SOLIDARITY IS STRENGTH : ‘Thousands will back tanker drivers!’

‘We’re telling the public, now is the time to stand up and do something – go to a forecourt, a roundabout, a depot – and do something.‘Now is the time to make your voice heard. This is a democracy.'
THE NEWSLINE
http://www.wrp.org.uk/news/7411 Monday, 2 April 2012‘Thousands will back tanker drivers!’PEOPLE'S fuel lobby leader Andrew Spence yesterday said: ‘Thousands will back a Unite tanker driver members strike’.

He told News Line: ‘It’s not just truck drivers, it’s taxi drivers, coach drivers and members of the public.
‘If you go to any forecourt people will tell you that fuel is too dear, they can’t afford it and something has to be done.

‘We’re telling the public, now is the time to stand up and do something – go to a forecourt, a roundabout, a depot – and do something.

‘Now is the time to make your voice heard. This is a democracy.

‘The government is putting up fuel duty by three per cent in August. It went up by five pence a litre last week – one place was charging £1.61 per litre, we’re heading for £2 a litre very quickly.’

Lorry driver Joe Givain said: ‘I’ve spoken to a number of tanker drivers and they are not happy with the hours and general working conditions.

‘Drivers are feeling this in every industry. They always get the short end of the stick.

‘After the government made the decision to announce “fill up your cars and jerrycans” they lifted the drivers’ hours limit so they could get fuel to the pumps.

‘It’s alright to lift sanctions when this government gets it wrong but they won’t lift them for drivers who want overtime to put bread on the table.

‘Most drivers will support the tanker drivers.

‘Fuel prices have been going up. We’re all disgruntled.

‘If the tanker drivers win it opens the door for the rest of us.’

Haulier Carl Green of King’s Lynn said: ‘Suppliers have already put prices up this week.

‘The government needs to come down on the suppliers not the tanker drivers.

‘They want to charge what they like.

‘Why can’t the government tell fuel suppliers they can only sell fuel at a set price.

‘I’ve got my own tank. The price I’m charged varies from week to week.

‘We back the tanker drivers. If they strike, every haulage driver should strike the week after.

‘We don’t want to hurt the public.

‘We should stop for a week. That would bring the country to a halt and force the government to give us a rebate.’

What did we say a couple of days back? Stating the obvious maybe, but the tories are spoiling for a fight with Unite to make cheap political capital with scare stories about unions holding the country to ransom and leaving people to die.
And they have fucked it up before it even got off the ground. If these people werent responsible for running our lives, it could be funny.

THEY DECLARED WAR - CLASS WAR - WE NEED TO FINISH IT - FOR GOOD! TAKE THE WAR BACK TO THE ENEMY - The REAL SDL.

Petrol crisis 'is our Thatcher moment', Tory MPs reportedly tell party members

Unite accuses ministers of 'spoiling for a fight' after memo from MPs emerges comparing situation with 1980s miners' strike

• Damien Pearse
• guardian.co.uk, Saturday 31 March 2012 14.28 BST
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/31/petrol-crisis-thatcher-moment-tories

'In order to defeat the coming fuel drivers' strike, we want supplies of petrol stockpiled,' Tory MPs reportedly told party associations. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

Tory MPs have compared the panic over fuel supplies to the 1980s miners' strike and urged party members to "humiliate" the unions by stockpiling petrol, it has been reported.

In a private message from MPs to constituency associations, seen by the Daily Telegraph's Charles Moore, members were told: "This is our Thatcher moment."

The message reportedly continues: "In order to defeat the coming miners' strike, [Thatcher] stockpiled coal. When the strike came, she weathered it, and the Labour party, tarred by the strike, was humiliated. In order to defeat the coming fuel drivers' strike, we want supplies of petrol stockpiled. Then, if the strike comes, we will weather it, and Labour, in hock to the Unite union, will be blamed."

In his blog, Moore comments: "There is a key difference which ministers have not spotted. When Mrs Thatcher piled up the coal at power stations until the strike began in 1984, she was not inconveniencing the public.

"In 2012, the coalition is trying to press-gang the public, without saying so, into its political battles. All those people queuing on the forecourts were pawns in a government-organised blame-game."

He added: "No doubt many people reading this column are happy that Ed Miliband's and Ed Balls's dependence on a large trade union should be exposed, but very few, I suspect, appreciate being made into mugs. (And the political effect, of course, is the opposite of that intended: Unite now looks virtuous, and is much better placed to win its demands.)"

Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite, said the government's "posturing" was scuppering chances for an end to the tanker drivers' dispute, which has caused motorists to queues at petrol pumps across the UK and stockpile fuel in order to pre-empt any strike that could lead to a fuel shortage. "We call on the government to come clean on its whole approach to this dispute," said McCluskey. "Is it acting as an honest broker, or is it spoiling for a fight in order to get itself out of the political hole its class-focussed economic mismanagement has put it in?

"Over the last few days its every move has been designed to whip up unnecessary tension at the expense of the public. Ministers knew all along that a strike could not possibly be less than seven days away even were it to be called - that is the law. Yet they panicked the nation all the way to the petrol pumps because they imagined it would boost them in the polls.

"The British people know that this posturing and positioning is poisoning the prospects for an early resolution to the dispute.

The government has been accused of mishandling of the crisis by Labour MPs, who called for the resignation of Cabinet Office ministerFrancis Maude. Maude has faced a barrage or criticism from fire experts since advising motorists earlier this week to store jerry cans of fuel in their garages.

Calls for his resignation came after a woman suffered serious burns while transferring petrol into a jerry can in her home.

The government has since changed its advice to motorists after Unite, the union representing 2,000 fuel tanker drivers, ruled out the threat of strikes over Easter. After days of urging motorists to fill up if their tanks dropped below two-thirds full, the Department for Energy and Climate Change said there was no need to queue on petrol forecourts.

"There is no urgency to top up your tank, a strike will not happen over Easter," it said.

But with Unite stressing it retained the right to call industrial action if talks, expected to start next week, break down, No 10 stressed the threat was not yet over.

"It remains vital we take the necessary steps to keep the country safe in case there is a strike," a spokesman said.

The move followed more panic-buying at garages across the country yesterday and the revelation that petrol sales increased by almost 172% on Thursday while sales of diesel were up by almost 77%.

David Cameron said his heart went out to the woman who was burnt, describing it as a "desperate" incident. Speaking at No 10 shortly after he chaired another meeting of the government's Cobra emergency contingencies committee, the prime minister welcomed Unite's decision and called on the union to engage constructively in talks expected to start next week at conciliation service Acas.

UK FUEL TANKER DRIVER DISPUTE: NO ARMY STRIKEBREAKING! - Stop Brit Forces Scabbing On Our Struggles

SOLDIERS ARE SCABS. If you join the British Army you are a total tool. A tool for government and for big business. A tool that kills kids overseas, and scabs on working-class struggle at home. Don't be a tool.
- The REAL Scottish Defence League

Monday, 26 March 2012NO ARMY STRIKEBREAKING!

Fuel protest convoy arriving in London in the year 2000 – the government is planning to use the army against a tanker drivers strike next month

(SOURCE: THE NEWSLINE) 

Army drivers are being trained as strikebreakers in the event of a national tanker drivers strike which is expected to be called this week, Cabinet Secretary Maude revealed yesterday.

The result of a Unite ballot of its 2,000 tanker driver members is due to be announced today and in response to an anticipated overwhelming YES vote, strike action ahead of and over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend is widely expected.

Unite says there have been ‘unrelenting attacks’ on drivers’ terms and conditions and the strike could begin as early as April 3rd.

The 2,000 drivers being balloted account for 90 per cent of those supplying petrol to UK forecourts.

Maude said the strikebreaking ‘training’ will begin this week as part of contingency plans being drawn up to ‘avoid major disruption to fuel supplies’.

Responding to the government threats, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said yesterday: ‘For over a year we’ve been desperately trying to bring about some stability in the sector and urging government ministers to persuade contractors and oil companies to engage in meaningful discussions with us.

‘Unfortunately it’s proving difficult to get them to respond. That leads to frustration as workers feel that no one is listening to them.

‘We’ll need to analyse the turnout and feeling of members before deciding whether to take any industrial action, but we always hope that negotiations can resolve the situation.’

Announcing the ballot last month, Unite stressed that ‘the vote is not about pay but is about establishing a forum to agree industry-wide best practice on safety, training and terms and conditions in order to stabilise a nationally vital industry.

‘The union’s attempts to progress the forum have been thwarted by employers’ unrelenting attacks on drivers’ terms and conditions.

‘Tanker drivers work in an increasingly fragmented, pressurised industry with concerns building that corners are being cut on safety and training in a bid to squeeze profits and win contracts.

‘Drivers face growing job insecurity as a result of the contract merry-go-round and a “beat the clock” culture has flourished with drivers forced to meet ever shorter delivery deadlines.

‘Final salary pension schemes have been swapped for inferior money purchase schemes, and some workers are now on their sixth pension in as many years with 10 to 15 years left to go in the industry.’

Cabinet Office minister Maude said the government has ‘learnt the lessons’ of the fuel blockades of 2000, which brought the country to a standstill and stood ‘ready to act’ in case of a strike.

Maude said: ‘Although we are pushing for an agreement, we have learnt the lessons of the past and stand ready to act to minimise disruption to motorists, to industry and, in particular, to our emergency services, in the event of a strike.’

ATUA National Secretary Dave Wiltshire said: ‘Any attempt at army strikebreaking must be met by the TUC calling a general strike.’