AIBU to think that the BBC and other news outlets are reporting that the lack of lorry drivers and care workers is caused by Covid alone and that they are deliberately ignoring Brexit?

[Aurorashields99]

And if you agree, why do you think this is the case? Surely Brexit is as much to blame for these issues so why are they not reporting this fairly?

I must have watched half a dozen news stories over the past few days in which reporters only mention Covid as being the cause of empty shelves in the supermarket and the shortage of care workers. If Brexit is referred to at all, it is only mentioned fleetingly.

Of course Covid has had a heavy impact on these sectors too but it's not the only factor is it? So why is Brexit being ignored?

I am not a journalist or a troll. I have been a member of Mumsnet since 2003.

And yes I know there is a Brexit topic elsewhere but (a) I am interested in people's votes and (b) not being able to discuss this in AIBU and confining this thread to the Brexit topic is the perfect example of the issue I am complaining about here.

And it is allowing Boris Johnson and Michael Gove to cover their tracks and not to have to face the consequences of their actions. Covid is providing the perfect cover for them both.

Why aren't reporters doing their job and reporting the facts fairly? Why is Brexit being swept under the rug? Is it because Johnson and Gove were former journalists themselves and know how to spin events in their favour?

Or is Brexit a dirty word now even though we are all living with consequences?

@Daphnise

I'm surprised you don't blame COVID on Brexit too.

Brexit is done, do keep quiet about it now, the decision is made.

What a ridiculous stance.

If.you got shot in the foot, you'd not just think 'oh well, it's done, so I'll shut up about it now'

@Daphnise

I'm surprised you don't blame COVID on Brexit too.

Brexit is done, do keep quiet about it now, the decision is made.

😂😂

Article from 2018, pre Brexit and Covid

www.bifa.org/news/articles/2018/dec/truck-driver-shortage-crisis-now-spreading-across-the-whole-of-europe

In a report released this week, European Road Freight Transport 2018, the supply chain analyst shows that in just six countries – the UK, Germany, France, Denmark Sweden and Norway
the shortage of drivers adds up to 127,500.

@Intercity225

When people are unable to get care for their relatives, and are having to give up their jobs and lifestyles to care for their own, respect for, and within the industry may improve, alongside pay and conditions, and that hopefully would draw more people to the job.

No, IMO it’s the other way round. Afaik, most people are put into a care home, when the family carers are on the verge of breakdown. Having cared 24/7 for DD (and given up career and lifestyle), until I was driven into the ground, we were willing to send DD to a care home - and then, care workers who got paid for only working shifts, but got to go home and have a night’s sleep, days off, holidays; seemed to me to be living in unimaginable luxury! It doesn’t increase my respect, because I did it all, with no break just for carer’s allowance of £63 (iirc) a week, and I had no back up of cleaners, a maintenance department, a whole multidisciplinary team of on-site professionals like a clinical psychologist, etc.

As for pay and conditions, what have they got to do with us? The contract is between the CCG and the care home. We have no say in it; and it’s naive to think the CCG would pay more on our say so, given the situation in the NHS.

Wow if anyone wonders why carers often feel undervalued, this right here.

Article from 2020 with Poland and Romania suffering severe shortages… Romania was at 50% expected to rise to 62%

www.google.com/amp/s/www.commercialfleet.org/amp/news/latest-news/2020/03/13/driver-shortage-expected-in-europe

It’s a global issue

Also something that I didn’t cover earlier is that most truckers are middle aged or older divorcees because their marriages didn’t survive the long distance.
They all missed out on their kids growing up.

Another modern issue with the job is the constant surveillance with cameras in the cab and trackers on the vehicle. Somebody ringing asking why you’ve stopped.

There isn’t the freedom anymore which is something old school truckers loved about being on the open highway.

blubberyboo you keep posting articles from a year ago about driver shortages as if those of us who live in those countries will start to say "oh yes, now that you mention it I have seen a lot of empty shelves and am also regularly unable to find chicken, spuds, and peas."

Certainly there are lots of vacancies for truck drivers, and absolutely the pay and conditions need to be improved. Still, here we are with our smooth supply chain. All things being equal, the only thing left is Brexit.

Exactly. There are a multiple threads on here about empty shelves and shortages. This is not happening in the EU.

I can see that brexit caused a shortage of lorry drivers because of European lorry drivers who worked in the uk for not a lot of pay . Not all of these drivers have gone home . A lot have been here for years and have the right to stay .
13 years ago when Northern Rock collapsed wages started to stagnate . My Dd is a nurse and has hardly had a pay rise in the intervening years , but it's not only her , it's practically every other industry have also been reluctant with pay rises.
My son has been training for his HGV license this week and says that some companies are now offering a £1000 joining bonus and up to £60 per hour to get the drivers we need . Maybe a lot of other companies should look at what they are paying and give their workers a pay rise and stop blaming the recession for not being able to afford it .

The Beeb are definitely not pro Brexit. I was watching that morning when the final vote that meant Remain couldn't win and Dimbleby said the world was ending, or words to that effect.

The fact is COVID meant people went home and they didn't come back.

So now businesses will have to pay their drivers what they are worth rather than undercutting because of the influx of cheap labour from Europe. God forbid working class people get a fair wage eh?

This is the shower facility for lorry drivers at a UK ferry dock

And again

@Dutch1e

Actually no I don’t expect you to say anything about shelf shortages in your country because I think I clearly said that in those countries the driver shortages aren’t yet noticed by the public as not visible on the shelves.

Your truckers are still working hard to keep the shelves filled but don’t kid yourself that the shortages in drivers aren’t there

Please don’t misquote me

I think things like safe parking slots, access to showers etc and food should be part of the package offered by employers, and hopefully some will now rise up to the plate. It wouldn't solve everything of course, for many the hours would still be unmanageable, but with decent facilities, being respected and properly paid it might become appealing to a new generation- along with realising they aren't machines, and timing journeys to the minute might be better value for money, but it's not going to be when you have no staff left.

I think it's both Brexit and covid, not just one or the other

the reason why the workforce were underpaid and made to work in grim conditions was probably because there was a large supply of Eastern European drivers prepared to put up with those conditions.

The point of some Eastern European drivers being “prepared” to work for a lower wage is a good but complex one.

Some aren’t aware what the minimum wage is, or are told it won’t apply to them as they are foreign nationals. They’re not “choosing” to work for lower wages. They either aren’t aware, have no choice, or feel it’s ok as it’s more than they would earn at home.

There’s absolute nothing that would stop their employers paying all drivers a good wage, which would attract more British drivers to the job.

Eastern European drivers aren’t intentionally keeping British drivers out of jobs - that’s purely down to the employers taking advantage of EU drivers and keeping British drivers out of a job.

@blubberyboo

Also something that I didn’t cover earlier is that most truckers are middle aged or older divorcees because their marriages didn’t survive the long distance. They all missed out on their kids growing up.

Another modern issue with the job is the constant surveillance with cameras in the cab and trackers on the vehicle. Somebody ringing asking why you’ve stopped.

There isn’t the freedom anymore which is something old school truckers loved about being on the open highway.

I know someone who has gone back to driving a lorry after a long hiatus, pushed out by low wages for a shit job.

Rate of pay is going up, but he’s choosing to only do 3 days a week because working conditions still ain’t that great.

For a long time it’s been an employer’s market, where people, especially low paid, are treated like crap and expected to accept it because there will always someone cheaper and more desperate ready to replace you.

My partner ends up doing a “shower” on the back of his lorry most nights as it’s cleaner than most of what’s abaiable. Thankfully he has national membership to a gym chain so that’s his best bet during the week for a proper clean.

Some figures that I haven't seen further up the thread. In 2020, a total of 237,300 were employed as HGV drivers, but 516,000 held HGV licences. Approx 63,000 drivers left the industry including 14,000 Europeans who left the UK. 40,000 HGV tests were cancelled.

Many younger people who originally intended to become HGV drivers have taken jobs driving vans. They can walk into the job with a normal driving licence so avoiding paying for expensive HGV training from their own pocket. The pay, although lower, is not significantly worse. They can often go home after every shift. They are not constrained by the ever increasing number of weight restrictions on roads.

From the BIFA article referenced further up the thread, this is not solely a UK problem:
"Germany is facing a shortage of 45,000 truck drivers, with around 30,000 leaving the profession every year. This compares with only 2,000 people receiving truck-driving qualifications each year."

All you people commenting that there are no shortages where you live are missing the point. Those countries still are reporting driver shortages- it just hasn’t translated into shelf shortages yet.

No, you're missing the point. There are no shortages of food in the various EU countries that people are posting about. Where I live in the EU, there are also no shortages of building materials, furniture, medicines or white goods.

The UK is badly affected because the entire supply chain is becoming ever more thinly stretched. Not only is there a severe shortage of drivers, but there are shortages of workers to pick, process and pack the food long before it ever gets to the shops. There are shortages of warehouse staff and drivers too. This is unique to the UK because a) thousands of workers have left due to Brexit and b) the UK has decided to cut itself off from the highly integrated pan-European supply chains. It is no longer viable for many European hauliers to deliver to the UK, and if there are the shortages of drivers in the EU and the shortages of products that several posters claim on this thread, then the European hauliers and companies will prioritise deliveries within the EU rather than sending their trucks on journeys to the UK, where as everyone agrees, conditions are poor. Add in the delays at Customs and the fact that return loads mean mountains of paperwork, and supplying the UK becomes even less attractive.

Yanbu!!!

There are enough qualified lorry drivers in this country to maintain shelves and there has been for over 20 years. 20 years ago last driver out all week (60-70 hours) would take home at least £600 after tax. In recent years £500.
The Europeans did the work because it was a good wage for them to send home but leaving a skills gap in their own countries. Those countries need them back.
All Brexit has done has revealed that for 2 decades British employers were not maintaining good wages and conditions and taking advantage of labour workers.
Brexit itself is not the issue but the chronic underinvestment in our own drivers and logistics network.

And IKEA was called out for reporting that it’s supply issue in UK was “down to Brexit” but similar supply issue in Netherlands was down to “global shortages”

Germany has been reporting shortages in materials all summer.
China Japan and Asia too
All blamed on covid
Not unique to UK

I’m puzzled as to why these apparent shortages are not affecting me?
My Sainsbugs delivery arrives every week, with at most one substitution and usually none.
I have ordered goods online - everything from clothes and books, to plants, a radio and a lawnmower, and everything has arrived with no problem.
The village Spar is loaded with stock, they are always clogging the aisles while unpacking boxes.
Are the shortages patchy and regional? Because in my part of rural Scotland it seems to be business as normal.

@blubberyboo

Germany has been reporting shortages in materials all summer. China Japan and Asia too All blamed on covid Not unique to UK

Afe they reporting shortages of food? Because that is pretty unique to UK.

Now there is also threat of further ones due to power issues and gas price hikes. These are, however, happening everywhere.
That will be fun on fop of this shitshows