General Chat

The petrol tanker drivers strike is now on.
This is an extract from news page.
Hoyer and Suckling Transport, the two firms involved in the dispute, said they had put two offers to the union - an increase for this year of 7.3 per cent backdated to January 1, 2008, which would take average earnings to over £39,000, with a further 6 per cent increase from January 1, 2009, which would take earnings to around £41,500.
My Wife is a Midwife i know a lot of people in nursing profession
and my Brother is a Police officer. Certainly not on the amount thats been offered
What do you think

Keith R

Dunno really Keith.

I suppose it depends on how much profit the company are making in comparison to what pay rise they were offered. That sort of thing has a knock on effect with staff morale.

My bet is the top brass haven't taken a reduction in their raises........though I'm just guessing.

My OH used to work for London Underground and he would rarely strike as he felt he got a fair deal comparatively speaking. He got kicked out of the union in the end lol.

OH doesn't earn anything near that much but if the tanker drivers feel they have been short changed then all power to their elbows and all thatxx

I'm probably living in the past but that seems an awful lot of money to me!!!

Hi Keith,


Me and my OH dont earn anywhere near as much as this!!


Where i live 39,000 is very good wage,


Caz xxxx

I would have said it was a good wage, but I don't know what the working conditions are like, the hours they work, the dangers they face. having said that i have always been fervently against strikes by anyone. Think they cause more problems than they solve.

Ann
Glos

Hi
don't get me wrong if people want to strike for a decent wage then let them.
I just thought it seemed a reasonable offer i wish my company would offer me that amount .
Keith R

I agree Keith, my OH left the prison service last year, £ 23, 500 for being threatened and abused and no pay rise for 2 years.


hes not on a great deal more now but at least no abuse.

The way everything is increasing, wages must too, for families to survive,


Caz xx

I know what you're saying Keith. We'd snap an employers hand off for that sort of increase too ........but sometimes it's about more than money. xx

My OH is a retired police officer,and thinks that they want too much.The police cannot strike and as they only got a 1.9% increase it is a disgrace,as their job is all hours and risky deserves more.
Incidentally,we were talking to friends of ours in Southern Spain yesterday and their supermarket shelves are empty of most things,in fact he likened it to Zimbabwe,not a vegetable,or piece of meat,only a few measly sausages in the freezer as the strikes there have been disastrous.Hope it doesn't come to that here,although they say it will only affect one in ten garages for fuel.It does make me wonder if we will be affected by goods coming from Spain,as our friend said the fruit was rotting on the trees and things including milk have had to be poured away.
Thank goodness for my store cupboard and freezers if this is what we can expect.Good job it is the growing season here.

hi. r u Keith H. /

Sorry no
Keith R

Fair play.
My concern is that people with peabrains will panic buy now.
It is never the strikes or perceived shortages that cause the problem, it is the people who cannot see past the ends of their noses and have to stock up for the next six months!

that's always a problem - one flake of snow in winter and everyone dashes to the supermarket and buys more than they could use in 6 months - as you say Errol, peabrains, but sadly it'll never change

Re the striking tanker drivers how would they like the following to go on strike:
Doctors
Nurses
Ambulance crews
Police officers
Fire fighters
Armed forces

Would they support us?????
I very much doubt it

I do not an will not support thier actions.
£39000 for driving a tanker around in the UK where our servicer personnnell are getting a pittance.

Give me a break and get back to work the bunch of slackers

I agree keith,


When my OH served in Iraq, as a SARGEANT ! he was on £29,000. the poor young lads who risk their lives are on much, much less,


Caz xxx

As Said my wife is a midwife she has to put up with physical and verbal abuse as do lots of professionals in the NHS .and Services. My brother goes out each day not knowing what he has to deal with.
Driving a tanker full of petrol may be dangerous but it certainly must be just as dangerous when you fill your car up .

Keith R

It is only the shell drivers that are going on strike, it isnt all about the money. Alot of the protests are about the price of diesel which lets be fair is affecting everyone.

And driving a petrol tanker is dangerous you have to qualify to be able to drive them.

Yes driving a petrol tanker is dangerous, nobody said it wasnt, but my point was the troops in conflict zones get paid a pittance in comparrison to them

They deliever for Shell, Shell contracted out to two companies a few years back.............the drivers drive for these companies who in turn are paid by Shell...............at least that is how it was told on news at ten

Its not about the troops who do get paid a pittance and the nhs staff who to be fair have saved my childs life enough times, but lets get back to the point. The point is if the price of diesel keeps going up it affects everyone, because the price of everything else rises. The price it costs in delivering to a supermarket is passed onto the customer. So if the price doubles it is pushed over to the customer. So hats off to all lorry drivers making a stand. It's a shame others don't follow suit instead of moaning.