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Can't comment on the child of the post for some reason. Here is another source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/09/24/dont-blame-brexit-driver-shortag

Can't comment on the child of the post for some reason. Here is another source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/09/24/dont-blame-brexit-driver-shortages/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/09/24/dont-blame-b... Somehow it seems on these forums that any left leaning publication is immediately trusted but any right leaning one immediately distrusted.

bayesian_horse 5y ago
It's just that the shelves in the UK are empty, and in the other countries they aren't. Both in the UK and in the rest of the EU there already was a shortage of professional drivers. And the companies in the UK do seem to blame the VISA situation as a major contributing factor.
- timellis-smith 5y ago
  Indeed so, but that may still be due to more complicated factors. At no point have I said it isn't a factor, just that it's one of many.
- hogFeast 5y ago
  The shelves in the UK aren't empty. The press in Europe appears to be eagerly reporting this fact. Where I am, the supply of fresh food has improved significantly since the start of Covid. I don't know of anyone who has had problems buying food (if anyone did, there would be panic buying). There has been industrial action at some places, and some individual producers have driver shortages. It is not widespread at all (and btw, I live in rural area...we have had shortages before due to bad weather, but what is happening now isn't noticeable unless you are familiar with the grocery supply chain...this stuff is just being reported because it relates to Brexit, which journalists care about). It is fair to say there were probably problems due to Brexit for the supply of some fresh food...but that was months ago, and I didn't notice any disruption even then. And btw, if drivers were going to leave because of Brexit, they could have left between 2016-2020, the UK didn't ask anyone to leave, they all had the right to stay and work...most left in 2020, due to Covid, before we left. The timeline makes no sense. The companies blame visa rules because they don't want to pay staff more. It is that simple (what people don't understand, even in the UK, these stories are all coming from a lobbying group of haulers...not drivers, the people who are having to pay staff more and are very angry about doing so, they just want the cheap labour back). One of the companies that has had persistent shortages for months is a bread producer making £30m/year, they have 150 driver vacancies. I know someone who talked to a hiring manager there, they pay below market, they are experiencing massive attrition, when he asked what pay rises they were offering...2%, "the rise is satisfactory, workers should be happy"...meanwhile other firms are paying 10-30% raises, some HGV drivers are being retained on £50-60k salaries (this producer pays people £27k for multi-drop, starting at 2am, I believe it is mostly class 2 but their wages are a fantasy). Some firms in the UK have glutted themselves on cheap labour. They have no idea how to operate any other way (and btw, this bread producer is throwing away product every day because they don't have drivers, at no point have they tried to raise wages, they believe the low wage labour will return it seems).
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

bayesian_horse 5y ago

It's just that the shelves in the UK are empty, and in the other countries they aren't. Both in the UK and in the rest of the EU there already was a shortage of professional drivers. And the companies in the UK do seem to blame the VISA situation as a major contributing factor.

timellis-smith 5y ago
Indeed so, but that may still be due to more complicated factors. At no point have I said it isn't a factor, just that it's one of many.
hogFeast 5y ago
The shelves in the UK aren't empty. The press in Europe appears to be eagerly reporting this fact. Where I am, the supply of fresh food has improved significantly since the start of Covid. I don't know of anyone who has had problems buying food (if anyone did, there would be panic buying). There has been industrial action at some places, and some individual producers have driver shortages. It is not widespread at all (and btw, I live in rural area...we have had shortages before due to bad weather, but what is happening now isn't noticeable unless you are familiar with the grocery supply chain...this stuff is just being reported because it relates to Brexit, which journalists care about). It is fair to say there were probably problems due to Brexit for the supply of some fresh food...but that was months ago, and I didn't notice any disruption even then. And btw, if drivers were going to leave because of Brexit, they could have left between 2016-2020, the UK didn't ask anyone to leave, they all had the right to stay and work...most left in 2020, due to Covid, before we left. The timeline makes no sense. The companies blame visa rules because they don't want to pay staff more. It is that simple (what people don't understand, even in the UK, these stories are all coming from a lobbying group of haulers...not drivers, the people who are having to pay staff more and are very angry about doing so, they just want the cheap labour back). One of the companies that has had persistent shortages for months is a bread producer making £30m/year, they have 150 driver vacancies. I know someone who talked to a hiring manager there, they pay below market, they are experiencing massive attrition, when he asked what pay rises they were offering...2%, "the rise is satisfactory, workers should be happy"...meanwhile other firms are paying 10-30% raises, some HGV drivers are being retained on £50-60k salaries (this producer pays people £27k for multi-drop, starting at 2am, I believe it is mostly class 2 but their wages are a fantasy). Some firms in the UK have glutted themselves on cheap labour. They have no idea how to operate any other way (and btw, this bread producer is throwing away product every day because they don't have drivers, at no point have they tried to raise wages, they believe the low wage labour will return it seems).
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]