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No Eastern promr•se cleared after
Page 16
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Polish driver
East European drivers pay is 'atrocious'. Guy Sheppard reports.
A UNION LEADER says a survey carried out last weekend (22-23 November) confirms "diabolical" pay levels among the eastern European drivers working in the UK.
Jimmy Hill, national chair of the Transport & General Workers Union road transport group. interviewed scores of drivers from non-EU countries. "Some of them are being paid £60 a week in expenses while stuck waiting for loads which is obviously not enough to live off in this country and we've heard that they're sometimes parked up here for 20 days," he reports. "Their wages are diabolical."
Hill adds that wages. calculated per mile, remain way below UK levels once the drivers are on the road. The survey was mainly carried out at Thurrock service station on the M25 motorway; it was part of a pilot project designed to encourage union membership.
"We're trying toconvince them to join a union in their home country," says Hill. "Instead of being stuck in this country living in primitive conditions waiting for loads they should be flown home or allowed to stop in decent accommodation."
He adds that three of the drivers he interviewed immediately agreed to join the T&G because they are based in the UK.
The project is the brainchild of Rachel Webb. a T&G member and secretary of the Socialist Truck Drivers group. She says: "It is to express solidarity with these drivers ."