Oh, LORDI LORDI, the Tories have been royally RUMBLED...... :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Petrol crisis 'is our Thatcher moment', Tory MPs reportedly tell party members

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/31/p...P=FBCNETTXT9038

 

Tory MPs have compared the panic over fuel supplies to the 1980s miners' strike and urged party members to "humiliate" the unions by stockpiling petrol, it has been reported.

 

In a private message from MPs to constituency associations, seen by the Daily Telegraph's Charles Moore, members were told: "This is our Thatcher moment."

 

The message reportedly continues: "In order to defeat the coming miners' strike, [Thatcher] stockpiled coal. When the strike came, she weathered it, and the Labour party, tarred by the strike, was humiliated. In order to defeat the coming fuel drivers' strike, we want supplies of petrol stockpiled. Then, if the strike comes, we will weather it, and Labour, in hock to the Unite union, will be blamed."

 

Labour immediately demanded an apology from the government.

 

Maria Eagle, the shadow transport secretary, said: "These allegations are outrageous. It is unacceptable that the Tory-led government have attempted to play politics with fuel supplies.

 

"People will be angry that David Cameron has inconvenienced millions in an attempt to create his own 'Thatcher moment'. The prime minister should apologise to the country for the chaos his government have created this week."

 

Number 10 described the claim as a matter for the Conservative party.

 

A Conservative party spokesman did not deny the existence of the memo and added: "The government has always been clear this is about doing everything possible to protect the country from a potentially crippling strike, and not about playing politics.

 

"We urge Unite to negotiate with the employers, and to make clear there will be no strike."

 

In his blog, Moore comments: "There is a key difference which ministers have not spotted. When Mrs Thatcher piled up the coal at power stations until the strike began in 1984, she was not inconveniencing the public.

 

"In 2012, the coalition is trying to press-gang the public, without saying so, into its political battles. All those people queuing on the forecourts were pawns in a government-organised blame-game."

 

He added: "No doubt many people reading this column are happy that Ed Miliband's and Ed Balls's dependence on a large trade union should be exposed, but very few, I suspect, appreciate being made into mugs. (And the political effect, of course, is the opposite of that intended: Unite now looks virtuous, and is much better placed to win its demands.)"

 

Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite, said the government's "posturing" was scuppering chances for an end to the tanker drivers' dispute, which has caused motorists to queues at petrol pumps across the UK and stockpile fuel in order to pre-empt any strike that could lead to a fuel shortage. "We call on the government to come clean on its whole approach to this dispute," said McCluskey. "Is it acting as an honest broker, or is it spoiling for a fight in order to get itself out of the political hole its class-focused economic mismanagement has put it in? (I think we all know the answer to that particular question... :rolleyes: )

 

"Over the last few days its every move has been designed to whip up unnecessary tension at the expense of the public. Ministers knew all along that a strike could not possibly be less than seven days away even were it to be called – that is the law. Yet they panicked the nation all the way to the petrol pumps because they imagined it would boost them in the polls.

 

"The British people know that this posturing and positioning is poisoning the prospects for an early resolution to the dispute."

 

The government stands accused of mishandling the crisis by Labour MPs, who called for the resignation of Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, who has faced a barrage of criticism from fire experts ever since advising motorists earlier this week to store jerry cans of fuel in their garages.

 

Calls for his resignation came after a woman suffered serious burns while transferring petrol into a jerry can in her kitchen.

 

The government has since changed its advice to motorists after Unite, the union representing 2,000 fuel tanker drivers, ruled out the threat of strikes over Easter. After days of urging motorists to fill up if their tanks dropped below two-thirds full, the Department for Energy and Climate Change said there was no need to queue on petrol forecourts.

 

"There is no urgency to top up your tank, a strike will not happen over Easter," it said.

 

But with Unite stressing it retained the right to call industrial action if talks, expected to start next week, break down, No 10 stressed the threat was not yet over. "It remains vital we take the necessary steps to keep the country safe in case there is a strike," a spokesman said.

 

The move followed more panic-buying at garages across the country on Friday, with petrol sales rising by almost 172% on Thursday and diesel sales up by 77%.

 

David Cameron said his heart went out to the woman in York who was burnt, describing it as a "desperate" incident.

 

Speaking at No 10 shortly after he chaired another meeting of the Cobra emergency contingencies committee, the prime minister welcomed Unite's decision and called on the union to engage constructively in talks expected to start next week at the conciliation service Acas.

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So, the Tories have deliberately stage-managed this whole invented "fuel crisis" it would appear. Mind you, they couldn't have done so really without the Sheep-like actions of a lot of the "great British Public" who seemed to think that we were back in the 70s and the OPEC crisis was at its peak...

 

The moral of this story is - NEVER TRUST A TORY AND USE YOUR COMMON SENSE.... :rolleyes:

Apparently thought, the Govt advice is, we shouldn't panic... Just fill up our tanks to be "on the safe side" according to David Cameron.... Or, according to Francis Maude - "fill up a Jerry can"... But, hey, DONT PANIC!! DONT PANIC!!! They do not like it up em Captain Mannering....... :rolleyes:

 

Most of us can't afford to stockpile - even if were safe to do so! :lol: Why the fat tory twat didn't just say 'I suggest you each fill up your 17 cars and then you'll have a choice of vehicle to get you safely to that dinner party with the PM!' :lol:

 

Kath

well with all good intentions and people saying that it is for "health and safety" whenever UNITE is involved it always comes down to salary, bonus and pension. I will be extremely surprised if there is no push on salary, bonus and pension out of this. Happy to be wrong on this but they always start with health and safety and im sure the argument is convincing but looking through history this is only where it starts!

 

well with all good intentions and people saying that it is for "health and safety" whenever UNITE is involved it always comes down to salary, bonus and pension. I will be extremely surprised if there is no push on salary, bonus and pension out of this. Happy to be wrong on this but they always start with health and safety and im sure the argument is convincing but looking through history this is only where it starts!

 

Yeah, you see Phil, the reason why the "health and safety argument" is convincing is mainly because you have 10 ton tanker trucks hurtling down the motorway at 70mph loaded with fuel and, well, I think that if I were in a car or a coach behind one of those things I'd want to be sure the guy driving the thing hadn't had his f***ing bosses cut corners on training... But, hey, that's just me... If these guys want more pay for doing a potentially very dangerous job, I'm thinking they can have it tbh.... I'd rather these guys have a decent bonus than the scumbag bankers who f*** up our economy...

 

Anyway, the argument has kind of developed way beyond this and now we're onto the Tories stage-managing a situation where people are acting like lemmings and panic buying for no reason to try and deflect attention away from their own disastrous policies and onto trying to paint the "big bad unions" in an incredibly negative light.... I know who I trust more... And it aint the Government...

jerrycan is a terrible idea! Its capacity is over what you are allowed to keep in your house! They are trying to get people to exceed demand now and stockpile so a strike would be less effective... a woman in York burnt herself while decanting with the hob on - some people :P

 

Dont the truck drivers earn 45k? What qualification and skills do you need to be a truck driver (i have no idea), but lets talk about the facts. Are they worth 45k a year, not sure if this is correct and what benefits they get?

 

 

 

I've seen the £45K figure as well as some other, lower, figures. However, that is irrelevant. This dispute is not about pay. A number of tanker drivers have said very publicly that they are satisfied with their pay. You haven't answered the question posed by Grimly earlier or - less directly - by the tanker driver I quoted in an earlier post. If you were following - or being followed by - a petrol tanker would you want to be reassured that they had had adequate training? Similarly, if you were near a petrol station where a tanker was depositing its load, would you want to be reassured that they knew what they were doing?

sure thats rhetorical, there needs to be a minimum level of training. maybe a certified course that they must go on aside from their license - again no idea what this would be. Do we even know what is provided to current tanker drivers? I for sure dont.

BUT as ive said with Unite and history it is never about just training, they always push for salary, bonus and pension. They take the angle that the job is dangerous and so you need a risk premium like oil workers do etc. Minimum standards are easy to implement but i will be shocked if it doesnt come down to some kind of risk based premium/ bonus. And then the 45k becomes very relevant and what training/ qualifications you need for this. In the first post of this topic it says on average from one company they pay their drivers 45k, so some under, some over.

sure thats rhetorical, there needs to be a minimum level of training. maybe a certified course that they must go on aside from their license - again no idea what this would be. Do we even know what is provided to current tanker drivers? I for sure dont.

BUT as ive said with Unite and history it is never about just training, they always push for salary, bonus and pension. They take the angle that the job is dangerous and so you need a risk premium like oil workers do etc. Minimum standards are easy to implement but i will be shocked if it doesnt come down to some kind of risk based premium/ bonus. And then the 45k becomes very relevant and what training/ qualifications you need for this. In the first post of this topic it says on average from one company they pay their drivers 45k, so some under, some over.

 

And do you imagine that being a petrol tanker driver is some 9-5 job where the drivers get to go home every night...? Nope, it's not.. These guys are lucky if they get to see their families at the weekends, it's just like being away on the rigs in a lot of ways.. Seriously, people need to be looking up some facts here into the nature of the job and then slag off the unions for doing right by their members. At the end of the day Unions are a hell of a lot more democratically accountable than CEOs or Boards of Directors. If union members aren't happy with their leaders or shop stewards, they vote them out... When was the last time RBS, Tesco or Barclays employees got to vote out the company directors...?