Possible Strike by British Fuel Tanker Drivers

[Zaune]

The Guardian

The government has been urged to act as peace-broker to prevent a national strike by fuel tanker drivers after hauliers voted for walkouts in a series of ballots, raising the threat of industrial action over Easter.

The Unite trade union held back from declaring strike dates after balloting around 2,000 drivers at seven companies. Five voted for strikes including the contractor for Shell petrol stations, and drivers at DHL backed action short of a strike. Unite members at one business, Suckling, which supplies Jet and Total, rejected industrial action.

A Unite source said the next 24 to 48 hours would be key to determining whether the union pushes ahead with setting dates.

"The next 24 to 48 hours will be key to seeing whether the [haulier] industry and government are serious about sitting down with the union." Unite must take strike action over the next 28 days or the mandate established by the ballots will expire.

The source added that the government had to get involved in talks, as ministers consider putting the army on standby to replenish fuel stocks.

"This is an infrastructure issue and it is a commodity of national importance," said the source.

Diana Holland, the assistant general secretary of Unite, said: "These votes send a clear message throughout the industry and should prompt all the major companies to get around the table to establish minimum standards."

Unite members, who claim industry standards have slumped since firms such as Esso and Shell outsourced petrol deliveries, are seeking common safety and working standards across all contracts.

A statement from Unite said: "Tanker drivers work in an increasingly fragmented and pressurised industry, where 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."

The government said it had "robust resilience and contingency plans" to deal with a strike and had already started to put these in place to minimise any disruption to the public.

The energy secretary, Ed Davey, said: "The Unite ballot result is disappointing. The government is strongly of the view that strike action is wrong and unnecessary. The union should be getting round the negotiating table, not planning to disrupt the lives of millions of people across Britain."

Unite drivers supply fuel to 90% of the UK's forecourts and the union said a strike could close up to 7,900 petrol stations.

Unite members working for five fuel distribution firms delivering fuel for household names, including, Tesco, Sainsbury's, BP, Shell and Esso, backed the call for strike action by an average of 69%. Turnouts across the five companies averaged 77.7%

The government has announced that soldiers are being lined up to stand in for the tanker drivers if strikes go ahead, although Unite has pledged to maintain deliveries to the emergency services.

A spokesman for Hoyer, which delivers for Shell, said: "Hoyer has one of the highest health, safety and training standards in the petroleum distribution sector. Pay and conditions for Hoyer drivers are among the best in the industry. Our drivers earn on average £45,000 a year."

Don't know enough about the industry to form an opinion on the rights and wrongs of this one, though paying fast and loose with safety regulations and cutting corners in staff training for short-term profit boost and to hell with the long-term consequences does seem to be par for the course hereabouts. I also hope that if the government does bring in Army drivers to cover the striking workers, they charge the oil companies an arm and a leg for their services.

[bobalot]

Even here in Australia, truck drivers are pressured to make arduous timetables. In recent years, there have been a spate of accidents involving truck drivers who were fatigued and shouldn't have been driving.

[Zaune]

Even here in Australia, truck drivers are pressured to make arduous timetables. In recent years, there have been a spate of accidents involving truck drivers who were fatigued and shouldn't have been driving.

Far from unheard over here, though we've had mandatory in-vehicle monitoring for decades.

Oh, and the Cabinet Office Minister has had the bright idea of advising people to buy some jerrycans and stock up. Unsurprisingly, the Fire Brigades Union is not best pleased:

A government minister has been urged to withdraw his advice that people should fill jerry cans with petrol to prepare for a fuel tanker strike – because of the threat of fire.

The Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude, issued his advice as the government drew up contingency plans to deal with the threat of industrial action by drivers.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said the advice to motorists to store jerry cans of petrol in their garages was wrong and must be withdrawn.

The union warned it would "massively increase" the risk of fires and explosions.

Matt Wrack, the FBU general secretary, said: "This is not sensible advice and people should be discouraged from doing so.

"The general public does not properly understand the fire and explosion risk of storing fuel, even if it was done sensibly.

"Those without garages may be tempted to store fuel in the home. In the event of a fire in the house or a neighbouring property, it would be disastrous.

"It is already against the law to store more than 10 litres of petrol in two five-litre plastic containers in the home. As that amounts to little more than a third of a tank in most cars, the advice is of little practical help.

"There is a real danger the public will start storing fuel in inappropriate ways if the government is encouraging panic-buying and storage. This advice is wrong and must be withdrawn."

[Crazedwraith]

Dear god. Yes. I couldn't believe the radio. When it said the minister had been encouraging people to 'top up' their tanks frequently. Panic buying is not a good thing guys.

Still, if they tell people not to panic buy, panic buying is the inevitable result. Maybe this is just reverse psychology?

[Jon]

Maybe this is just reverse psychology?

Sadly not. There are queues at petrol stations across the country. Ridiculous.

[Sea Skimmer]

My understanding is, the strike would in fact come with a week of warning? So the panic buyers will all have empty tanks again by then? Either way, fill your bathtubs people! just cover it over with a shower curtain so the fumes don't stink too bad.

[JointStrikeFighter]

Why oh why didn't we listen to J when she said to store 10,000 gallons of guzoline under the house!

Who normally owns the petrol rolling stock in Britian? Is it largely company owned or owner-operator owned? If its company owned they can always get scabs in.

[Crazedwraith]

Maybe this is just reverse psychology?

Sadly not. There are queues at petrol stations across the country. Ridiculous.

There are no queues at the nearby Tesco's here. It ran out already.

[Vendetta]

Dear god. Yes. I couldn't believe the radio. When it said the minister had been encouraging people to 'top up' their tanks frequently. Panic buying is not a good thing guys.

It is if you're, for instance, a Tory minister and can potentially blame the unions.

[Zaune]

Why oh why didn't we listen to J when she said to store 10,000 gallons of guzoline under the house!

Who normally owns the petrol rolling stock in Britian? Is it largely company owned or owner-operator owned? If its company owned they can always get scabs in.

Company-owned. In fact, owner-operated trucks are virtually unheard of in this country.

[HMS Conqueror]

Why oh why didn't we listen to J when she said to store 10,000 gallons of guzoline under the house!

Who normally owns the petrol rolling stock in Britian? Is it largely company owned or owner-operator owned? If its company owned they can always get scabs in.

Like in most countries, the problem is licensing. You have to pay a lot of money to become a goods haulier, so not a lot then don't get jobs in the industry. To an extent it is a legally-backed employee cartel.

[Zaune]

Oh, this just gets better by the minute.

The Guardian

David Cameron sought to reassure motorists that petrol supplies will not run out after a serious fire involving a woman decanting petrol in her kitchen cast doubt on the government's decision to encourage stockpiling.

Diane Hill, 46, was in a critical but stable condition in hospital with 40% burns after pouring petrol from a jerry can into a jug in her kitchen in York because her daughter needed fuel for her car.

The accident happened on Thursday night, a day after Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, said the proposed tanker drivers' strike meant that "a bit of extra fuel in a jerry can in the garage is a sensible precaution to take". Some Labour figures blamed Maude personally for the accident and called for his resignation.

Cameron described the kitchen fire as "a desperate incident and a terrible thing" and he said that his heart went out to Hill and her family. Speaking after chairing a meeting of Cobra, the emergency committee, he insisted the government and fuel companies were doing all they could to address the shortages that have been caused by panic buying in some areas.

"The fuel companies are working flat-out to resupply petrol stations," he said. "It is frustrating, I know, when petrol stations have queues. Everything that can be done is being done, but it will take some time."

Cameron also welcomed the announcement from Unite, the union representing the tanker drivers, that there would be no strike over the Easter holidays. Unite said it would enter "substantive talks" with haulage companies under the aegis of Acas, the conciliation service.

But Cameron appealed to Unite to lift the strike threat entirely. "It is vitally important [Unite] enters these talks on Monday constructively. The most constructive thing they could do would be to call off the strike entirely," he said.

Cameron's comments were notably less provocative than those used by Maude to condemn Unite earlier this week, suggesting ministers have been shocked by the accident in York and its possible link to the government's decision to encourage people to buy up fuel.

According to the fire service in York, Hill was decanting petrol in her kitchen from a green jerry can into a jug while her gas cooker was on. The vapours caught light; in the ensuing panic she spilt petrol on her clothes and then they caught light, too.

Hill was putting the petrol into a jug because she wanted to give it to her daughter who had run out of fuel, the fire service said. It is not clear whether this is related to the fuel crisis, although some garages in York had run out of petrol.

John Mann, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw, blamed Maude for instigating the fuel panic and said that he should "do the decent thing and resign". Toby Harris, a Labour peer, also called for Maude's resignation, labelling his conduct disgraceful.

Officially Labour were more cautious about blaming the government for the York petrol fire, but Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, suggested that Maude was at least in part responsible.

Balls told BBC Radio Leeds: "I think the prime minister woke up on Monday morning and thought 'I've got the worst weekend I've had in government', because of the Tory donation scandal after a budget which had been judged by the country to be deeply unfair, and he thought 'Why don't I try to divert attention?'

"So suddenly, we had government ministers talking up a strike which wasn't even called.

"[Cameron] sent out his minister to say 'Fill up your jerry cans' and we've ended up with these queues, even though there's normal petrol deliveries. It was a political invention, the panic of the last couple of days, and the nation and some people are paying a very, very heavy price."

In Downing Street, it is now accepted that some of the language used by Maude earlier this week was regrettable. But, according to one insider, Cameron does not believe that he should be held responsible for an accident in a kitchen.

Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said the government should issue safety advice about petrol "as a matter of urgency". He said the public should be told how dangerous petrol can be "before we have another incident, perhaps with far worse consequences".

At the Cobra meeting, ministers discussed the contingency plans for a tanker drivers' strike after Easter. Hundreds of military personnel are being trained to drive trucks.

To make it easier for petrol stations to be restocked, the rules governing the maximum number of hours drivers can work have been temporarily relaxed. Until next Thursday, drivers will be allowed to work 11 hours a day instead of nine.

Well, if there was a possibility of avoiding strike action before today, there sure as hell isn't now. And "temporarily relaxed" my good right boot; they'll find some way to make it permanent eventually.

[Eternal_Freedom]

So Labour says its a Tory conspiracy. That's original.

The muppet Cabinet Minister should still go though.

[Terralthra]

This woman was pouring gasoline from a jerry can to a jug while a gas stove was on? Nothing a government minister does or does not say was going to save this woman from eventual self-immolation.

[Sky Captain]

This woman was pouring gasoline from a jerry can to a jug while a gas stove was on? Nothing a government minister does or does not say was going to save this woman from eventual self-immolation.

That's nothing suprising. I have seen plenty of people who smoke while pouring gasoline into lawn moover or chainsaw. Some people just are Darwin awards waiting to happen.

[HMS Conqueror]

Cameron's comments were notably less provocative than those used by Maude to condemn Unite earlier this week, suggesting ministers have been shocked by the accident in York and its possible link to the government's decision to encourage people to buy up fuel.

Or alternatively connected to Unite's extortion attempt :/

[Terralthra]

This woman was pouring gasoline from a jerry can to a jug while a gas stove was on? Nothing a government minister does or does not say was going to save this woman from eventual self-immolation.

That's nothing suprising. I have seen plenty of people who smoke while pouring gasoline into lawn moover or chainsaw. Some people just are Darwin awards waiting to happen.

Yeah...all the snopes/mythbusters debunkings of "a cigarette torching a pool of gasoline" go out the window when you start pouring the gasoline from one container into another. Vapor is practically guaranteed in that process, and sooner or later...