Scots up: rates rise?
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SCOTTISH hauliers are being urged to seek increased rates, following their inevitable acceptance of an £89 basic rate for topweight lorry drivers.
Six hours of negotiations with the Transport and General Workers Union on Monday resulted in hauliers following the lead of their Liverpool counterparts and offering an £89 basic rate for 40 hours.
The TGWU has recommended that its members accept this offer, along with a 50p increase in overnight subsistence to £10, a 3p increase in night rate to 45p, and a E3 increase in sickness benefit. The last item takes effect from August 1.
Road Haulage Association Scottish area secretary Tom Brattin said that the increase was one which members could ill afford, but which could not be avoided in light of the £89 deal struck in Liverpool (CM, February 6), and that the priority now is for operators to seek increased rates from their customers.
"They cannot go on subsidising their customers. Some are not even trying to get increased rates, yet some of those who have, have been pleasantly surprised," Mr Brattin told CM.
Subject to final TGWU confirmation, South Wales Joint Industrial Council has agreed an E85 basic rate for 40 hours for icp-weight drivers, representing an 8.6 per cent increase on the bottom-of-the-scale £78.28 rate for last year.
Subsistence there will rise from £8.75 to £9.50, and an 8.42 per cent increase on 1980 holiday pay will take Class 1 drivers' rate from £95 to £103 per week.
The West Midlands JIC has agreed its £86 top-weight basic with subsistence rising from £9.75 to £10.25, night rate from 50p to 53p per hour, holidays being increased to four weeks after one, rather than two years, and improvements in sickness and accident benefit.
On Teesside, settlement has finally been reached, with the basic rate for top-weight drivers rising from £80 to £85, and subsistence rising to £9.75.