Lets hijack the fuel protest for a general drivers strike to get some money back into this industry. £15 per hour, if tankers get £45,000 for a 37.5hr week why shouldn’t all LGV1 drivers not get £30,000 for a 40hr week?
Go onto the fuel tanker strike thread and check out ‘Wills’ posts on pages 7 and 8, he is a tanker driver and has scanned his pay slip for your perusal, he has also stated his shift pattern.
Neither of the laughable figures you have mentioned bear any relation to his actual earnings and hours.
I wouldn’t do his shifts for £45k, let alone the somewhat less figure he really is earning.
Juddian:
Go onto the fuel tanker strike thread and check out ‘Wills’ posts on pages 7 and 8, he is a tanker driver and has scanned his pay slip for your perusal, he has also stated his shift pattern.Neither of the laughable figures you have mentioned bear any relation to his actual earnings and hours.
I wouldn’t do his shifts for £45k, let alone the somewhat less figure he really is earning.
^+1
I wouldn’t want that job either assuming that I was looking for one.
Carryfast:
Juddian:
Go onto the fuel tanker strike thread and check out ‘Wills’ posts on pages 7 and 8, he is a tanker driver and has scanned his pay slip for your perusal, he has also stated his shift pattern.Neither of the laughable figures you have mentioned bear any relation to his actual earnings and hours.
I wouldn’t do his shifts for £45k, let alone the somewhat less figure he really is earning.
^+1
I wouldn’t want that job either assuming that I was looking for one.
I would’nt say no as it’s better than im on (or could get anywhere else) at the moment. The shift pattern is a bit dodgy and it’s a real concern subcontracting out to the likes of turners. In wills position i would be trying my luck with tesco’s tankers etc as he already has the petrol station training he could move and improve his lot.
We should still be getting our act together whether fuel tankers have got it better or not.
No party even bothers with a policy on keeping an Industry our size happy due to the fact Drivers are so splintered.
I struggle to see any other profession who could wield such power but chooses a system of I am alright F the rest of them.
Imagine the next election after Drivers have formed one large Union or Federation, the main parties would be falling over themselves to introduce policies to appease us.
Strikes wouldn`t even be required, the possibility of one would do, as we have seen recently.
aranger:
We should still be getting our act together whether fuel tankers have got it better or not.No party even bothers with a policy on keeping an Industry our size happy due to the fact Drivers are so splintered.
I struggle to see any other profession who could wield such power but chooses a system of I am alright F the rest of them.
Imagine the next election after Drivers have formed one large Union or Federation, the main parties would be falling over themselves to introduce policies to appease us.
Strikes wouldn`t even be required, the possibility of one would do, as we have seen recently.
+1. Well said. We really should all spend a week at home, we’d get a lot more money when we went back to work!
darren1000:
Lets hijack the fuel protest for a general drivers strike to get some money back into this industry. £15 per hour, if tankers get £45,000 for a 37.5hr week why shouldn’t all LGV1 drivers not get £30,000 for a 40hr week?
What you waiting?
posting online doesnt do you any good.
Just take off 2 day a Week.need anywhy 45 Hour off.
do it Sunday and Monday.If everyone does it will get you somewhere,and if you alone you have 2 Days with your Family.
but strike isnt the best Solution.Its just getting Turkey and some Ex-UDSSR Countries into EU
Let’s not and pretend we did.
After all, that’s what Unite will do sooner or later. 
A General Strike will never happen because we cant stick together.Its every man for himself,so nobody gives a toss about anybody else. 
darren1000:
£15 per hour, if tankers get £45,000 for a 37.5hr week why shouldn’t all LGV1 drivers not get £30,000 for a 40hr week?
You tell us mate; we’re not getting £30,000 for a 40 hour week already, have been for ages. 
BIGRIG:
A General Strike will never happen because we cant stick together.Its every man for himself,so nobody gives a toss about anybody else.
Is it every one for themselves, or is it too much at risk (house, mortgage, bills etc. Money again basically)?
The goal post have been moved sooo many times these days by the government, and new contracts you sign for starting a new job, have been ‘adjusted’.
I think people are too frightened to do anything in fear of losing their job. If they did, someone on a cheaper rate and on a ‘new’ contract, would be there to take over.
Is the haulage industry the only thing left the government hasn’t meddled with in some way?
1984 here we come…
Sorry, double post!
Winseer:
THe thing is, who IS alright jack really, not to give a toss about everyone else etc?The press try to have the general public believe that Tanker drivers live like Pharaohs, when in fact it’s dodgy shifts and the so-called 40k+ wages includes 60 hour weeks, all shift allowances, holiday pay etc etc. Talk about the hourly rate goddammit! Divide your takehome pay by the number of hours you waste at work (A job is essentially being paid to have your time wasted right?)
Eg. 30mins each way to work. 10 hour shifts for which you get paid 9 hours @ £10ph makes the maximum over a 6 day spread of £540 GROSS for having 66 hours of your weekly time wasted. Works out at a nobby-like £8.18ph gross now right?
Take of tax & insurance, and suddenly the initially cushy-looking £10ph now looks decidedly flaccid!In office jobs, it’s normal to quote salaries based on a 35 hour week “pro rata” one sees alot.
Its about time all wages across all industries were “standardised” for the same weekly hours so that one can see at a glance that a nobbies driver earns less than the toilet cleaner who earns less than a stobbie who earns less than a parcel carrier etc etc. right up the food chain.
If you worked it all out thus, I think you’ll find that Tanker drivers are NOT at the top any more!
My own observations for “highest paid drivers” are Transport Managers providing strike cover - they are getting their hourly manager rate with overtime at their agreed rate - but for the stupid long hours that would normally be given to a regular drive to get the run done!
Imagine how they rub their hands together with glee at the prospect of 60 hours work with 35 hours paid at manager’s flat rate, and the other 25 at time and a half, that still being on THEIR contract as pen-pushers and all. When the strike is then lost by the innefective union, the managers who “held the fort” get a nice bonus, and all the while they get a nice change of scenery from being stuck in the office all the time.
Back in the 70’s, no manager would DARE get into a cab - lest he cause a wildcat strike there and then!
Thatcher has got a lot to answer for, and I say this as someone who’s never voted labour in their life!
I know I keep repeating myself but:
More and more drivers on this forum seem to be of the same concensus when it comes to “Truck Drivers Sticking Together”.
You are a powerful sector of the economy.
You can and do hold many bargaining cards in your hands.
You have the ability to change your working conditions and wages.
You can also bring benefits to other sectors of workers.
You can demand companies treat you with the respect you deserve.
You can get a good deal for everyone in transport.
You can also stop companies and governments holding you to ransome with threats over job positions.
So why don’t you all forget about and omit the “I’m alright jack” crew from any possible future negotiatons, stick together and “Hijack the fuel protest” for your own benefit and let the defeatists fight for themselves?
You can do it. 
And if what Solly say’s doesn’t inspire let us remember ‘Sesame Street’ and today’s letter is a ‘P’.
The so called ‘Pasty’ Tax
Increased ‘Prescription’ charges.
Increased cost of ‘Petrol’
The increase in the cost of ‘Postage’ which is to aid the sale of the Post Office
and the £9billion ‘Pledged’ by Government to cover the Post Office Pension Fund deficit all to ensure a likely GERMAN company finds the purchase of
the Post Office attractive.
And the ‘Prisoner’ which we all could be,always bugs me that we are an island,Europe is 21 miles away and no British Company sails across that
stretch we have to rely on the Arabs,French and the Danes strange bedfellows indeed.
Armagedon:
and the £9billion ‘Pledged’ by Government to cover the Post Office Pension Fund deficit all to ensure a likely GERMAN company finds the purchase of
the Post Office attractive.
And when it becomes DHL-Royal Mail (subsidiary of DeutschePost-DHL) the posties won’t know what has hit them.
Well, Limeyphil said we should all refuse to work for less than £15p/h a couple of weeks ago, so I told the agency to up my money to that or Im not working and theyve never rang me since. The bank wants their mortgage money and the wifes left me and the kids have gone barefoot.
But Im standing fast. Theres no way I`ll work for less than £15p/h. I know it must be a big jump for them to go from £8 to £15 but surely they must see my point of view, even if they are only getting £11-20p per hour for the job.
Come on everyone follow my lead, UP THE REVOLUTION!!
Solly:
I know I keep repeating myself but:
More and more drivers on this forum seem to be of the same concensus when it comes to “Truck Drivers Sticking Together”.You are a powerful sector of the economy.
You can and do hold many bargaining cards in your hands.
You have the ability to change your working conditions and wages.
You can also bring benefits to other sectors of workers.
You can demand companies treat you with the respect you deserve.
You can get a good deal for everyone in transport.
You can also stop companies and governments holding you to ransome with threats over job positions.So why don’t you all forget about and omit the “I’m alright jack” crew from any possible future negotiatons, stick together and “Hijack the fuel protest” for your own benefit and let the defeatists fight for themselves?
You can do it.
And you tell us your years out the game, where are all your strikes you did in the past to avoid it went like this?
My mother said once to a priest who was praying against abortion and protected ■■■, that if you don’t play the game, you shouldn’t get involved with the rules…mr Solly!
But back to you statement, maybe I agree with you, the strikes and the Unions have brought great things to the workers, the strikes in the car industry leaded to…
The strikes in the steel industry leaded to…
The strikes in the mines leaded to…
The strikes in the print industry leaded…actualy to great circumstances, good pay and lots of work…for the Dutch printers who print the majority of the UK glossy magazines.
Is there any great example where the Unions called a strike and this leaded to sustainable results?
I don’t agree that it was a good idea to get the children out the chimneys and mines, as I am sure there was much less trouble on the streets nowadays if the where still there 
caledoniandream:
Solly:
I know I keep repeating myself but:
More and more drivers on this forum seem to be of the same concensus when it comes to “Truck Drivers Sticking Together”.You are a powerful sector of the economy.
You can and do hold many bargaining cards in your hands.
You have the ability to change your working conditions and wages.
You can also bring benefits to other sectors of workers.
You can demand companies treat you with the respect you deserve.
You can get a good deal for everyone in transport.
You can also stop companies and governments holding you to ransome with threats over job positions.So why don’t you all forget about and omit the “I’m alright jack” crew from any possible future negotiatons, stick together and “Hijack the fuel protest” for your own benefit and let the defeatists fight for themselves?
You can do it.And you tell us your years out the game, where are all your strikes you did in the past to avoid it went like this?
My mother said once to a priest who was praying against abortion and protected ■■■, that if you don’t play the game, you shouldn’t get involved with the rules…mr Solly!
But back to you statement, maybe I agree with you, the strikes and the Unions have brought great things to the workers, the strikes in the car industry leaded to…
The strikes in the steel industry leaded to…
The strikes in the mines leaded to…
The strikes in the print industry leaded…actualy to great circumstances, good pay and lots of work…for the Dutch printers who print the majority of the UK glossy magazines.
Is there any great example where the Unions called a strike and this leaded to sustainable results?
I don’t agree that it was a good idea to get the children out the chimneys and mines, as I am sure there was much less trouble on the streets nowadays if the where still there
He’s right, you know. Thinking of the children too, fair play! 
caledoniandream:
Is there any great example where the Unions called a strike and this leaded to sustainable results?
I don’t agree that it was a good idea to get the children out the chimneys and mines, as I am sure there was much less trouble on the streets nowadays if the where still there
So you really think that the British economy would have been where it was in 1970 if the union movement had just given up and took no further action after the 1926 general strike 
.
The truth is it was all uphill between those years and all downhill from 1975 when Callaghan and Thatcher took the exact opposite view of people like Ford concerning the best way to run an economy.
Just like the rest of the EEC it’s no surprise that the Dutch gained from Britain’s membership of the EEC at the expense of the British.Things might have been a lot different if it had been Shore who led the Labour Party not Callaghan and if North Sea Oil had been kept here just for our own use at non OPEC price and if we’d have kept the trade surplus we had with the EEC countries before we’d joined instead of the deficit we had after. 
