This fuel shortage thing...

Fantastic Mr Fox

Which is at present entirely caused by the general public panic buying and not tanker strikes...

Anyways, thoughts?

I'm not sure the full extent of what they're striking about, as far as I can see its about working 11 hours instead of the 9 they currently work and changes to the pensions.

They earn about £45,000 which they say is danger money and for working unsocial hours.

Anyway, I can't actually see why they are paid that much danger money. Its dangerous for the driver sure, but if you have a major crash in any haulage lorry I'd imagine your chances of survival would be similarly small. Infantry men get shot at and they don't get that much!

I think we should let them keep the pensions and hours, but increase the risk to justify the pay they get by allowing people to take shots at fuel tankers with rifles (obviously not automatics as that would be stupid).

Rigga

Well all the muppets that have gone panic buying have made things ten times worse because the petrol stations have all put their prices up to cash in and guess what? They won't come back down. I also blame the newspapers for causing widespread panic!

mak3m

frig the fuel panic



im shi**ing bricks over the pasty tax

Gazlar

This is the same general public who buy 9 weeks worth of food for xmas day and 9 loaves when the shops are going to be shut for a day.

Bunch of mongs

bobs bikes

keep it going, and let the petrol prices rise...... working wonders for the cycle trade!

mar_k

Working with tankers is not a very nice job at times, Its quite dirty and can be bad for your health.
The fumes you breath in daily are not good for you. Plus there is the stuff the drivers have to learn which normal
HGV do not know, like how to deal with bad situations when things go wrong. luckily things rarely go wrong which could well be down to the Training the drivers do,

Yes their well paid, and I wouldn't expect people on the outside to understand why they are paid so much.
I bet you there are people on this forum with less dangerous jobs working in far better conditions being paid far more.

What would you do if your boss decided to make you work more hours for the same pay, tanker drivers currently get an extended rest period after doing their rota of days and nights which is also going to be taken from them so the change in contract terms is quite large, Not sure many of you would sit back and take it.

I dont agree with the strike but the change in contract terms is huge so the drivers have a right to be peed.

thekickingmule

mar_k wrote:

blah blah blah *complaints about having a job but bad hours/money* wahhh blah blah blah
I dont agree with the strike but the change in contract terms is huge so the drivers have a right to be peados.

You sir, are wrong! Disgusting.

Not all of the petrol stations have run out of petrol, some in Leeds were causing such traffic chaos that the police closed them. Retardedness has spread throughout the country.

It's clearly the sign of things to come though, petrol will increase more and more, and people will rush to the cheaper places. Then we'll all have to drive crappy little electric cars.

YeehaaMcgee

mar_k wrote:

I dont agree with the strike

I don't fully understand what the strike is about, but regardless that they're earning more than twice as much as me, if their contract changes unexpectedly, they have the right to strike action, just like everyone else.
Being a high-earner doesn't mean you can't get ripped off.

Fantastic Mr Fox

The thing is though, they're ripping everyone else off.

Just like firemen and train drivers. As soon as they have an an inch of their ridiculous benefit packages taken away they all strike.

welshkev

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIVm8I83LUs

revolution!!! that's what i say

Gazlar

I'd go further than that, I think most people would fight to preserve their pay and conditions and I could sit here and defend why, as a train driver I get paid what I do, but it's not going to make anyone understand or care really. Whether I agree, you agree or what, you are always going to think you are worth what you get paid and everyone that strikes or wants to strike is being greedy

mak3m

I have a dilema

im nearly running on fumes

is it cool to go back to the pumps yet??

cooldad

No queues but bloody expensive.

mak3m

cooldad wrote:

No queues but bloody expensive.

diesel £1.47 here

£1.47!!!!!!!!!! for a frigging litre mind not a gallon, they dont advertise by the gallon anymore, cos anoyone over the age of 30 would see the price and keel over

jndb72

£97 quid to fill up with Diesel yesterday. 3 years ago it was costing £55

And to think Cameron and his jobs for the boys brigade take most of it.

Makes me fecking sick to the stomach

cat_with_no_tail

mak3m wrote:

cooldad wrote:

No queues but bloody expensive.

diesel £1.47 here

£1.47!!!!!!!!!! for a frigging litre mind not a gallon, they dont advertise by the gallon anymore, cos anoyone over the age of 30 would see the price and keel over

Bah, that's positively cheap.

My local garage is now 152.9 for diesel. I'd be willing to bet those prices will break 160 before TT week too.

bbug

mar_k wrote:

What would you do if your boss decided to make you work more hours for the same pay, tanker drivers currently get an extended rest period after doing their rota of days and nights which is also going to be taken from them so the change in contract terms is quite large, Not sure many of you would sit back and take it.

This is what's just happened to me and my colleagues. We've had our working week extended from 40 to 42 hours, our extra holiday pay scrapped and our bank holiday hours reduced from 8 days @ 12 hours to 8 @ 8 hours. All this added together means I'll be earning £1800 less per year and lose two of my holidays. This on a basic salary of £26k (I know, I know, a lot of people don't get anywhere near that, but still,)

So I have a lot of sympathy with you on this one. If I'd been in a position to do it, I'd be taking action of some sort too. It's not just about the money, it's the knowledge that you're being screwed that hurts too. Especially that I work for a family company with a turnover in excess of £500 million that's still massively profitable. (A return on turnover of 15% is pretty good in these difficult times, after all)

YeehaaMcgee

bbug wrote:

mar_k wrote:

What would you do if your boss decided to make you work more hours for the same pay, tanker drivers currently get an extended rest period after doing their rota of days and nights which is also going to be taken from them so the change in contract terms is quite large, Not sure many of you would sit back and take it.

This is what's just happened to me and my colleagues. We've had our working week extended from 40 to 42 hours, our extra holiday pay scrapped and our bank holiday hours reduced from 8 days @ 12 hours to 8 @ 8 hours. All this added together means I'll be earning £1800 less per year and lose two of my holidays. This on a basic salary of £26k (I know, I know, a lot of people don't get anywhere near that, but still,)

So I have a lot of sympathy with you on this one. If I'd been in a position to do it, I'd be taking action of some sort too. It's not just about the money, it's the knowledge that you're being screwed that hurts too. Especially that I work for a family company with a turnover in excess of £500 million that's still massively profitable. (A return on turnover of 15% is pretty good in these difficult times, after all)

Why are you not in a position to do something about it?

cooldad

I think he should go on strike.

thekickingmule

I think he should just quit if he doesn't like his job. Seemingly he'd rather be unemployed.

cat_with_no_tail

I've got a job for you right here!

xmadxmoex

I like this thread

I neither agree or dissagree with the strikes, i can sympathise with the tanker drivers having such changes imposing thier jobs, but then i dont like the fact the thought of a strike has made petrol prices jump up yet again. whilst im a relativly new driver fuel was only hitting 80p when i started now its nearly double and the only place i see the money going is the record profits the fuel companys announce constantly.. odd!

I dont really mind what anyone else earns apart from the likes of footballers and other high profile sports personalitys.. i dont class that as a real job and dont believe kicking a ball around for 90 mintues once every couple of weeks for half of the year warrents multi-million pond salarys. *prepares for flaming from footy fans*

jndb72

If you think the profit the fuel companies make is gross take a look at how much the tax man makes from us motorists.

bbug

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Why are you not in a position to do something about it?

Because I can't do it on my own.

Because most of the people I work with are too scared to lose their overtime, let alone go out on strike. I keep harping on about how effective a work to rule would be but my words fall on deaf ears. The youngsters of today have no idea how to take industrial action, having been raised in a post-Thatcher undustrial environment. It boils my p*$$ to see them lying down to be kicked.

Because I've only got 66 sets of shifts left to work before my pension. :P

cooldad

Because if you don't want it plenty of people will.

YeehaaMcgee

bbug wrote:

It boils my p*$$ to see them lying down to be kicked.

But... you're doing the same.
If you think a change is in order, do something about it. It's surprising how quick people will get behind someone, who's willing to take action if they agree about the cause.

rgliniany

xmadxmoex wrote:

I like this thread

warrents multi-million pond salarys.

That is a lot of ponds........ probably why they get paid so much cash as well....... to buy land for the ponds........

btw fuel over here was $1.62 L for me last week...... so its not just panic buying that brings high fuel prices...... bad governments too

thekickingmule

rgliniany wrote:

btw fuel over here was $1.62 L for me last week...... so its not just panic buying that brings high fuel prices...... bad governments too

Where's "Over here"? If you use $ for cash, then that could be half the price of what we're paying!

rgliniany

Australia...... but it would only be half the price if the money i spent was an exchanged from overseas..... i earn $'s so its like comparing apples with apples.... if you see what i mean

thekickingmule

That's still about £1.05 a litre, which would be heavenly over here! We pay that much to the government, pretty much!

dhobiwallah

On the rare occasion I nip over to Oz I find it expensive for pretty much everything.

The average price of beer is about 30% higher than UK

http://www.pintprice.com/region.php?/Australia/GBP.htm

(£2.90 in UK vs £3.92 in Australia)

(For your comparison £1.50 is AU$2.30 :shock: try paying that for a litre of fuel!)

I would have thought that you are getting paid more Aussie Dollars for your job than you would be GBP. If not I feel for you and hope you enjoy your beans on toast tonight