National News First 100 days of Boris..........

[IsleofWightYellow]

Flexible working has been around for decades. Ironic that the very folk berating delivery drivers working for the likes of DPD/DHL/Yodel et al will be doing their Christmas Shopping consumerism on Amazon etc and expecting it to magically appear on their doorstep.
Its not "Boris`s fault" its ours.

A lot of ‘Amazon etc’ use Royal Mail (especially at Christmas) who, for all their faults, offer a decent hourly wage and excellent sick leave. So just by ordering something online you aren’t automatically part of the problem.

If the government said ‘Amazon, you can’t pretend that your drivers are happily self employed, give them a fair hourly wage and a minimum amount of sick leave’ then yes, Amazon would make slightly less profit, and Jeff Bezos wouldn’t be quite as much of a billionaire (Oh no! The billionaires! We need them to create jobs and make us rich through the trickle down effect blah blah) but people earning a wage in this country delivering parcels would be slightly happier and more secure. Wouldn’t that be better for all of us? We do have to live in this society after all...

 

[Sheik djibouti]

And the reason many don't hear the complaints?...Because their chosen propaganda media and news delivery platform simply doesn't report it, I guess

 

[Foley]

There is a minimum wage which is increasing (£9 an hour)
Are people suggesting that the Amazons of the world are not paying this (40p a package)?

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

There is a minimum wage which is increasing (£9 an hour)
Are people suggesting that the Amazons of the world are not paying this (40p a package)?

They absolutely do not pay minimum wage. Delivery drivers are classed as ‘self-employed’, which most people agree is a way of companies like Amazon and DPD getting around having to pay minimum wage, or sick pay, or holiday.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

There is a minimum wage which is increasing (£9 an hour)
Are people suggesting that the Amazons of the world are not paying this (40p a package)?

“Lane (a DPD delivery driver) disputed the £150 charge (for missing work) in July, insisting that he had told his bosses about the appointment months earlier. According to correspondence seen by the Guardian, he told his manager: “I have cancelled so many appointments because I couldn’t make the time to get there that the renal department have stopped treating me. I had to go.”

His DPD area manager replied: “I fail to understand why a full day off was required and as such do not see that the breach [the £150 fine] should be rescinded.”

During the appointment, doctors found Lane’s blood pressure and cholesterol were high, he had anaemia and rising levels of creatine in his kidneys, a warning sign of renal failure. In September 2017 he collapsed into another diabetic coma.

In the days before he died, he was feeling sick and vomiting blood, Ruth said, adding that he told her: “I really don’t want to work, but I have to.”

But yeah, this is a great system and no-ones complaining.

 

[Foley]

They absolutely do not pay minimum wage. Delivery drivers are classed as ‘self-employed’, which most people agree is a way of companies like Amazon and DPD getting around having to pay minimum wage, or sick pay, or holiday.

Ah OK, I didnt realise.
The self employed rules need to be looked at undoubtedly.
I wonder who stands up for these people and lobbies for them.
I know that Unions work for their members, but maybe they ought to look at the bigger picture and put more resources into trying to find out the scale of the problem (do a lot of people like this arrangement or does everybody have a huge issue with it)?

 

[Gary Baldi]

The problem isn't chlorine per se.

It's the conditions that the chickens are farmed in that require the use of chlorine.

Rightly or wrongly people don't share the same concerns about salad leaves.

The thing is, I have heard people say that very thing - one or two on here and others online that they wouldn't eat chicken that been "chlorinated" as it was wrong, disgusting, whatever. To be fair. some have raised welfare.

In all honesty, we are all a bit ignorant about how our food is produced and preserved, heaven knows how poor lettuce leaves and tomatoes are treated. It just became another scaremongering point that assumed we'd all eat it if it landed on our supermarket shelves - Christ knows how some people cope who travel to America and eat chicken.

It's a bit like the people with a "minor gluten intolerance/weakness" who drink generic beer and don't appreciate what is the fundamental part of the process...

 

[m]

It's a bit like the people with a "minor gluten intolerance/weakness" who drink generic beer and don't appreciate what is the fundamental part of the process...

Don't get me started on those people!

 

[Essexyellows]

Which makes poor pay and working conditions OK? I'm sure Boris will do the right thing.

You want cheap tat delivered next day that is what you get.

Should we care about the driver getting 70p a drop or the kid in a Chinese sweat shop getting pennies a piece ?

Consumerism drives it, stop buying unsustainable crap you don`t need and only want and the model folds..... simple really.

Its got feck all to do with Boris. The driver wasn`t forced to take the job, they know the deal.

 

[LowerSouth]

Campbell was a Labour party member....cummings is not a tory party member

So Cummings is not biased then ?

 

[LowerSouth]

hope youre right .... Gove repeatedly swerved the direct question re a no deal crash out brexit on tv earlier, even when the interviewer pressed him on it, he wouldnt give a direct answer .... worrying times IMO

How can you give a direct answer or actual end date , when negotiations haven’t started yet.
Now is the time to let the government do the job for which they have been mandated.
More conjecture is absolutely pointless and a waist of time .
It is also giving many of you on here, much needless anxiety.

 

[Essexyellows]

So what is your solution @Pete Burrett ?

You (the consumer) still want your "cheap stuff" from Amazon (or any others) you don`t want to pay a reasonable price so all the folk in the supplychain get a fair share.......

The consumer doesn`t want to use shops where people had decent standards & made a fair profit......

We (the consumers) are driving the race to the bottom that means other people (somewhere) suffer................ but we don`t see them.

Its our fault.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

So what is your solution @Pete Burrett ?

You (the consumer) still want your "cheap stuff" from Amazon (or any others) you don`t want to pay a reasonable price so all the folk in the supplychain get a fair share.......

The consumer doesn`t want to use shops where people had decent standards & made a fair profit......

We (the consumers) are driving the race to the bottom that means other people (somewhere) suffer................ but we don`t see them.

Its our fault.

It’s not logical what you’re saying. Of course it’s better to buy things which aren’t made in sweatshops, and people should do so, but our government can’t control regulations in India or Thailand or wherever such things are made. What they can do is regulate delivery companies here. Having no regulation for business in this country because bad things will happen to someone somewhere in the world makes no sense, especially in the isolationist Brexit country you espouse. Don’t we want to have control of our own laws and society?

Amazon make huge amounts of profit. DPD made over £100m in profit after tax in 2016. If both these companies were made by law to treat their delivery drivers as employees, or use Royal Mail, it wouldn’t force up prices for the consumer, it would just mean they make a little less profit. Plenty of successful businesses already use Royal Mail for their deliveries, for example.

Factories in poor countries often collapse or catch fire due to low regulation, and I’m sure a lot of the big companies would like to be able to do what they like when it comes to similar health and safety issues here, but we’ve decided that it’s better for everyone if there are laws forcing them to build and maintain things to a certain standard, to protect workers. This is just a similar thing.

 

[Londonroader1]

Getting Brexit done Really? Or just starting it? More uncertainty ? Bloody joke thats not funny.

 

[TL@69]

O hour contracts & part time work I'm sure works for some, the point is that the vast majority of these people would rather have a full time job. If that then created a shortage of part time delivery drivers no doubt wages would rise. Those could be paid for by reduced profits or small increase in delivery charges. Guessing it would be increased delivery charges sadly.

 

[Sheik djibouti]

It’s not logical what you’re saying. Of course it’s better to buy things which aren’t made in sweatshops, and people should do so, but our government can’t control regulations in India or Thailand or wherever such things are made. What they can do is regulate delivery companies here. Having no regulation for business in this country because bad things will happen to someone somewhere in the world makes no sense, especially in the isolationist Brexit country you espouse. Don’t we want to have control of our own laws and society?

Amazon make huge amounts of profit. DPD made over £100m in profit after tax in 2016. If both these companies were made by law to treat their delivery drivers as employees, or use Royal Mail, it wouldn’t force up prices for the consumer, it would just mean they make a little less profit. Plenty of successful businesses already use Royal Mail for their deliveries, for example.

Factories in poor countries often collapse or catch fire due to low regulation, and I’m sure a lot of the big companies would like to be able to do what they like when it comes to similar health and safety issues here, but we’ve decided that it’s better for everyone if there are laws forcing them to build and maintain things to a certain standard, to protect workers. This is just a similar thing.

Yeah, but Mrs Thatcher said there is no such thing as society, so why should we have to care about the plight of others?

Not my problem guv.....

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Boris has promised time and again (already) that he will 'do right' for the disadvantaged. So it has plenty to do with Boris.

You go ahead with the 'survival of the fittest' hard man act. The fact is there are a lot of people in this country struggling, and it's not all their fault.

The ‘fact’ is that under a different economic model there’d be a lot more people struggling. And that model got rejected by the electorate last week anyway.

 

[Sheik djibouti]

The ‘fact’ is that under a different economic model there’d be a lot more people struggling. And that model got rejected by the electorate last week anyway.

So now we'll never know........

Very glad you put 'fact' in inverted commas, because it clearly isn't a fact unless you can provide the evidence to back it up of course.

On the other hand there is verifiable evidence available that there are today 4million kids in poverty in the UK and 135,000 of them who are homeless.

I am sure they are feeling all warm and fuzzy and reassured since Friday morning, knowing that Boris' Conservative Government are branding themselves as the 'People's Government'

 

[Foley]

Getting Brexit done Really? Or just starting it? More uncertainty ? Bloody joke thats not funny.

Er what's happened is what surely you knew was going to happen re Brexit getting done.
So we leave on January 31 and then the trade agreement talks happen.

 

[warksox]

“Lane (a DPD delivery driver) disputed the £150 charge (for missing work) in July, insisting that he had told his bosses about the appointment months earlier. According to correspondence seen by the Guardian, he told his manager: “I have cancelled so many appointments because I couldn’t make the time to get there that the renal department have stopped treating me. I had to go.”

His DPD area manager replied: “I fail to understand why a full day off was required and as such do not see that the breach [the £150 fine] should be rescinded.”

During the appointment, doctors found Lane’s blood pressure and cholesterol were high, he had anaemia and rising levels of creatine in his kidneys, a warning sign of renal failure. In September 2017 he collapsed into another diabetic coma.

In the days before he died, he was feeling sick and vomiting blood, Ruth said, adding that he told her: “I really don’t want to work, but I have to.”

But yeah, this is a great system and no-ones complaining.

But there was more to this story that you haven't mentioned.
As a result of this case, DPD changed their employment contracts to give self-employed drivers access to paid annual leave, sick pay and pension entitlement:

DPD to offer self-employed drivers sick pay and annual leave

Parcel delivery company DPD is to give self-employed drivers access to benefits such as paid annual leave, sick pay and pension entitlement through a

www.personneltoday.com