Aldi increases drivers’ pay amid labour shortages
Aldi has moved to increase the pay of its drivers in a bid to overcome labour shortages and ensure its supermarkets shelves are not empty.
A multitude of factors – including Brexit, high training costs and the pandemic – have led to a shortage of lorry drivers in the UK, threatening supply chains.
The Sunday Times reports that Aldi has recently been forced to increase its pay to drivers to fend off attempts from other supermarket chains to poach its drivers.
People in the industry are now expecting that drivers from agencies who were receiving £350 a day in January are now making around £800 a day.
The shortage of lorry drivers has been made even worse in recent weeks by the so-called pingdemic as more than 1m people have been forced to self-isolate after being alerted by the Test and Trace app.
The government has now moved to exempt lorry drivers in the food and drinks sector from having to self-isolate when pinged if they test negative.
Rod McKenzie at the Road Haulage Association told the Times: “The supply chain is creaking as never before and it is hampering our ability to bounce back from Covid.
“The government thinks it is up to the industry to sort it out, but they could allow foreign drivers in on short-term visas while we address longer term problems around training drivers.”
It comes as Tesco is now offering newly hired drivers a £1,000 signing bonus if they can start before the end of August.