HGV driver shortage: Lorry drivers in Sheffield supported in protest over working conditions

Lorry drivers in Sheffield took part in a protest today against the low pay and poor working conditions to blame for the shortage of HGV drivers in the UK.
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Sheffield Trade Union Council has spoken out to offer its backing to HGV drivers in the city taking part in the national ‘Trucked Off’ campaign, which saw drivers take their statutory rest break simultaneously at 11am.

Martin Mayer, Secretary of Sheffield TUC, said: “The 100,000 shortage of lorry drivers is very much the fault of employers and successive governments.

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“They have connived over the years to de-unionise the industry, drive down pay and conditions and lengthen driving hours in a bid to boost profits and slash transport costs.

Sheffield HGV drivers have been protesting in the city todaySheffield HGV drivers have been protesting in the city today
Sheffield HGV drivers have been protesting in the city today

“No wonder drivers are leaving the industry in droves, and few new drivers are prepared to pay thousands of pounds for their own HGV training to enter the profession.”

In backing the campaign, Sheffield TUC also stressed that the shortage of HGV drivers was not due to Brexit – which it says has only contributed to the loss of 25,000 drivers when the full shortage amounts to 100,000.

Mr Mayer said: “The fact is the road transport industry became addicted to lower and lower pay to such an extent it had to seek out low-cost drivers from Eastern Europe to fill the vacancies. Brexit may have exposed the problem, but the real reasons for the shortage are much closer to home.

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“Thirty or forty years ago, most big employers – supermarkets, oil companies and manufacturers – had their own fleets with well-paid drivers on trade union rates.

“One by one they sought to break the union and drive down costs by contracting out their haulage to a plethora of smaller non-union firms. It’s cut throat competition out there to win contracts, with a race to the bottom in pay and conditions creating the situation we see today.”

Mr Mayer dded that successive Governments have “totally ignored” campaigns over rates of pay and “appallingly long hours” for lorry drivers.

This comes after Boris Johnson’s Government relaxed rules on driving hours during the pandemic allowing drivers to drive up to 99 hours – not including non-driving working hours – per fortnight and only have a 24-hour weekly rest.

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The Government has also just reinstated EU cabotage rules – allowing low-cost EU trucks to enter the UK and do local domestic trips before returning to EU, further undercutting UK hauliers and drivers.

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Calls for public investment to provide safe and secure rest facilities for truck drivers have also proven unsuccessful.

While Unite represents some areas of the HGV industry, a number of areas remain ‘union free’. Mr Mayer has called on these areas to unionise to campaign for a better deal for drivers.

Mr Mayer said: “The employers may have been rubbing their hands with glee at getting their transport done at rock bottom cost, but now they cannot solve the problem without trade unions.

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“If one employer raises rates of pay then they will be undercut by those that don’t. We need a framework collective bargaining agreement to cover the whole road transport industry, raising pay and conditions across all employers to ensure that HGV driving is an attractive and secure profession once more.”

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