More fuel strikes!

A walkout by 650 drivers would again strand motorists in many parts of the country without fuel. It comes weeks after the Grangemouth refinery dispute, which hit forecourts in the North.
This latest dispute could affect 1,000 forecourts, as well as several hundred industrial outlets.
The drivers, who supply the vast majority of Shell forecourts, are calling for a pay rise of 13 per cent. The company, Hoyer UK, has offered 6 per cent.

A vote last week resulted in the drivers voting overwhelmingly for industrial action. A last-ditch meeting to try to resolve a strike is scheduled for tomorrow. But the gap between employees and Hoyer, who are contractors for Shell, is so large that a resolution seems unlikely. Company sources said they were "shocked" by the level of the pay demand.
Hoyer says its 6 per cent offer would see the average driver's £36,000 salary rise to £38,500. The union is calling for a minimum wage for all drivers of £36,000.
One source from the union Unite, which represents the drivers, said its members had the capacity to seriously disrupt supply of petrol. There is also the threat of secondary picketing which means other petrol stations could be affected.

Average salary is £36000?! and they want £36000 minimum wage?! You've got to be kidding me! A chartered engineer (read: 4 years at uni + 4/5 years to get chartered + £20k student debt) can't even demand that much!

No offence intended to anyone who drives one on here, but it's a lot of money to drive a truck.

[G]

Driving is a horrible thankless jobs requiring long hours, lots of time away from home etc etc and when your employer is making several billion pounds profits its only fair to want a slice of it when your jobs is so essential to them.

That £36k is probably including all over time probably equaling 70+ hours a week.

Most chartered engineers I know get paid roughly around the same area, get nice company cars Audi A4/3 Series and work 37.5hrs a week......and thats only if they dont visit a site and then bunk off early by 2 hrs instead of going into the office.

hmmm, these things aren't always as cut & dried as they look - after all the companies wouldn't pay that sort of wage unless the market demands it.

At a guess there are other things to consider such as working long/unsociable hours, shifts, problems with job security, staying away from home, etc

The % rise they're asking for does sounds like quite a lot in the current climate though!

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by Fizzy Fish

The % rise they're asking for does sounds like quite a lot in the current climate though!

The cost of petrol has risen by that amount (13%) in the last year.........

Originally Posted by gettin2dizzy

Average salary is £36000?! and they want £36000 minimum wage?! You've got to be kidding me! A chartered engineer (read: 4 years at uni + 4/5 years to get chartered + £20k student debt) can't even demand that much!

No offence intended to anyone who drives one on here, but it's a lot of money to drive a truck.

I know, lovely isnt it ? saying that though if someone offered you that sort of money you,d take it too wouldnt you ? historically drivers wages were always poor, thats why we used to work up to 80 hrs a week and spend sometimes 5 nights a week away from home,or a couple of weeks on the continent, then the working time directive came in in we all lost loads of money, houses, marriages etc cos we went from good money to minimum wages literally over night. In the first year I lost 12 K in wages I would normally have earned, nearly lost the house, dont have a pension anymore, so drivers had to be offered more money to stay in the industy or there would have been no transport industry anymore. Btw 36 k is fairly rare, I dont earn that much and Hoyer do carry potentially extrememly hazardous chemicals so there is an element of danger money in there, and they still probably average more than 60 hrs a week as a lot of firms do these days, cos if they dont run bent they will go to the wall, its a lot money for driving a truck and its prob more than a nurse earns but most of us dont earn anywhere near that amount, although it has to be said we,re a bunch of diesel spilling *******s anyway so no one like us anyway

[Viney]

I got 2.1% !!

[G]

Originally Posted by Viney

I got 2.1% !!

I got 21.0% But I was under paid I'm worth it though lol

[ogden]

If you're a chartered engineer on under 36k, you probably should have gone into something other than engineering.

Train drivers get around that - Chiltern Railways pays £37K for a 35 hour 4 day week. Arriva Wales pays about £32K.

This site is interesting. Long URL, can't be arsed to tinyurl it.

http://www.railwayregister.care4free...S%20&%20DEPOTS

[ogden]

Really, it goes to show the difference between a heavily unionised job and one where everyone's left to fight it alone.

More power to the unions!