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HGV driver: Training more Brits won’t solve awful working conditions [1]
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Date: 2023-05
A lorry driver has said Suella Braverman’s plan to end reliance on foreign workers by training more Brits ignores the awful working conditions putting people off the job.
The home secretary told attendees at the National Conservatism Conference in London that more British people should be trained as HGV (heavy goods vehicle) drivers, butchers and fruit pickers to fix severe labour shortages, rather than relying on overseas workers.
She said “there is no good reason” the UK can’t train its own workforce.
But a Scottish lorry driver of 30 years who regularly has to go to the toilet outside thinks Braverman is missing the point.
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“I just think it really is a relatively simple fix – improve the terms and conditions, and improve facilities,” said Paul*.
He told openDemocracy that it’s the long hours and poor conditions that stop people applying for jobs in his industry – not, as Braverman put it, Brits forgetting “how to do things for ourselves”.
But Paul, a Unite union rep, doubts the government has any real interest in trying to improve conditions for workers, adding: “I think they are looking at it like I'm just a lorry driver.”
Despite drivers requiring a Certificate of Professional Competence qualification, spending 30 plus hours in a classroom every five years to stay qualified and, in many cases, working all the way through the Covid-19 pandemic, Paul told openDemocracy the home secretary’s comments come from a lack of recognition of the hard work involved.
“We are an invisible industry… I genuinely don't think the industry as a whole gets enough recognition.”
So what would help fill the vacancies?
“A decent rate of pay would be a good start,” said Paul. Having lost countless weekends to long hours on the road and an average salary of £35,000 a year, he said current wages aren’t enough to compensate for missed time with family.
On top of this, Paul said, are the horrific facilities for HGV drivers.
Lack of lay-by space on some roads, or overcrowded parking in some service stations, means someone who has been driving a lorry for hours may have “nowhere to go to the toilet, nowhere to wash [their] hands, and nowhere to eat a hot meal”.
“It's not nice to have to use the toilet outside. But that's the reality of a lorry driver who for all intents and purposes, has to take baby wipes with him,” Paul said.
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[1] Url:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/suella-braverman-lorry-drivers-farm-workers-labour-shortage/
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