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As As work dries up and rates shrink, Rikki Chequer counts the growing human cost of the recession.
Page 9
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It's late Sunday night and I still haven't written this week's column. Not because I have a lack of material: the forums, as ever, are full of discussion, controversy and nostalgia.
This is the easiest column to write when you have a touch of writer's block: choose a subject, cut and paste a few quotes from the forums, and voila! 350 words.
But this week I'm struck by the personal element — words on paper mean little when hard-working guys are faced with redundancy. Other drivers tell of their fight against crippling illness; people trying to make a start hit brick wall after brick wall; and, this Monday, one of the forum members is buried after dying in a terrible accident while doing his job.
It's something I've never really thought about before. We work in a transient industry in more ways than one. People and companies come and go, working practices change and our image as an industry moves on from road haulage to logistics to the next fad name. But it always comes down to the guy in a truck delivering the goods.
I have known and worked for companies where the driver is looked after and respected. I have worked for many more where the driver is seen as no more than a component. Over the past few years, good drivers have been a much sought-after commodity and in most companies the pay and conditions have reflected that. How quickly things change. Today, via the forums, we are hearing more and more from drivers that the days of "Just do it. If you don't like it, there's the door" are back. Drivers are reporting that agencies and employers are cutting hourly rates, and the pressure to "get the job done no matter what" is reappearing.
For the older drivers, this is simply a return to the status quo, but for many of the newer entrants to the industry this goes against everything they know.
The easy life is fast disappearing. As hauliers struggle to survive with decreasing work and rates, the corporate casualties are going to mount up — and with the pressure back on the drivers, the human cost is going to be far higher.