Simple fact is, tanker driver, whilst already second highest paid in the industry behind trolley dollies, go on strike, fuel goes up to pay them more money. Then my wages get stretched more than now and ultimately any chance of a rise and the possibility of a cut affects me too. You lot are a bunch of are soles
Do you mean trolley dollies as in Cabin Crew? I didn’t think they were that well paid ?
Pete the post:
Well if the strikes keep the hoyers tankers off the road then that’s a good thing, the hoyers [zb] who ran me off the M3 at Winchester last week needs to be kept off the public highway, absolute [zb] the lot of 'em
dont know you from adam and you dont know me pete. so how can you class me as absolute ■■■■■■?
tanker strike is political move by the unions, but personally ive no time for the white fleet element of hoyer (pete im red fleet chemicals)
hoyer tried to get shut of the petro log side and some of their drivers were enquiring about moving over to red fleet, now hoyer is still running it they have gone back to the arrogant muppets they were before.
they class themselves a breed above the rest of the drivers, because the carry petrol, well it would take me a days training for me to do their job but it would take at least 3 weeks training for them to do mine including going back to sit the rest of their classes in adr.
they may thing its dangerous to carry petrol around but some of the stuff we carry is equally if not more dangerous and besides you can be carrying frozen foods and get killed on the roads these days as has unfourtunatly been proving lately by the sad death of the fowler welch driver…
When I done my ADR a few months back there were a few bp guys there and they realy did think they were something special. Looks a fairly easy job once you know how the loading and tipping works.
heathyboy:
sammy dog:
support tanker drivers campaign ok like when lorry drivers spent a week down at pembroke asking for support from tanker drivers did you support us.Don’t support us then.
i shant be.
sammy dog:
heathyboy:
sammy dog:
support tanker drivers campaign ok like when lorry drivers spent a week down at pembroke asking for support from tanker drivers did you support us.Don’t support us then.
i shant be.
my thoughts exactly
heathyboy:
We are on the brink of battle with greedy oil companies and employers who thought that the campaign fuel tanker drivers began four years ago had gone away. Initially our fight was difficult and seemed to be going nowhere - some felt let down by the union, and many believed it was the right fight but simply at the wrong time.But now we’ve reinvigorated and rebranded our campaign. Called ‘Enough is Enough’, the campaign has four main points:
Terms and conditions
We are demanding minimum standards for all tanker drivers. A draft agreement has been drawn up by the union with the help of the oil trades sub-committee, and this is our starting point for negotiations. The agreement takes into account the anti-social working hours of tanker drivers, and demands additional premiums for working nights, early starts, or five days over seven.
Training
We want a standard of training that is at the highest quality across the board regardless of who we work for. We are demanding a passport system whereby all drivers must meet a minimum standard to get their ‘passport’ to drive a tanker, ensuring no individual without the appropriate training and necessary competence may carry out any operation within the industry. For example, if a driver has not been trained for petroleum spirit deliveries then they would not be allowed to deliver petroleum spirit; if they’re not trained on cargo pumps then they can’t perform pump work. Simplistic, but a sensible approach to keeping the industry standard up.
Health and Safety
We want a minimum standard for health and safety. This means that no driver could be made to feel under pressure to do something that they feel is unsafe or be put under pressure to rush the job. We should have a working environment that is as calm and relaxed as possible to ensure the safety of the driver and everyone else around them.
Pension
As a direct result of the contract ‘merry-go-round’, many drivers have fragmented pensions from multiple contractors. Every time a contract is up for tender and the “employer” changes, the previous pensions schemes are not transferred over. The union UNITE has for some time now been working tirelessly to get an industry standard pension that is portable so every time a contract is lost and gained the pension moves with the driver. This has benefits for all parties as the companies do not have the same admin costs and the drivers have one continuous pension throughout their career.
It has been widely reported that tanker drivers earn £45k per annum for an average 37 hour week, if this is true it is for the minority, for the most part tanker drivers work what can only be described as antisocial hours to say the least.
Drivers will normally start a “day” shift as early as 2am, completing a 12 hour shift then passing the baton over to the afternoon shift. This pattern may be repeated four or five days a week. This can be gruelling; many drivers will have 4 days on, 4 days off, but some companies like to maximise weekend working by enforcing a five-days-over-seven working week.
Yes, we do earn a good wage, but at what cost to our family lives, health and social lives? I barely need to answer that, with what I have written so far.
Of course, many who drive other heavy goods vehicles will ask what makes out work so special.
Think about how often a goods delivery happens in a public domain where there is only one person carrying out all the parts of the delivery on their own.
Think about the product being delivered by the tanker driver, a flammable liquid that has the explosive power to do devastating damage.
One gallon of petrol will have the explosive power to transport a family of four in a middle sized hatchback for 30 - 40 miles!
That’s one little green can filled with 4.5 litres. On average there are 36000 to 42000 litres of fuel on board an articulated tanker.
It’s a huge responsibility - and it shouldn’t be done on the cheap! This is why we’re demanding the industry gives us the minimum standard we deserve.
So why strike? Simple: to stop the race to the bottom!
Every time a contract gets put out to tender the companies compete based on cost. This means one thing and one thing only, an attack on the terms and conditions of workers.
It means decreased wages, tight times to do a job, poor training, poor pensions to new entrants, an unfair division between men and women doing the same jobs.
It will also discourage the best drivers from applying - and when they are essentially in charge of transporting a mobile bomb, this is more than worrying. The safety of the general public is at risk if we do not stop the rot.
I want to finish on a different note - to other goods drivers on the road. We are all professional drivers playing a valuable role. We fuel tanker drivers are not fighting for our benefit alone. But we are the section of the industry that attracts the greatest renumeration. What direction will your wages and standards go in if we’re doing the top job on the cheap? It’s largely the same companies that are trying to cut costs in both of our sectors.
We can only fight our fight with your backing, with every last person in the haulage industry saying enough is enough. By sticking together we can revitalise this industry like a phoenix from the ashes of decades of cost down agendas.
If employers want to compete then let them, not on how cheap they are but on fundamental issues such as quality not quantity, safety not speed, and with drivers who drive with pride and professionalism. As the kings of the road…
Support the Fuel Tanker Drivers’ campaign
I won’t support you for several reasons, alot of what you have put that you do at the minute, is what alot of drivers would like to do now. We regularly start in the early hours for standard pay, and the shift will be a ■■■■ site longer that 12 hours on a 4 on 4 off basis.
Pensions, at least you have one!! Alot will be lucky if they get a state pension by the time they retire, they way its going most may never reach pension age.
Wages, yes it maybe a race to the bottom, but that will still be good in comparison to the general boys. Incase you haven’t noticed the country is in a recession.
I do know your carrying volitile stuff, so are alot of people out there and they’re on alot less than you. Some drive mobile bombs that don’t come anywhere near ADR regs (powder tankers) and they get the same as the general lads do.
I want to finish on a different note - to other goods drivers on the road. We are all professional drivers playing a valuable role. We fuel tanker drivers are not fighting for our benefit alone. But we are the section of the industry that attracts the greatest renumeration. What direction will your wages and standards go in if we’re doing the top job on the cheap? It’s largely the same companies that are trying to cut costs in both of our sectors.
We can only fight our fight with your backing, with every last person in the haulage industry saying enough is enough. By sticking together we can revitalise this industry like a phoenix from the ashes of decades of cost down agendas.
If employers want to compete then let them, not on how cheap they are but on fundamental issues such as quality not quantity, safety not speed, and with drivers who drive with pride and professionalism. As the kings of the road…
Don’t talk such rubbish, you are doing it for yourselves and no one else, if anything comes of this it won’t make one jot of difference to anyother part of the haulage industry. Wake up, this is your union trying to show it does have power, after all only a third of the drivers actually voted for it, so you don’t even have the majority you think you have.
heathboy wrote… I want to finish on a different note - to other goods drivers on the road. We are all professional drivers playing a valuable role. We fuel tanker drivers are not fighting for our benefit alone. But we are the section of the industry that attracts the greatest renumeration. What direction will your wages and standards go in if we’re doing the top job on the cheap? It’s largely the same companies that are trying to cut costs in both of our sectors.
We can only fight our fight with your backing, with every last person in the haulage industry saying enough is enough. By sticking together we can revitalise this industry like a phoenix from the ashes of decades of cost down agendas.
If employers want to compete then let them, not on how cheap they are but on fundamental issues such as quality not quantity, safety not speed, and with drivers who drive with pride and professionalism. As the kings of the road"… WHAT A COMPLETE TOOL
Four points…
-
The public have no sympathy for your cause, the fact that you are holding them to ransom and potentially causing mayhem if indeed there are fuel shortages as a result of strike action, only serves alienate you further.
-
As you already enjoy premium wages and working conditions in comparison with other sectors of the industry, you will get little sympathy from the rest of the truck driving community.
-
You will not win. A combination of big business and government, determined not to cave in to handful of militants along with the effects of points 1 and 2 will ensure this.
-
If any tanker employer has any vacancies as a result of people not turning up for work, I will gladly take the job on the terms proposed.
heathyboy:
We are on the brink of battle with greedy oil companies and employers who thought that the campaign fuel tanker drivers began four years ago had gone away. Initially our fight was difficult and seemed to be going nowhere - some felt let down by the union, and many believed it was the right fight but simply at the wrong time.But now we’ve reinvigorated and rebranded our campaign. Called ‘Enough is Enough’, the campaign has four main points:
Terms and conditions
We are demanding minimum standards for all tanker drivers. A draft agreement has been drawn up by the union with the help of the oil trades sub-committee, and this is our starting point for negotiations. The agreement takes into account the anti-social working hours of tanker drivers, and demands additional premiums for working nights, early starts, or five days over seven.
Training
We want a standard of training that is at the highest quality across the board regardless of who we work for. We are demanding a passport system whereby all drivers must meet a minimum standard to get their ‘passport’ to drive a tanker, ensuring no individual without the appropriate training and necessary competence may carry out any operation within the industry. For example, if a driver has not been trained for petroleum spirit deliveries then they would not be allowed to deliver petroleum spirit; if they’re not trained on cargo pumps then they can’t perform pump work. Simplistic, but a sensible approach to keeping the industry standard up.
Health and Safety
We want a minimum standard for health and safety. This means that no driver could be made to feel under pressure to do something that they feel is unsafe or be put under pressure to rush the job. We should have a working environment that is as calm and relaxed as possible to ensure the safety of the driver and everyone else around them.
Pension
As a direct result of the contract ‘merry-go-round’, many drivers have fragmented pensions from multiple contractors. Every time a contract is up for tender and the “employer” changes, the previous pensions schemes are not transferred over. The union UNITE has for some time now been working tirelessly to get an industry standard pension that is portable so every time a contract is lost and gained the pension moves with the driver. This has benefits for all parties as the companies do not have the same admin costs and the drivers have one continuous pension throughout their career.
It has been widely reported that tanker drivers earn £45k per annum for an average 37 hour week, if this is true it is for the minority, for the most part tanker drivers work what can only be described as antisocial hours to say the least.
Drivers will normally start a “day” shift as early as 2am, completing a 12 hour shift then passing the baton over to the afternoon shift. This pattern may be repeated four or five days a week. This can be gruelling; many drivers will have 4 days on, 4 days off, but some companies like to maximise weekend working by enforcing a five-days-over-seven working week.
Yes, we do earn a good wage, but at what cost to our family lives, health and social lives? I barely need to answer that, with what I have written so far.
Of course, many who drive other heavy goods vehicles will ask what makes out work so special.
Think about how often a goods delivery happens in a public domain where there is only one person carrying out all the parts of the delivery on their own.
Think about the product being delivered by the tanker driver, a flammable liquid that has the explosive power to do devastating damage.
One gallon of petrol will have the explosive power to transport a family of four in a middle sized hatchback for 30 - 40 miles!
That’s one little green can filled with 4.5 litres. On average there are 36000 to 42000 litres of fuel on board an articulated tanker.
It’s a huge responsibility - and it shouldn’t be done on the cheap! This is why we’re demanding the industry gives us the minimum standard we deserve.
So why strike? Simple: to stop the race to the bottom!
Every time a contract gets put out to tender the companies compete based on cost. This means one thing and one thing only, an attack on the terms and conditions of workers.
It means decreased wages, tight times to do a job, poor training, poor pensions to new entrants, an unfair division between men and women doing the same jobs.
It will also discourage the best drivers from applying - and when they are essentially in charge of transporting a mobile bomb, this is more than worrying. The safety of the general public is at risk if we do not stop the rot.
I want to finish on a different note - to other goods drivers on the road. We are all professional drivers playing a valuable role. We fuel tanker drivers are not fighting for our benefit alone. But we are the section of the industry that attracts the greatest renumeration. What direction will your wages and standards go in if we’re doing the top job on the cheap? It’s largely the same companies that are trying to cut costs in both of our sectors.
We can only fight our fight with your backing, with every last person in the haulage industry saying enough is enough. By sticking together we can revitalise this industry like a phoenix from the ashes of decades of cost down agendas.
If employers want to compete then let them, not on how cheap they are but on fundamental issues such as quality not quantity, safety not speed, and with drivers who drive with pride and professionalism. As the kings of the road…
Support the Fuel Tanker Drivers’ campaign
You’re opening statement starts with the “We are fighting the greedy oil companies” but it fails to mention we also realise that we hold a select role within the transport industry and are very grateful for it.
You want a premium for working five days out of seven? How far from reality are you? Most people in this industry would be lucky to get five days, many have to work six on a rotational basis.
In regards you’re training you are trained you have an ADR with tanks provision, if you’re employer deems it a requirement for additional training then it is their responsibility. What you should state, which is closer to the truth is “We want an additional license that we would get on grandfather rights and would be able to self regulate. This way sub contractors or any outside haulier cannot take away our money pot”
You’re health and safety is no different from anyone else who works within the EU. What gives you the right over over people to work in a calm peaceful enviroment? Don’t we all work that way? Yeah a little stress and complaints here and there but hey ho. My experience is when a union is involved a lot of the stresses of the particular job is based around the tension unions and there cronies make.
In regards to you’re pensions and the merry go round of oil companies to whom you guys work, tough. You are in a vast minority with a pension, look outside you’re bubble then you wont come out with such utter rubbish having a high disregard for every other working man and woman.
You moan on about anti social hours. Why did you take the job? why bother if the hours are not for you? I tell you what change it for general haulage if it is that bad. I bet you wont!
There are many people carrying ADR throughout the land with just as much as a lethal consequence should something go wrong. So you’re argument is void. In addition there are many more people making deliveries in public places alone also.
You’re post highlights the failures in unions, the attitude of what’s in it for me and what more can i squeeze from the dry sponge. If it was up to me i would walk in, take the training learn to do the role. Then i would attach every single union member in the company and attach them to the back of the trailer by their testicles and pull the greedy, self obsessed militant idiots around behind me all day.
Look outside of your bubble bone head.
heathyboy:
Who are training these RAF Drivers? I doubt very much they are being trained by a trainer lol. Blind leading the Blind
Considering that the Armed Forces nowadays train to accepted civvy qualifications, and in fact a long way beyond, i personally would be happy to let them get on with it if the need occurs.
I would respectfully suggest that in their line of work they know a bloody sight more about things that might go bang than most of us do. 
My 2 pennies worth: as an owner driver any strike like this is going to effect any profit I make for at least a month. Not only will I loose out on any potential work, but I will also still have payments to make whilst the wheels don’t turn. Every day that this strike happens it’s going to cost me almost £800 and that’s not money I can afford to loose. I haven’t had a holiday for a few years because I can’t have the truck parked up, let alone park it up because of a strike.
I fully support worker rights and feel everyone should be treated fairly, but it’s not fair that I am going to be unable to support my family because of a strike. Already this evening it has taken 2 hours to fill with fuel which is my driving time which I could spend earning.
You should fight for what is right, but I haven’t done anything wrong so why kick me whilst I am down anyway?
Silverback
3 Feathers Haulage
Spacemonkeypg:
heathyboy:
We are on the brink of battle with greedy oil companies and employers who thought that the campaign fuel tanker drivers began four years ago had gone away. Initially our fight was difficult and seemed to be going nowhere - some felt let down by the union, and many believed it was the right fight but simply at the wrong time.But now we’ve reinvigorated and rebranded our campaign. Called ‘Enough is Enough’, the campaign has four main points:
Terms and conditions
We are demanding minimum standards for all tanker drivers. A draft agreement has been drawn up by the union with the help of the oil trades sub-committee, and this is our starting point for negotiations. The agreement takes into account the anti-social working hours of tanker drivers, and demands additional premiums for working nights, early starts, or five days over seven.
Training
We want a standard of training that is at the highest quality across the board regardless of who we work for. We are demanding a passport system whereby all drivers must meet a minimum standard to get their ‘passport’ to drive a tanker, ensuring no individual without the appropriate training and necessary competence may carry out any operation within the industry. For example, if a driver has not been trained for petroleum spirit deliveries then they would not be allowed to deliver petroleum spirit; if they’re not trained on cargo pumps then they can’t perform pump work. Simplistic, but a sensible approach to keeping the industry standard up.
Health and Safety
We want a minimum standard for health and safety. This means that no driver could be made to feel under pressure to do something that they feel is unsafe or be put under pressure to rush the job. We should have a working environment that is as calm and relaxed as possible to ensure the safety of the driver and everyone else around them.
Pension
As a direct result of the contract ‘merry-go-round’, many drivers have fragmented pensions from multiple contractors. Every time a contract is up for tender and the “employer” changes, the previous pensions schemes are not transferred over. The union UNITE has for some time now been working tirelessly to get an industry standard pension that is portable so every time a contract is lost and gained the pension moves with the driver. This has benefits for all parties as the companies do not have the same admin costs and the drivers have one continuous pension throughout their career.
It has been widely reported that tanker drivers earn £45k per annum for an average 37 hour week, if this is true it is for the minority, for the most part tanker drivers work what can only be described as antisocial hours to say the least.
Drivers will normally start a “day” shift as early as 2am, completing a 12 hour shift then passing the baton over to the afternoon shift. This pattern may be repeated four or five days a week. This can be gruelling; many drivers will have 4 days on, 4 days off, but some companies like to maximise weekend working by enforcing a five-days-over-seven working week.
Yes, we do earn a good wage, but at what cost to our family lives, health and social lives? I barely need to answer that, with what I have written so far.
Of course, many who drive other heavy goods vehicles will ask what makes out work so special.
Think about how often a goods delivery happens in a public domain where there is only one person carrying out all the parts of the delivery on their own.
Think about the product being delivered by the tanker driver, a flammable liquid that has the explosive power to do devastating damage.
One gallon of petrol will have the explosive power to transport a family of four in a middle sized hatchback for 30 - 40 miles!
That’s one little green can filled with 4.5 litres. On average there are 36000 to 42000 litres of fuel on board an articulated tanker.
It’s a huge responsibility - and it shouldn’t be done on the cheap! This is why we’re demanding the industry gives us the minimum standard we deserve.
So why strike? Simple: to stop the race to the bottom!
Every time a contract gets put out to tender the companies compete based on cost. This means one thing and one thing only, an attack on the terms and conditions of workers.
It means decreased wages, tight times to do a job, poor training, poor pensions to new entrants, an unfair division between men and women doing the same jobs.
It will also discourage the best drivers from applying - and when they are essentially in charge of transporting a mobile bomb, this is more than worrying. The safety of the general public is at risk if we do not stop the rot.
I want to finish on a different note - to other goods drivers on the road. We are all professional drivers playing a valuable role. We fuel tanker drivers are not fighting for our benefit alone. But we are the section of the industry that attracts the greatest renumeration. What direction will your wages and standards go in if we’re doing the top job on the cheap? It’s largely the same companies that are trying to cut costs in both of our sectors.
We can only fight our fight with your backing, with every last person in the haulage industry saying enough is enough. By sticking together we can revitalise this industry like a phoenix from the ashes of decades of cost down agendas.
If employers want to compete then let them, not on how cheap they are but on fundamental issues such as quality not quantity, safety not speed, and with drivers who drive with pride and professionalism. As the kings of the road…
Support the Fuel Tanker Drivers’ campaign
You’re opening statement starts with the “We are fighting the greedy oil companies” but it fails to mention we also realise that we hold a select role within the transport industry and are very grateful for it.
You want a premium for working five days out of seven? How far from reality are you? Most people in this industry would be lucky to get five days, many have to work six on a rotational basis.
In regards you’re training you are trained you have an ADR with tanks provision, if you’re employer deems it a requirement for additional training then it is their responsibility. What you should state, which is closer to the truth is “We want an additional license that we would get on grandfather rights and would be able to self regulate. This way sub contractors or any outside haulier cannot take away our money pot”
You’re health and safety is no different from anyone else who works within the EU. What gives you the right over over people to work in a calm peaceful enviroment? Don’t we all work that way? Yeah a little stress and complaints here and there but hey ho. My experience is when a union is involved a lot of the stresses of the particular job is based around the tension unions and there cronies make.
In regards to you’re pensions and the merry go round of oil companies to whom you guys work, tough. You are in a vast minority with a pension, look outside you’re bubble then you wont come out with such utter rubbish having a high disregard for every other working man and woman.
You moan on about anti social hours. Why did you take the job? why bother if the hours are not for you? I tell you what change it for general haulage if it is that bad. I bet you wont!
There are many people carrying ADR throughout the land with just as much as a lethal consequence should something go wrong. So you’re argument is void. In addition there are many more people making deliveries in public places alone also.
You’re post highlights the failures in unions, the attitude of what’s in it for me and what more can i squeeze from the dry sponge. If it was up to me i would walk in, take the training learn to do the role. Then i would attach every single union member in the company and attach them to the back of the trailer by their testicles and pull the greedy, self obsessed militant idiots around behind me all day.
Look outside of your bubble bone head.
I cannot disagree with any of this (apart from the violence 
). I was a Unite Shop Steward, did all the courses etc. Some of the people I met whilst doing these courses and at various union events were without a doubt, insane.
Not however, insane enough to jeopardise their positions at work. No, they had hundreds of chanting morons chanting moronic slogans to do it for them.
The final straw came when I attended the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ festival a few years ago. (I was curious and wanted to see it before judging it)
All the usual suspects, Billy Bragg, various branches of various unions with flags to rally around etc etc. I had a look around and went for a beer…
£4 for a pint of warm (I think) Carlsberg at the “Workers Bar” and £5.50 for a tray of curry of indeterminate origin.
Well done the unions, that’s really sticking it to the man and showing solidarity. Profiteering because the nearest pub is a £20 cab fare away.
If you think the unions are on your side, think again. They want exactly the same thing as your employer, money and power. The difference is, your employer is honest about it from the start.
shep532:
Carryfast:
shep532:
My son flies to Afghanistan on Monday leaving behind his 2 & 3 years old kids for 6 months of active duty.He is paid a damned sight less than reports say tanker drivers are getting. he is expected to work far more hours under far more dangerous conditions. Mind you he does get a lot of free uniform to wear - oh and a gun to try and make sure he stays alive.
He chose his way of making a living but has to give 12 months notice to give it up - not that he wants to.
if tanker drivers don’t like their lot - go get another job. better still go join the armed forces. Don’t put innocent members of the public out, don’t screw up other businesses (how many hualiers will suffer if there is a lack of fuel - think those drivers will support the tanker drivers when their laid off?)
Lets put this all into perspective and think of our young lads living in a combat zone, losing life and limb for their country.
Sounds like the same argument as the Russian government probably might have applied to all the members of Solidarity.
Seems a bit strange why bankers who are on much better ‘terms and conditions’ seem to be exempt from your comments.
I don’t know much about what the Bankers do for their big bonuses etc - therefore don’t feel I should comment. Also - if i remember rightly they turned up for work every day - don’t remember them striking.
I just don’t support striking. i have lived my life on the basis that if I don’t like what I’m doing or don’t like the pay - go get another job. if I can’t do another job, learn how to, get qualified to do something else or carry on with what I’m doing.
These tanker drivers are only striking because it will have a large impact - unfortunately it will heavily impact innocent people. I know for fact of one haulage company that cannot afford to buy more fuel before a strike - and a lack of fuel during a strike will put them out of business. Things are more than tight for smaller hauliers right now. I was sitting around the table when the meetings were held discussing what happens if there is a fuel shortage. The directors have discussed the possibility of closing the doors and 100+ people losing their jobs.
What happens to the innocent haulier when the customer cancels the load because his workers haven’t got to work to make/load it? The driver gets laid off. Victim of a strike they had nothing to do with.
People that can’t get to work due to no fuel - no pay
Non of these people that are affected that way will support the strike action.
I am self employed. Having been out seeing customers yesterday my tank was getting down. Two local filling stations - no diesel. I may enough to get to the next town but this will delay my meetings today. I potentialy lose money because of their strike action that I don’t support. i think they get pay and conditions that are ‘fair’ compared to others.
In my limited knowledge and understanding of things - all the comments on here regarding Unions and strikes in the past have been right - short term battles may have been won but the war was eventually lost. The british car industry was brought down by the british worker and many other industries as well.
We are all entitled to our opinions - this is mine
Wrong.British industry was brought down by bankers like Gavyn Davies and idiots in the Labour Party like Callaghan who should have known better,then finished off by Thatcher all of who followed the ideas of moneterism to make the bankers richer when what was needed was Fordism.But it seems to me that understanding the difference between the two ideologies is way past your level of understanding like most others in Britain.So it’s no wonder that the whole economy is zb’d. 
Happydaze:
If you think the unions are on your side, think again. They want exactly the same thing as your employer, money and power. The difference is, your employer is honest about it from the start.
So what you’re saying is that it all went downhill for British workers between the 1920’s to the 1970’s because they would have got a much better deal by relying on the government,bankers,and their employers instead as was proved after the 1970’s when Thatcher removed most,if not all,of the unions’ power to bargain effectively and left them with the much better situation of having to take what the guvnors and the bankers were willing to pay. 
While all go on about the strike that will not be,Berco has bought a house as a second home subsidised by the tax payer for 425000 and just sold it for £1 and a quater million ,he had the house 6 years nice one hey,.greedy tanker drivers dont make me laugh.
Carryfast:
Happydaze:
If you think the unions are on your side, think again. They want exactly the same thing as your employer, money and power. The difference is, your employer is honest about it from the start.So what you’re saying is that it all went downhill for British workers between the 1920’s to the 1970’s because they would have got a much better deal by relying on the government,bankers,and their employers instead as was proved after the 1970’s when Thatcher removed most,if not all,of the unions’ power to bargain effectively and left them with the much better situation of having to take what the guvnors and the bankers were willing to pay.
Are you sure you’re replying to the correct quote?
This has got nothing to do with bankers!!! Yes, they f’d up the country, with more than a little help from Gordon Brown whilst chancellor then pm. And for that I call them all j arthurs. But while we all try to scratch a living, under immense taxation from the Tory government trying to sort Labours mess, these tanker drivers should count them selves lucky to have a job, let alone one with such good pay and benefits. Nothing wrong with standing up for workers rights but a- be truthful about your agenda, and b-do it in a way not to alienate the people you are trying to get on your side. For that, I belive they are idiots.
OVLOV JAY:
This has got nothing to do with bankers!!! Yes, they f’d up the country, with more than a little help from Gordon Brown whilst chancellor then pm. And for that I call them all j arthurs. But while we all try to scratch a living, under immense taxation from the Tory government trying to sort Labours mess, these tanker drivers should count them selves lucky to have a job, let alone one with such good pay and benefits. Nothing wrong with standing up for workers rights but a- be truthful about your agenda, and b-do it in a way not to alienate the people you are trying to get on your side. For that, I belive they are idiots.
Spot on.
Hey, nice to see a sig with some aRSe out action!
my lad and a few of his mates arent impressed with these tanker drivers, all ready for coming home on friday for 2 weeks easter leave and now they arent, any member of his squadron with a hgv license has been told they have to stay on camp over the holiday period in case they are needed to deliver fuel, seems cos they very occasionally drove a six wheel truck with amunition on while in afghan they are qualified to deliver fuel in the UK 
to say he,s {zb} off is putting it mildly