Willy Gofar:
The only way truckers are going to get a real life is to stand up and demand a fair wage and if that means going on strike then lets get it over with sooner rather than later.
Well said Willy, What it takes is all of you to stand together. The French do it and get results, from what I recall you or some of you did it when derv went up too much. So stick together now and don’t move untill you all get fair pay and working conditions.
The idea of a strike is ok but I really dont think that it would work. There are too many owner drivers and small hauliers around that couldn’t afford to park their vehicles. By the time the strike finished, there would be lots more drivers looking for work because their last firm had folded. Also it would be very easy for companies with goods to move, to get foreign hauliers in. The police in France leave the strikers pretty much alone but our police wouldn’t let us blockade.
ive been saying the said same thing for years. trouble is it wil never get off the ground in this country, for one reason or another… its a great shame though, as, as ive said b4 we could just about name our price if all wheels were square for a week or two.no one wants to be unemployed or have the threat of it because os strike action, but we will just keep moaning and struggling through all the crap we take because no one in the uk has either the balls or no how to set a national long haul strike up.and that is no slur on any one person, just the way it is in england… 
There will never be a strike because truckers think too small, they suffer from the pecall state of mind, they can’t see that to make an omellette you need to break eggs.
Some companies will go, some don’t deserve to be trading anyway, they only continue because of the pittance they pay their drivers and it was the very same people who drove the haulage rates down in the first place which is the main reason they can’t pay a fair wage.
I guarantee that if just most trucks stood in the yard they wouldn’t be off the road for more than a week before the bosses, the government, the supermarkets and the public were making sure that driver’s grievances were sorted once and for all. And as for getting foreign trucks in a: enough could be done to thwart any moves in that direction b: it takes time to mobilise any relief trucks/drivers, you just can’t do that overnight.
The only real problem is taking the public with you, that means you have to clearly state the problems, prove you are right, outline what needs to be done to make the haulage industry better for us, for the country and for the bosses then have a clear strategy in place to get things moving quickly when you have a deal that is good for us and good for the haulage industry in general.
The Pecall ‘state of mind’ 
I get looked after, Iget a vehicle that’s up to the job and above all I get paid well. Why would I want to see my bosses firm go down the pan. A lot of small outfits are the same. Many good firms will fold with the cowboys.
There is a lot of histeria being generated about WTD.
I don’t know what will happen in the UK when it comes in, I can only tell you what happened in France when the government introduced the 35 hr week. We all thought it was a joke but I still seemed to be working 80 odd hours afterwards. This was because we were instructed to put it to break or unavailable whenever we weren’t actually driving or physically unloading. This didn’t seem to be too much bother but I did notice some strange glances when I left it on work when I had to help tipping, but nothing was said and every so often towards the end of the month I had an unexpected Friday or Monday off.
To refer to the origin of this thread. Drivers have always been prepared to work long hours for less than sparkling pay for the simple reason that they like the job and the comparative freedom it gives. That doesn’t mean they won’t always moan about it. As an old hand once said to me after the boss had complained about excessive moaning “Not moaning? It’s a drivers unalienable right to moan. Never heard of such a thing”
He was right. Do it. Moan about it but do it. Or do something else. For the vast majority it won’t be an improvement though.
Stand together? Stop the country? Won’t happen. Too many small independently minded outfits. We tried it in '79 with moderate success unless you count all the pay and jobs lost. Barricade like the French? Not possible, they don’t have to arrest you all, just a few. That will be sufficient deterrent. By the way the last French barricade fizzled out due to strong but understanding police action. I drove into a group of trucks at a roundabout entering Brive. A driver flagged me down said “will you give us ten minutes?” I told him yes, the gendarmes helped me park safely and ten minutes later off I went to friendly waves from all. Others did the same. A protest had been made with no fuss. Very civilised. Did it do any good? I doubt it.
Salut, David.
Nobody wants to work for low wages but, sometimes people are forced to work until a better job arises or, they adapt to something else.
I have been driving artics for 27 years, from european fridge work to rdc work, in that time I have probably had more good jobs than bad,but , only through my self not letting employers take advantage of me, if I did not like the job then I looked for something else with better money or better conditions. At present I have a decent employer, with good wages,conditions,and most importantly a maximum 48 hr week, but this has only been possible because I will not let any employer walk over me.I also do not want to work any more than 50 hrs a week, I have had enough of the long hours culture I do not want to go back to it, I want more time with my family, surely you all do?
When I started driving I could finish a job one day and start another the next day if the conditions did not suit, this was only 27 years ago when either driving jobs were plenty or there were a shortage of drivers ( like the present in some parts of the country) and this I think will return in the next few years but only if drivers stand up for themself and say to the employers I’m off, your conditions,pay or whatever is not good enough and so and so is paying better so bye bye. Surely then they will get the message or go ouy of buisness.
Gasman,
You are dead right. I started back in the 60’s and apart from the last job I had in the UK which lasted for 14 years, I don’t think I spent more than 6 months in one place. Nearly always left on good terms though and had several stints with more than one boss. My last job, here in France, was for 3 years and was very hard in terms of hours (frigo work, rdc’s etc) so I wasn’t sorry when I got the chance to retire but did enjoy it most of the time.
Best time now is Sunday nights at ten o’clock when I look at the time and gloat “Not going up the road tonight!”
Salut, David.
muckles:
It seems that waiting is not working time provided you are told how long you will be waiting for, the idea being that if you are told that you will be wating for 4 hours you are then freely able to dispose of your time.
So where does the New Driver Hours Legislation come into all of this 
You start at 06:00 drive for 3 1\2 hrs take 30 minute minimum rest, drive for another 1hr take remaining 15 minute rest, then drive lets say 20 mins to reach destination. So you’ve driven 4hrs 50 mins, now you join queue with a tip time in 4 hrs which miraculously only takes 4 hrs so you’ve now been at work a total of at least 9hrs 35 minutes, but according to some people thats only 5 hrs 35 minutes as the 4 hrs waiting time is free time, bear in mind under the new regulations that 12 hrs rest is required within the 24 hr period, you can only work a possible 2hrs 25 minutes more, with the exception of 3 days where you can reduce your rest to 9hrs without the need of repaying compensation, so you can clock up an extra 3 hrs.
Can you see Haulage Companies tolerating a 4 hr tip at an RDC? This would be lost time and result in the vehicle doing just one drop, and because the 4 hrs are classed as free time for the driver, firstly the customer will not want to pay for the truck sitting around when the driver aint being paid and secondly if that was the case, the driver would be off to another company.
At the end of the day I cant see it coming in as free time, it took long enough to get the Ferry Travelling time exempt from the WTD
This could be because the WTD is an idea by one bunch of pen pushers and the new tacho regulations are the work of another, mainly bought to work in conjunction with the new digital tachograph I believe. [Trucking Myth alert] I have heard that they couldn’t design a computer program that could operate under the existing regulations.[/ Trucking Myth alert]
The fact that 2 sets of rules governing how we should do our jobs don’t complement each other should really come as no surprise.
Of course this all could be a big conspiracy by the green lobby to get trucks off the road, because the rules are such a mess we will all be in prison because we can’t pay all the fines we will get and our bosses won’t find the trucks under the paperwork coming from Brussels.
Happy days ahead
muckles:
I have heard that they couldn’t design a computer program that could operate under the existing regulations
Beats me how they could’nt get the software, We managed okay with the Hour Guard Timer, A Lot of Headaches but we got there in the end, even to the point of handling split shift and Rest interrupt for moving onto or off Ferry’s for upto 1 hour, adding the appropriate rest addition of 2 hrs .
I think that until the Governments around the EC Countries accept that they should have somebody in the Transport Ministers Job from a Transport Industry Background, they will never get anywhere. It’s okay these people sitting behind a desk, but until they’ve sat behind the wheel they’ll never understand how the industry works.
Beats me how they could’nt get the software,
Hence the truckers myth alert.
We can’t have minister who know what they are doing, might end up with a system that works and life would be really boring.
i wonder how many people thought that when they decided to be a truck driver they would be home every night at 5 o’clock for their dinner and eating breakfast with the kids next morning at 8 o’clock?
not many!!
to me, in my own small opinion, truck driving is a way of life, out sun/mon home fri/sat.
thats the way it is, yes, its not all tramping work, but in my experience even day work is long hours.
yes it would be great to start work at 09:00 and finish at 17:00 and get paid £15 per hour but it just aint gonna happen!! thats not what the job is all about, you have to get real!
im in this job for the life, not the money, always have been, im just annoyed that i wasnt born in the usa or canada where i could drive for a week and still not reach the coast! to me, that is real truck driving, im just playing at it over here! Lol.
wages are not going to go up that much either when the wtd comes in if at all, because at the end of the day we are the last rung on the ladder and theres no one left below us to cut costs, the haulier is the last in the line.
since trucks were invented its been long hours and low pay, and if you are looking for something different you need a career change, otherwise its like moaning that if you’re a deep sea diver, you’re gonna get wet!
like i said, just my opinion,
paul
.YES BUT WE LIKE A MOAN…
flatbedman:
since trucks were invented its been long hours and low pay, and if you are looking for something different you need a career change, otherwise its like moaning that if you’re a deep sea diver, you’re gonna get wet!
like i said, just my opinion,paul
If you’re a deep sea diver and getting wet, you’re in deep…trouble!
Seriously, Paul, you are dead right. It was always a way of life which appealed to me which was the spur. When at the age of forty I decided I had better grow up and become a manager it wasn’t the the money it was the thought “will I still be this keen when I’m 60?” However, 11 years later I requested to be “demoted” to driver status and loved it for the next three years even though my money was about the same for 60 hours as it had been for 40. Didn’t get on all that well with the new manager though!
Salut, David.