Drivers on the breadline
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• A third of all goods drivers are living below the poverty line. The Low Pay Unit reports that, excluding the own-account sector, around 35% of drivers earned less than £185 gross for a 40-hour week last year — and that is below the £4.60 gross an hour calculated by the organisation as the minimum living wage. One driver complained that he was earning E.2.95 an hour.
The LPU has also attacked the level of pay awarded to some warehouse workers.
This year the LPU has received a number of complaints from warehouse workers about their pay. One received a 5% rise but still earned only £117 for a 39-hour week. Others earned as little as £1.50 an hour. The average weekly gross wage for a general warehouse worker is £118.80, says the unit.
LPU research officer Philip Pearson says: -There has been a polarisation of pay. There have been some substantial improve
ments, but those drivers outside national trade union agreements, or without union representation, have suffered most. We're going to continue to feel the effects of the recession which will continue to feed through to pay rates," he warns. "The trend of an increasing number of employers paying under the low pay threshold is bound to continue." However the Reward Group employment consultancy says basic pay for transport and warehousing management is outstripping inflation and puts transport bosses ahead of those in many other industries.
Top managers' pay has risen by an average of 5%, while junior managers received increases of 6.5%, says the Reward Group.