TANKER drivers are being driven to strike action, the Unite trade union warned yesterday.
The UK’s major oil companies, retailers and independents providing fuel for the nation have been warned by Unite that their strategy of squeezing the conditions of delivery drivers to feed profits will backfire with potentially serious consequences for the country.
Warning that ‘morale among the estimated 3,000 drivers is at an all-time low’, Unite has written to the leading operators in the fuel sector to warn them that unstable employment, redundancies arising from constant reorganisation of operations and attacks on earnings are forcing the workforce towards conflict.
Such is the scale of the problems, Unite has called an autumn summit to consider the action needed to safeguard stability within the sector.
Unite is urging the employers to stop and think again about their employment strategy, offering them this opportunity to enter into discussions now with the union to avert possible industrial action later in the year.
Unite national officer for logistics, Ron Webb, said yesterday: ‘We have consistently warned the oil employers that their strategy of attacking wages and squeezing more and more out of their drivers but giving them less and less in return will backfire.
‘Unfortunately, they have not listened, so now we are at a very dangerous moment for this sector.
‘In my 15 years as a negotiator for this sector, I have never witnessed such low morale among the drivers.
‘This is a workforce which is highly specialist and delivers a product this country’s smooth functioning depends upon.
‘They are also working for some of the most profitable companies in the land. All they are asking for in return is a wage which reflects their hard work and professionalism.’
Unite claims that the greater use of alternative contractors only too willing to undercut other employers is behind the driving down of wages and hitting conditions of employment
In addition, tanker drivers are reporting a brutal management style with little protection for the drivers.
Webb continued: ‘It is sadly not unusual for a tanker driver to have long service and a good work record yet to find that if they make a mistake, have one bad day, they are then sacked.
‘It is now a “one strike and you are out” culture which places drivers under dreadful pressure.
‘Time and workers’ patience are now running out so we appeal to the key stakeholders to engage with Unite in finding a better way forward.
‘Minimum standards on safety and decent terms and conditions are a prerequisite for success in this sector.
‘So too must the attacks on workers’ pensions cease and the merry-go-round where it is not unusual for drivers to have as many as ten different employers with no or poor pensions when they retire. Quite simply enough is enough.’
Meanwhile, Unite is warning that about 13,000 jobs could be lost if the Trident nuclear deterrent is delayed because the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has to bear the full £20 billion of renewal costs.
Unite also fears that if the MoD has to stump up the full-cost of building the submarines, traditionally borne by the Treasury, thousands more defence jobs could go as other conventional programmes are slashed to pay for Trident, such as the two new aircraft carriers promised.
