The pay gap They say that every story has two sides: let me put across mine as an ex-Currie employee.
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Some 20 years ago, after dropping a load in Berlin, I happened to cross the Channel with drivers from a wellknown tanker outfit in Grangemouth, who showed me payslips which proved they paid more in income tax than I received as a wage.
Currie never did pay big wages, but was competitive with expenses which compensated for the small wages.
The company also has a system where drivers are all paid the same— there is only about £10 difference in the top line.
A driver away for seven days receives the same as a man doing five days' work at home, so the difference is purely in expenses. But you know your pay and conditions before you start with a company, so why bitch after you accept them?
What I am more concerned about is that shop steward Fred Norris has become involved in something that he should have alienated himself from (CM 23-29 April).
He was always treated very well— he had a new vehicle whenever he wanted it, he chose his runs and he chose his work.
So I am surprised to hear of his aggression towards a gentleman like Norman Currie who, if I remember rightly, occasionally gave Fred a unit to travel to and from his home town of Ayr free of charge.
However, in fairness to Norris, he was never really helped by the representatives of the local T&G union, who, at least in recent years, have been trying to make up lost ground and recruit more members because of the inactivity of their predecessors.
Meanwhile, to Currie drivers, all I can say is, grow up or leave.
C Douglas, Dumfries.