Staff meal taken off since minimum pay rise and reducing expanses for owner drivers

[epman]

Hello everyone,

 

I am currently working for a very big international pizza delivery chain. Lately the staff members are hardly hit by different forms of cuts. First of all the delivery charge has been cut off from £1 per drop to £0.75 per drop despite the fuel and car maintaining costs are going up. This is for the employee owned cars. I sent this following letter to my manager signed by all the employees but still waiting for a reply. I also read somewhere that minimum mile rate is £0.40 for the first 10000 miles and £0.25 there after. Is it true?

 

 

The Manager

xxx Pizza

 

Subject: Delivery charge

 

Dear Sir;

We would like to draw your attention to an important concern regarding the delivery charges paid by your company. Within the last few years the cost of petrol has risen over 25% but our delivery charge has been dropped from £1 to 0.75 pence. According to our calculations each delivery costs on average between £0.17 and £0.20 per mile including petrol costs, maintenance and road tax, and the average mileage per delivery is around 5 miles in this area, which takes a delivery cost to a minimum of 0.85. Some deliveries go as far as (XYZ), a 12 miles round trip that costs us over £2 but for which we are only getting £0.75. I would also like to remind you that due to the mileage the value of our cars drops as well. We do understand that some of the deliveries are very short distance away but, overall, we are losing money that ends up coming from our own pockets.

We are here to work and make some money for us and our families. This current situation is causing us a bit of financial hardship. Therefore we would like you to review the delivery charges accordingly.

Cost per mile:

Fuel cost per mile: An average car does 40 miles a gallon 1.15*4.54/40=£0.13 per mile

Car maintenance for 10,000 miles costs us around £220 including service, brakes and tyre usage=0.02 per mile

Cost of MOT and road tax are apart from service which is about another £220 per year= £0.60 per day.

We are also concerned about the usage of our mobile phones, making calls on behalf of the company at our own expense. Sometimes we have to call customers or the shop if there are difficulties with the deliveries, but there is no system in place where we could claim this expense.

Thank you for your attention and we are looking forward to a quick response from you.

Yours faithfully,

 

Drivers xxx Pizza

 

Since two weeks we had no reply from them and what came next was a big surprise. Staff meals are now banned. Before staff worked more than 6 hours were given break and a pizza for a meal but now we been asked to bring our own meals from home or can buy with staff discount. In staff handbook it is mentioned that meals are provided. Also my name is out of rota for this current week. I think the reason was that last week I walked out from work for a protest. This company is currently making big time profit but with the expanse of there employees?

 

Any suggestions or help for us? Anyone?

[SarEl]

Sorry, but the technical term for the situation you are in is "screwed". Assuming that you even are employees - not self-employed - then the employer can give any (or no) mileage. The 40p that you mention is the offset amount for tax claims through HMRC which you can claim. And meals should never have been provided in the first place unless you and/or the employer were declaring these as taxable benefits (which they are). And walking out in protest usually gets you sacked.

 

I can't say that I have any sympathy with the employer here, who sounds pretty poor (although probably not any more so than many in the fast food trade) - but it would have been a good idea to check out the position before taking you "industrial action" and not after it.

[epman]

Thanks for a quick reply. I think I am not sacked yet. I worked last night and was not told anything. I always worked hard without any problems at all. I was walked out because I was waiting for 20 minutes if they can sign me in so I could start work. Three other employees came after me and they were signed in straight away. It happened before, they try to save as much money as they can by doing this. I feel a bit sick to be honest and I am agree with you that nothing is going to happen. Lets hope I can manage to keep my job. Employer these days are trying to save as much as they can. In our place water is leaking in few places, some equipments are not working and are dangerous. I had no health and safety training since started in Jan2010, not even fire training. So I don't know what should I do if there is a fire. Run for my life I guess. I hope for the future.

[epman]

Thanks for a quick reply. I think I am not sacked yet. I worked last night and was not told anything. I always worked hard without any problems at all. I was walked out because I was waiting for 20 minutes if they can sign me in so I can start work. Three other employees came after me and they were signed in straight away. It happened before, they try to save as much money as they can by doing this. I feel a bit sick to be honest and I am agree with you that nothing is going to happen. Lets hope I can manage to keep my job. Employer these days are trying to save as much as they can. In our place water is leaking in few places, some equipments are not working and are dangerous. I had no health and safety training since started in Jan2010, not even fire training. So I don't know what should I do if there is a fire. Run for my life I guess. I hope for the future.

[SarEl]

If conditions are dangerous you can anonymously report this to the local Council and they will inspect it - if they can fit it in before the government revokes their "ridiculous" powers on health and safety! Otherwise I'd suggest just looking for a better job. Easier said than done, but they are out there if you keep looking.