Sub Text To The Tanker Driver's Strike?

[Authoritarian]

32k sounds about 12k too much for someone that just drives a lorry.

Sorry.

Based on what? The perform a vital service to the functioning of the economy. The price of petrol is actually very cheap...........if you take away the tax

[ken_ichikawa]

Based on what? The perform a vital service to the functioning of the economy. The price of petrol is actually very cheap...........if you take away the tax

erm

responsibility + hours + barriers to entry vs pay?.

Its like being an airline pilot takes ages to learn to do it, has comparatively bad hours acording to Bosco (works for Cathy) and takes years to train , but he gets paid lots for it.

[Guest sillybear2]

The government could reclassify the drivers as tax collectors, which is an essential job

[Flatdog]

32k sounds about 12k too much for someone that just drives a lorry.

Sorry.

Seems to me that there is far more to this than the issue of basic pay...if the drivers do indeed need to work overtime to keep up with the cost of living then they have a valid complaint.

Reference the Grangemouth refinery dispute, although pay was a significant issue, it was the whittling away at pensions and other perquesites that motivated workers to take action.

[chichi]

But if they worked half the hours they could get the same amount of pay with tax credits?

high wages is all the footballers fault. They started it. Lets's put them back on 300 quid a week. All of them top players.

[Crazy88s]

32k sounds about 12k too much for someone that just drives a lorry.

Sorry.

Agreed

Whats wrong with sacking them all and laying pipes? Too bloody obvious

[chalky]

32k sounds about 12k too much for someone that just drives a lorry.

Sorry.

Average basic slary (40 hour per week) for a tanker driver in the north is about 20K.

Tanker drivers on Shell (sub)contracts have always been a lot more than the average.

[a j]

Seems to me that there is far more to this than the issue of basic pay...if the drivers do indeed need to work overtime to keep up with the cost of living then they have a valid complaint.

Reference the Grangemouth refinery dispute, although pay was a significant issue, it was the whittling away at pensions and other perquesites that motivated workers to take action.

Both the Grangemouth and Shell workers earn notably more than similar positions. As is typical in Britain we complain about incomes when it would be far easier to target costs. Why not campain for more land to be developed thus reducing the price of property, and associated prices from comercial premises?

[Flatdog]

But if they worked half the hours they could get the same amount of pay with tax credits?

high wages is all the footballers fault. They started it. Lets's put them back on 300 quid a week. All of them top players.

Huh??

[chalky]

Why do I find the idea of petrol tanker drivers hammering up and down the motorways for as many as 60 hours a week slightly alarming?

No driver should be driving for 60 hours per week.

All HGV drivers are governed by the maximun 48 hour working week & VOSA regulations of no more than 90 hours driving in a fortnight.

Any compnay encouraging these rules to be broken (very difiicult now with digital tachographs) i.e. by paying the drivers to work more than the maximum allowed will see their Operators License strpped and prison term for the Transport Manager.

[Bear Goggles]

Why not campain for more land to be developed thus reducing the price of property, and associated prices from comercial premises?

Cos it's easier to know when you've got a pay rise.

"Strikers have said they will stay on strike until the cost of living falls to a level where £32k can allow them to enjoy a lifestyle they feel they deserve"

Back OT, given that the average wage in the UK is about £24k, I think that there are probably people up and down the country thinking "I'm in the wrong business".

There are jobs requiring PhDs that pay less than £32k!

[Flatdog]

Both the Grangemouth and Shell workers earn notably more than similar positions. As is typical in Britain we complain about incomes when it would be far easier to target costs. Why not campain for more land to be developed thus reducing the price of property, and associated prices from comercial premises?

Reducing costs..happy days...developing more land...I do not think so...is this a wind up??

[chichi]

Huh??

Which bit?

Tax credits supports low paid part time workers. Anyone who works full time is going to feel ripped off.

And footballers pay vs. house prices graph anyone?

[right_freds_dead]

What about the millions of workers in 14k a year jobs? They may as well fill their pockets with stones and walk into a river.

that sounds like quite a good job. where do i apply ?

32k sounds about 12k too much for someone that just drives a lorry.

Sorry.

its not enough because £140k sounds too much for a small terrace in an average town.

the house prices have to be paid with SOMETHING.

[Flatdog]

Which bit?

Tax credits supports low paid part time workers. Anyone who works full time is going to feel ripped off.

And footballers pay vs. house prices graph anyone?

Both bits

[Rave]

32k sounds about 12k too much for someone that just drives a lorry.

Sorry.

Are you serious?

If so, have you ever driven a lorry?

[Leonard Hatred]

Did they honestly get paid £32,000 in 1992? If so, were they all living in mansions back then?

[zinny01]

There was a debate on FiveLive last night about the strike.

Five Live Debate

Sean from Dundee was a good caller, fast forward to 22mins and 40 seconds.

Has anyone used the volume control on the BBC iPlayer and noticed that it goes up to 11. Spinal Tap moment, made me chuckle. Sean from Dundee also made me chuckle.

[Live Peasant]

yes,got my licences and I have top say that this strike makes me mad.To be a lorry driver you need a week to do your class two,week for your class one and a week to do the haz mat and then you can drive for shell.£39k is way over the top,and the fact that the drivers were making that in 1992 shows how massively overpaid they were back then.

Most drivers earn far less because thats what the market will bear.There is no defence for these robber unions.

edit to say these drivers are on more than most people I know with degrees and other quals.

The drivers feel they are entitled to earn 32k+ because they are classed as 'Engineers' on some Union payscale.

Makes the multiple degrees of your average Aeronautical Engineer seem a waste of time when any technician with a screwdriver can be classed as an Engineer.

[Daft Boy]

This is just a re-run of the car delivery HGV drivers contracted to move the cars from British leyland in the seventies. They earned three times average earnings, ran a closed shop, and went on strike for more money bringing the car industry to its knees. After the strike alternative arrangements were made to replace the original contracted drivers. Remember that the tanker driver do not work for shell but for an independant contractor. That contractor will not be working for shell within two years. some of the drivers might be but on a much more realistic contract and pay scale.

I predict that DHL will take the new business with Shell ( insider info)

[right_freds_dead]

I predict that DHL will take the new business with Shell ( insider info)

why. do DHL drivers have lesser living expenses than shell ones ?

or is it that they are powerless wimps, tipping the cap and getting a big kick up the backside for a job ?

[Daft Boy]

why. do DHL drivers have lesser living expenses than shell ones ?

or is it that they are powerless wimps, tipping the cap and getting a big kick up the backside for a job ?

I think its called competition.

If Shell increased fuel at the pumps by 1% to meet pay demand I doubt if many of us working class trade unionists would only buy shell in support of the middle class tanker driver warriors.

[Rave]

yes,got my licences and I have top say that this strike makes me mad.To be a lorry driver you need a week to do your class two,week for your class one and a week to do the haz mat and then you can drive for shell.£39k is way over the top,and the fact that the drivers were making that in 1992 shows how massively overpaid they were back then.

Most drivers earn far less because thats what the market will bear.There is no defence for these robber unions.

edit to say these drivers are on more than most people I know with degrees and other quals.

Eddie Stobart pays £30k for a Monday to Friday job that doesn't involve towing around a tanker full of highly flammable material. I'm not saying that it's hard to qualify as a lorry driver, I'm saying that it's a hard job. I totally don't understand this idea that people with degrees should be entitled to earn more than those without. There's nothing to stop them gaining their HGV licence (or bus licence, like I did) and hitting the roads for some shift work. I daresay a lot of them couldn't hack it.

I made £32k last year with a bit of overtime and earned every penny. Any pampered office boy who thinks they deserve more money than me just because they made it through university needs a reality check .

[homeless]

32k does not buy you a home anymore, thats the simple fact

liar loans are no more, and these truck drivers like the rest of the people now realise house prices are too high even for a good wage to endure.

something has to give

and it loks like a lowering of house prices,coupled with wage increases.In a couple of years even minimum wage will buy a house for the canny saver.

keep in their people and SAVE,SAVE,SAVE

and if things dont change spend they savings on whores and booze

[Converted Lurker]

this has little to do with living expenses and more to do with sheer f***ing greed and thinking they've got Shell over a barrel.These drivers earn more than many doctors.

http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/2008/06/paymates.html

hang on,lets have 20% pay rises all round.

The spin battle once again has been won by the employees (with a little help from the meeja) who are under intense pressure from the usual suspect political lobbying groups to paint any protest in as black terms as possible. These guys did not earn 32K back in the nineties, that's a myth. Average wage for drivers back then was 18K. In order to pull down 32K over the last year has involved working hours that could be brought into question, given long distance drivers are not supposed to do 60 hours in short bursts, but it's ok for short haul driving an unexploded bomb up and down motorways. Had to laugh when on BBC news yesterday some fukcin coiffured thunderbird puppet on 150K asked the union rep if he expected folk to feel sympathy for drivers on such a good salary.

If they get 40K (inclusive of bonuses targets etc) for a 60 hour week transporting the fuel in all conditions then good luck to them. For married blokes with kids and an average mortgage to pay down that's just about survival unfortunately, which was the OP.