What a jolly nice man ! Of course, while his members are on strike he still gets paid so why should he care if the whole country grinds to a halt ! The only Union Leaders that I can recall, who refused their pay during a strike, were Arthur Scargill and Mick McGachey of the miners.
Petrol tanker drivers are due to confirm this incoming week if and when they are going to have a National Strike. Should a strike happen, it may herald the return of a very dangerous smuggling operation which took place during the Winter of Discontent in the 1970's
Containers were fitted with plastic bags and filled with fuel in Eire and driven over the border into the North of Ireland.Some even made it to the UK on ferries to Liverpool and Ardrossan. If they come from the North of Ireland there are no customs checks at all and these drivers were driving a very big bomb on the roads for huge profits. !! Another way was to load trucks onto ferries at weekends and cross over to France to fill them all up and come back again. This was only really profitable for haulage firms based near to the ferry ports.
Yep, a lack of fuel will very soon stop everything moving about the country by most forms of transport. The only winners will be those hauliers on the canals and waterways who use little fuel to get about. Trains will stop and roads will be empty except for parked cars in petrol station queues waiting in hope of a strike breaking delivery. In the 70's tankers were followed from their depots to see where they were delivering and word then got round by phone. Now we have the internet for communications and maps. We also have social network sites which may finally be of some use !!!
The demos and following food/austerity riots all over Europe will commence from the Spring and continue on throughout the Summer and a prolonged tanker drivers strike would be counter productive in that it would stop vast numbers moving about from demo to demo. They may not last too long under these circumstances.
It may just be the first shot of a number of battles which will take place right up until next Winter. So pull up the couch, get the beer chilled and enjoy the fun watching it all on the biggest TV screen you can afford.
No comments:
Post a Comment