Vol. 72/No. 27      July 7, 2008

The 641 members of the Unite union struck haulage companies Hoyer UK and Suckling Transport as they fought to bring their pay into line with other tanker drivers. Hoyer and Suckling have contracts to transport fuel for Shell from depots to fuel stations around the country.

According to the London Independent, with overtime and other payments, this would bring their pay to £42,000 [U.S. $83,000] by the end of the second year.

In 1999 Shell ceased employing the drivers directly and subcontracted their jobs. Workers lost significant benefits, including a final salary pension plan.

Speaking at Basildon depot in southeast England, where about 150 drivers were on strike, Unite regional organizer Matt Draper said, “Through outsourcing, Shell has driven down wages to maintain profits.” Drivers work a 45-hour week in 12-hour shifts, which include weekends and nights at flat rate.

“We’re doing more for our money all the time,” a striker at the Grangemouth, Scotland depot added, saying he preferred his name not be used due to company retaliation. “For most deliveries now, the driver is solely responsible for the safety of transferring fuel from tanker to station. Everything is timed now, you have so many minutes to load and unload. The tankers are bigger and harder to drive. It all puts safety at risk for us and other people.”

Drivers for other fuel companies walked out the last day of the strike in solidarity with 11 drivers suspended by Scottish Fuels for refusing to cross the picket line at the Grangemouth depot. About 40 workers stood at the gate. A driver for British Petroleum who asked that his name not be used said, “This is about bullying and intimidation, that’s why we had to support the drivers at Scottish Fuels.”

Drivers from other companies respected picket lines around the country. Though hundreds of fuel stations ran out of fuel, there was no major disruption to supplies.

The government is trying to convince workers to stop demanding higher wages as inflation increases. UK business secretary John Hutton claimed, “There needs to be discipline in public and private sector pay if we are to keep inflation under control.” Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, in an attempt to minimize the example set by the fuel tanker drivers, said the strike settlement, which is way above the official 3.3 percent inflation rate, was due to “particular problems” confined to that dispute.  
 
 
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