Damn you would have thought the remainers might have said something

[vetran]

Seems lorry drivers are in short supply because the cheap eastern European drivers went home.

Maybe they could have painted it on the side of an HGV - £20 an hour for lorry drivers is far too much! We want to pay minimum wages so supermarket profits aren't reduced.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art....html#comments

Fresh food is being left to rot undelivered as supermarket shelves and restaurant plates sit empty due to nationwide HGV driver shortage, fruit and veg boss says

• Supermarkets are finding it increasingly difficult to replenish their shelves
• A shortage of truck drivers in the UK is causing problems across retail firms
• Tim O'Malley of Nationwide Produce said fresh food is rotting in cold storage
• He said tax changes, Brexit and Covid are all contributing to the current crisis

Surely it would have tilted the balance in the vote let us carry screwing workers by using cheap labour.

He said Britain has been reliant on large numbers of EU drivers who have returned to their home countries instead of remaining in the UK.

Worse still for the industry, truck drivers are not included on the Government's list of skilled labour so new arrivals will need immigration paperwork which makes the UK less attractive.

oh and HMRC have helped...

He also said changes in the rules of self employment have seen a 25 increase in agency driver charges, which has a further impact on the cost of a delivery.

Mr O'Malley said British truck drivers are getting older on average, with 13 per cent over 60 compared with one per cent under 25.

[Eirikur]

Daily Mail

[NotAllThere]

I think we did. Rather along the lines of "you won't be able to get the cheap overseas workers over here come Brexit". To which your lot generally replied -well they'll have to pay a decent wage then.

What matters is: is the economy overall suffering? Will this benefit or harm your average UK citizen? If it will benefit, then great! A real Brexit dividend.

So I can't see anything has changed. Same argument as 2015.

[vetran]

I think we did. Rather along the lines of "you won't be able to get the cheap overseas workers over here come Brexit". To which your lot generally replied -well they'll have to pay a decent wage then.

What matters is: is the economy overall suffering? Will this benefit or harm your average UK citizen? If it will benefit, then great! A real Brexit dividend.

So I can't see anything has changed. Same argument as 2015.

I was being sarcastic remainers should highlight as a major benefit of EU membership was that we could continue to screw our workers by paying low wages.

Brexiteers mentioned that cheap EU labour was depressing wages and they were called racist.

[NotAllThere]

I was being sarcastic

I know.

[Whorty]

I was being sarcastic remainers should highlight as a major benefit of EU membership was that we could continue to screw our workers by paying low wages.

Brexiteers mentioned that cheap EU labour was depressing wages and they were called racist.

As much as it pained me, I did just scum, sorry skim, read the article and nothing there about us screwing over Uk drivers with cheap foreign labour. These are your words.

Fact is we want cheap food in supermarkets. Part of this is keeping the supply chain as cheap as possible, meaning salaries across that supply chain (and the money that goes to the producers) is low. UK workers won't take low salaries .... but we want cheap goods. Seems UK people can't quite grasp the link between cost of production and price of goods on our shelves.

[BlasterBates]

They aren't raising wages they're simply letting the food rot in storage. In the end the Brexiteers will wonder why the supermarkets are empty.

[DonaldJTrump]

The shortage of drivers has a lot to do with Driver CPC bolloxs

[vetran]

As much as it pained me, I did just scum, sorry skim, read the article and nothing there about us screwing over Uk drivers with cheap foreign labour. These are your words.

Fact is we want cheap food in supermarkets. Part of this is keeping the supply chain as cheap as possible, meaning salaries across that supply chain (and the money that goes to the producers) is low. UK workers won't take low salaries .... but we want cheap goods. Seems UK people can't quite grasp the link between cost of production and price of goods on our shelves.

You do need to read between the lines. How much should a class one driver earn then?

As friends of mine are lorry drivers and get offered a pittance (below freely available benefits) because otherwise the eastern Europeans will do it for less then yes that is what is happening. It has been mentioned before and like the hospitality sector bemoaning the loss of cheap labour and having to pay above minimum wage now the HGV sector is experiencing the same I like the chickens coming home to roost and the bleating from employers.

We already have cheap food in the supermarket, paying drivers a pittance is not going to change that. If they are driving a 40 tonner and they pay them an extra £40 a day that is an extra 0.1p a kilo I don't mind paying that so the drivers have a decent wage - do you? Driving costs down is only so they can pay the bosses and shareholders more money. LIDL & ALDi charge less but pay their staff more how do they do that I wonder?

That is the link between production cost and goods on the shelves very tenuous.

UK supermarkets charge what they can get away with not what something costs or is even worth.

Are you willing to work for minimum wage so supermarkets can bolster their profits? Oh I thought not.

[vetran]

The shortage of drivers has a lot to do with Driver CPC bolloxs

yep that helps but from the article the majority of drivers were eastern European so other things have changed in the last 16 years as well.