del949:
So what are they striking about then if it got nothing to do with money
?
no one has claimed that it has nothing to do with money!
what has been claimed (I thought it was fairly obvious) is that it is not about increasing their money but simply maintaining their present money, and conditions.
On here, page after page, thread after thread of drivers complaining that the job pays less and less, every time there is a contract changeover the profit margin is reduced leading to reductions in drivers wages and yet when some drivers do what all others complain never happens, other drivers complain about it!
What would you rather happen?
Should they rollover and accept the pay cuts, giving other hauliers the incentive to do the same or should they fight and give other drivers the same incentive.
Make no mistake, other large hauliers are watching with interest to see if the fuel companies can get away with it and if they do you can be certain that it won’t be long before someone else tries the same.
present pay rises (the few that there are) are almost all below the level of inflation leading in real terms to wage cuts, surely there is a time when you say “enough is enough”?
As for the tories caring what the trade unions say or do, they won’t …until the workers stand up for themselves en mass… then they will want to use the army and police to fight back.
They are already gearing up for this, in the latest gov’t policy on regional pay it is formulated that that all public sector workers, teachers doctors etc etc will ALL be affected by wage cuts… except the police!
So whilst the govt may in public claim to be not affected by unions they are certainly concerned about workers reactions and are prepared to treat the police as a special case in order to keep them on side.
Dear oh dear.
Without wanting to patronise you Del, I like a lot of your posts on these forums, but you and some others really need to get your facts correct here.
This industrial action by these drivers is not about cut backs or reductions in money at all, it’s about the apparent “cutting of corners” when it comes to Health & Safety and the proposed future reduction in training of drivers. Yes, it’s a money issue, a cost cutting exercise for the Fuel/Oil companies, but it won’t affect the drivers’ wages right now.
Without wanting to digress too much - personally, I think the public sector workers that work for the government agencies (Job Centre Plus) and councils etc, have been overstaffed and in many cases overpaid for far too long now.
Walk into any council building or job centre and you’ll see more staff than punters - and that’s really saying something in these times of high unemployment and hardship. My youngest daughter is currently unemployed. She’s desperate to get back to work; and whilst she may need her dole money, she dreads going in to sign on every two weeks due to being kept waiting for up to an hour whilst job centre staff stand about in groups, chatting, joking and laughing. And then when they do deal with her, they are frequently incompetent and disorganised. It’s funny that, cause’ the Jobcentre staff were of the same breed when I went to sign on as a school leaver aged 17 back in 1978 under the Callaghan Labour government! Thankfully back then I was only unemployed for two months - my daughter has been out of work for over a year now.
I don’t agree with the way this government is messing with peoples pensions, but cut backs in the numbers of staff has been on the cards - quite rightly - for years and years.
And then there’s the Police. This goverment is proposing plans to change the pay structure of Police in England and Wales to a bonus related pay scheme. It’s already not going down well at all with the various Police federations who now want the right to strike. Mmm…wonder what a lot of the anti-police brigade (and pro-police) on here will think about that.
And then there’s the Unions and drivers. I have always been in favour of unions in the haulage industry. I was a shop steward myself for a number of years when working as a driver for a well known international oil company based here in Scotland. I’m not arrogant but proud to say I never lost a case involving the unfair treatment of drivers - and there were many instances!
I also, “on behalf” of the then TGWU who represented us, balloted the drivers on three occasions for strike action due to the company blatently and seriously abusing Health & Safety regulations. We refused to drive all vehicles on the first strike action, and subsequently actual strike action was not required on the further two ballots.
You have to fight these companies, and you have to fight them together with a Union, to win. Plain and simple!
However, then there’s Unite. Don’t anyone be under any illusion that they are interested in Drivers beyond the tanker drivers, because they’re not. This is Unite’s big chance at the limelight and they’re grabbing it with both hands…but what will they and there members do when the army are brought in?
I hate Cameron with a passion, but it’s a shrewd move to use the British Army. After all, who’s going to be the first to abuse the troops when they drive through a picket line? In my opinion nobody should blame the Army - they will simply be following orders.
Back on Unite. Gotta laugh! Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the union that recently balloted all Scotrail train drivers to go on strike after one of their colleagues - a senior driver on 51k a year - was demoted to a more junior rank of driver on 32k a year (!) for calling in sick for a week, when in fact he admitted he’d been in Germany following his football team of choice!
But Unite, despite this ridiculous and laughable set of circumstances (many haulage companies would sack a driver outright for the same thing!) are going ahead with the ballot and subsequent action unless the driver is reinstated to his senior position on 51k a year! Now that’s just taking the pish!
No wonder so many people laugh off Unions.
I say best of luck to the tanker drivers (because they’re right on this occasion), and it will be interesting to see how it all turns out.
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