver’s.
They said they can employ three Poles for the price of one Swede!
There may not be too many Polish driver’s threatening UK jobs at the moment,but wait and see.

Several companies including Dutch and German are running into a large European Distribution Centre near where I live,as they have for many years,the difference now is that an increasing number of those trucks are being driven by East European driver’s.

Another sign of the spread of cheap East European transport can be seen in the ever increasing number of trucks registered in the Baltic States parked in the ferry terminal at Lubeck-Travemunde.They are parked there for day’s,sometimes week’s,waiting for traction work.My friend tells me that the place is over-run with them and the truck restaurant there is closed in the evening as the East Europeans all cook in-cab.

I have nothing against any driver from whatever country,who goes to work in another country,as long as they are doing the job for the same money,I have done it myself over the year’s,working in Holland,Sweden and now Belgium,but what I object to is that they undercut the local workforce.

[suffolk_reeferboy]

KW:
I know some of you more pc members will say I’m going over old ground regarding employing East European driver’s but here’s something that a friend of mine in Sweden related to me the other day.

This friend of mine works for a well known high-profile Swedish transport company who specialises in Spain & Portugal.They employ German as well as Swedish driver’s,and have within the last couple of month’s started employing Polish driver’s.
Of the first four Polish driver’s who started,two have already been fired,one of them missed the pin whilst reversing under a trailer and put the fridge unit through the back of the cab (they all have brand new Scania Topliners) the other one did something equally damaging.

The Polish driver’s are paid substantially less than the Swede’s or German’s,in fact they get 1,800 euro a month,out of which they have to pay their own tax,insurance,healthcare and expenses and are expected to be away for several weeks at a time after which they can go home for a week or so.

The Swede’s are understandably concerned,they have been told that their jobs are not under threat,but,if and when any Swedish or German driver leaves the company for whatever reason then they will be replaced by Polish driver’s.
They said they can employ three Poles for the price of one Swede!
There may not be too many Polish driver’s threatening UK jobs at the moment,but wait and see.

Several companies including Dutch and German are running into a large European Distribution Centre near where I live,as they have for many years,the difference now is that an increasing number of those trucks are being driven by East European driver’s.

Another sign of the spread of cheap East European transport can be seen in the ever increasing number of trucks registered in the Baltic States parked in the ferry terminal at Lubeck-Travemunde.They are parked there for day’s,sometimes week’s,waiting for traction work.My friend tells me that the place is over-run with them and the truck restaurant there is closed in the evening as the East Europeans all cook in-cab.

I have nothing against any driver from whatever country,who goes to work in another country,as long as they are doing the job for the same money,I have done it myself over the year’s,working in Holland,Sweden and now Belgium,but what I object to is that they undercut the local workforce.

KW you are not going over old ground your just stating the facts , me I cant see how the lower cost of employing a unskilled eastern blocer can out weigh the cost of damage to vehicles , ask a east anglian hauliers work shop how many clutchs have been fried because " I no understand what this switch on side of gear stick mean" also company image in local area goes down the toilet big time.
And believe me when I say they are threatening jobs in the area where I live already.
One thing I think your title for thread is wrong I have nothing against monkeys they use to keep us all amused on school trips to the zoo ,I think monkeys should be replaced by poles
I like your signature KW

[robinhood_1984]

Since German haulier Nikolaus Hammerer changed his colour scheme to make the trucks less obvious to the police, he’s always put some (or all) under Austrian plates and where as before all Hammerer drivers I came across were German, all now seem to be from one E.European country or another.

[brit_pete]

The WORD
profit is ruleing the roost at this moement in time, but as people
are pointing out the damage factor is getting bigger all the time .one
other point is that some of the Blue chip firms are begining to tell
firms that if a lorry is from a firm based in germany then they should only send drivers that speak german and can converse with the personel
as he or she lives.works on the german working market ,and not a
driver who is just visiting from abroad, HAMMERER is trying to set up
a system where the driver only has to pick up the truck from a point as
I do belive that those very nice people from VOSA have given him a
talking to after he had some of his vehicles stopped and checked out.

he still has a yard and base in passau germany and lorrys are still
runnibg about with german plates.

[marcustandy]

brit pete:
he still has a yard and base in passau germany and lorrys are still runnibg about with german plates.

Ahhh, Passau!! My favourite last stop before crossing the border going South! Where abouts is the yard though, Pete??

[brit_pete]

macustandy ,sorry i must correct my statement its in kirchdorf the
main yard and not passau as i said in my post, but he has more than one yard ,