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Brighter Days Ahead for the Removal Industry

15th May 1936, Page 59
15th May 1936
Page 59
Page 59, 15th May 1936 — Brighter Days Ahead for the Removal Industry
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Practical Steps in the Stabilization of Rates taken by the W.R.A. Advice to Removers who Seek AdditionalTonnage

'THE furniture-removal section of the 1 road-transport industry is experiencing, as are other departments, an increased demand for its services. Keen observers discern an improvement in prices, as well as in the quantity of traffic handled, and they foresee better times ahead.

The upward trend in rates is partly due, no doubt, to the efforts of the Furniture Warehousemen and Removers Association, the annual conference of which is now in progress at Chester. The costing committee of the Association has drawn up a schedule of minimum rates for local removals, which has been accepted by a number of the organization's 23 centres, subject to any modification that may be necessary to meet local conditions.

Observance of these schedules by the Asaociation's ,750 members, who are Icicated,in all parts of the United Kingchain, will ensure the stabilization of rates on a national basis, and doubtless afford more remunerative working thati bas been the case generally dur. ieg the ,past few years.

If the success anticipated in connectioa with the local• rates schedule be forthcoming, the costing committee will turn its attention to charges for long-distance work.

Conciliation Disagreement.

One of the most contentious issues affecting furniture removers is that of wages and conditions of employment. The removal industry has its own Joint Industrial Council, representative of delegates from the F.W.R.A. and the workers' organization, as well as its own conciliation agreement.

Under the agreement the rates of pay for drivers and statutory attendants of the vehicles owned by A and B. licenseesare similar to those contained in the award of the National Conciliation Board, as applied by the Area Boards. The conditions, however, vary, particularly in respect of subsistence allowance and overtime.

For some time, negotiations have been in progress between the masters and men concerning the agreement and, at a recent meeting (as reported in last week's issue of The Commercial Motor), the Joint Industrial Council agreed to the rates specified in the National Board's report. The question of working conditions, however, remains unsettled, the union representatives having refused to countenance any substantial departure from the findings of the National Board.

Specialist furniture removers generally appear to be satisfied with the working of the licensing system. The F.W.R.A. provides legal service in this connection, and the appearance of the Association's name on an application form indicates to the Licensing Authority that the applicant possesses suitable plant and is a bona-fide remover.

Inevitably, the specialist removers a d those engaged in the business as a sideline have come into conflict, and tl4e Association has taken a firm view tl at part-time removers should not be a lowed to operate for unrestricted distances. In most cases, the Licensing Authorities have concurred in this opinion, but, at the same time, they have realized that the B-licence holder who casually effects small removals for the working-class population serves a useful social function.

Often such work is undertaken by coal merchants, who operate under 13 licences, for customers with whom they come into contact in connection with their main business, In such cases, it would be unreasonable, as the West Midland Licensing Authority pointed out in his annual report, to enforce the use of pantechnicons or containers, and the employment of expert packers.

The railways have, however, in their effort to secure a share in the household-removal traffic, frequently objected to applications by this class of operator.

The West Midland Authority pointed Out that there may be scope for the railways to co-operate on a fresh basis with established specialist removers. He added that, even when the railways were successful in tendering for removal work, they frequently employed expert packers of various removal concerns, and did not confine these arrangements to road-transport companies under their own control.

Road-Rail Co-operation.

This question of road-rail cooperation has been before the executive committee of the R.W.R.A. It was suggested by a member that a remover who sent traffic by rail should receive a discount. The matter was discussed at a conference of the Railway Clearing House, to which a delegation from the Association was invited, and it was left for the railways to evolve a scheme affording terms that would encourage members to place their traffic on rail.

With a general increase in business, applications by removers for licences for additional vehicles are likely to become more numerous. In this connection, the removal contractor is in a peculiar position, in that he cannot use the Hawker formula, by means of which the number and sizes of vehicles to be authorized to an applicant can accurately be computed.

It may be recalled that, in the Hawker case, the Appeal Tribunal decided that a reliable indication of an increase in an operator's business was afforded by comparative statistics of the tonnage of goods carried per ton of unladen vehicle weight, in addition to evidence of gross receipts.

Guidance for removers who seek additional vehicles or tonnage is provided in the Appeal Tribunal's decision in the Beazley case. In this appeal the Tribunal declared that, subject to certain considerations of vehicle-mileage, tonnage, etc., evidence of an increase in gross receipts since the original grant or the most recent authorization of additional tonnage, is of assistance in deciding whether there has been an expansion in the business of an applicant who cannot use the Hawker formula, whether further machines should be licensed and, if so, their unladen weight. It is also important to show a greater turnover in the class of traffic hitherto hatidled, as distinct from new traffic.

Oppressive Taxation.

The case of the removal contractor for a remission of taxation is particularly strong, in view of the low annual mileages of his vehicles and the long periods occupied in loading and unloading. It is common for a-furniture van to be stationary at loading and unloading points for six hours a_ day and, bearing in mind the fact that road wear caused by pantechnicons is considerably less than in the case of most other classes of commercial vehicle, the remover may claim, with every justification, that he is oppressively taxed.

The question of waiting time also affects that of drivers' hours, Last year the F.W.R.A. strongly supported an application by its Scottish centres to the Industrial Court for an extension of three hours per day in the maximum legal working hours of pantechnicon drivers, during the period from May 18-31 of each year. This is a period of intense activity on the part of Scottish removers, but the application was strongly contested by the men's unions and it failed.

Solidarity is a noteworthy feature of the removal industry, not only nationally, but on an international basis. The British Association of International Furniture Removers was formed in 1923, and affiliated to the F.W.R.A., to safeguard the interests of those who undertake international removals. It has over 150 members.

With ever-increasing and enthusiastic support for its national Association, and willingness to co-operate in the stabilization of rates, the furniture-removal industry should go from strength to strength.


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