UPS in Europe

Jim Kemp

Well-Known Member
I know that this board is watched by Drivers in Europe. So I have a question for ya'll. First, I know a few people that live in various countries. The wife and I have hosted exchange students from North Europe and we have meet many Europeans through the exchange programs.
Finally the question, Do the UPSers there work as long as many hours as we do in the States? Everyone that we talked to said Americans work to many hours. One student from Holland said that 32 hours is full time. Would they get overtime after 32 hours.
Also their health benefits are paid through taxes, does UPS give any other benefits that we don't get here?
Just Curious
 

david cassin

dublinbrown
40 hours is the normal working time .the european union brought in a 48 hour working week which included transport workers.8 extra hours would be covered as o/time
our drivers in ireland start at 7.30 and some don't finish until 7-730 pm so a long old day for some
 

david cassin

dublinbrown
ups pay our health insurance but we are taxed by our government as its a benefit in kind .i am with ups 20 years and i get 23 days holidays as against some of the feeder drivers/other staff in the usa with 20 plus years who get 35 in the usa.which i read on this forum a couple of months ago.:happy2:
our salaries differ big time ,your drivers earn probably 1 1/2 times what our drivers earn.
 

CBUK

Well-Known Member
We do a 40 hour week in the U.k same as Ireland. We get overtime after 48 hours, Saturdays are voluantary and optional. We start as a rule at 0740 and finish depending on collection times.

We have a few late starters that come in at 0900 and cover the late collections.

We have driving laws which mean we have to take a 45 minute break after 4.5 continuous hours of driving. This can be split into 15 and 30 minute breaks but drivers have been known to use this time to park up and sacktruck stops in city areas.

This is technically not allowed but then neither are NDA's:wink2:

UPS dont pay you for an hour so if you start at 0740 and finish at 1740 you have only done a 9 hour day not 10. Best to take your break and come back a bit later. Otherwise you do an hour for no money. We used to be allowed to get on our vans early and sort the load out but this got banned rightly so in my opinion. This was another way of working for nothing.

During peak you have to expect to put in some overtime to get the job done. Often though, individual drivers have different views on what is acceptable overtime. If you read your contract is is a bit ambiguous.
 
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