Yorkshire Employers to Fight On
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Determination to Operate Counter Prop°. sals. Scheme to Stabilize Haulage Rates RESOLUTIONS supporting not only the enforcement of the Yorkshire hauliers' scheme of wages and conditions, but also the preparation and enforcement of schedules of haulage rates, were adopted at a meeting of employers, in Leeds, on April 8, under the auspices of the employers' panel of the Yorkshire Conciliation Board. Only employers who have signed the terms embodied in the Yorkshire scheme— which clash with the requirements of thc National Board and are opposed by the trade unions—were admitted to the meeting, at which there was a good attendance. •
Mr. CharlesHoldsworth, chairman of the Yorkshire Board and of the employers' panel, said that, under' the Yorkshire scheme, the workers would be better oft than ever before, for the reason that the interim agreement— which the employers' proposals are intended to replace—had, to a large ex lerit, proved intapable of operation.
No Retreat.
. The resolution on wages and working conditions, moved by Mr. Henry Bur of Bradford, and seconded by Mr.,• H. H. Beaumont, president of Halifax Transport Owners Association, supported the efforts and decisions of the Yorkshire employers' panel and recommended the panel to take steps to assist those who have signed the masters' terms " and have been victimized by the trade unions," and to continue to put into operation the machinery for the enforcement of these proposals.
The resolution on haulage rates, moved by Mn, Robert Barr, of Leeds, chairman of A.R.O. Yorkshire Area, and sec./Aided by Mr. Newham Dawson, of Scarborough, recommended the Yorkshire employers' panel to 'tackle the problem on the following lines:—
(1) Cc-operntn with existing rates committees. 12: Consider the possibilities of using the same machinery which hat been set up for the en. forcement of wages, etc., to enforce rates. (3) Explore the possibilities of a rates committee, comprised of road-transport employers. (4) Ohtarn the support of tam •Licensing Authority to enforce the rates schedules. (5) Ask each operators' association to impose a levy upon eaoh nienther to meet the cost of the work of rates stabilisation. (6) Consider 'what steps,can be taken to invite assistance from those who are not -members of an association.
Mr. Holdsworth said that as. the Yorkshire interim agreement was dated to expire on December --31 last,the
Yorkshire employers' panel consulted the various associations represented on the Area Board as to whether their members would'accept a new agreement similar to the previous one, with the exception of the conditions concerning " higher rating," the 48-hour week and holiday pay. The volume of answers to the questionnaire sent out showed clearly that this was what Yorkshire employers generally desired. Consequently, the new Yorkshire terms were formulated.
Mr. Barr said that, in considering the question of wages, it should be remembered that overhead charges had increased by about 60-70 per cent, since 1921, whereas haulage rates had come down. For the purpose of regulating wages and conditions, the C-licence holder should be on the same footing as A and B-licensees. He declared that the vans of bakers., milk dealers and butchers were being driven by youths "for the handsome sum of 25s. to 30s, a week."
Declaring that operators who had signed the employers' terms must enforce them on all hauliers, Mr. Barr asserted that " there are men outside this room who are paying their men 30s. and 35s. a week for working 106 hours per week, and they are carrying traffic from Leeds to London at a rate of 15s. a ton."
Union Interference.
Attacking what be described as interference by. trade unions, Mr. Barr advised operators who had any trouble with the unions to put the facts before the secretary of the employers' panel.
Unless rate-ctitting ceased and hauliers voluntari4 set up machinery for stabilizing rates, the speaker continued, stabilization would be forced upon them by law. Urging that it was far preferable for hauliers tbemselves to stabilize rates, rather than to have stabilization machinery imposed upon them, Mr. Barr pointed, to the effect of statutory fares coiatrat 'on the passenger side of the industry and said that the
fixing of fares at too high a level. had resulted in traffic going back to the railways, Mr. Fred Pickering dealt with the legal aspect of the Yorkshire employer? scheme. He explained the contention that, if. the scheme he supported by Yorkshire operators • generally, it will comply with the fair wages provisions of the Road Traffic Acts. Pointing out that the exclusion of the guaranteed 48. hour week from the Yorkshire agreement meant the elimination of any special wage provisions for casual men, Mr. Pickering said that many casual workers had lost employment under the interim agreement.
Mr: Holdsworth did not think that 5 per cent. of A and B-licensees in Yorkshire had adhered to the interim agreement. Operators representing an aggregate of over 4,000 vehicles had endorsed the Yorkshire employers' scheme,
Observance to be Enforced.
Mr, Newham -Dawson declared that when a clear case of nonobservance was discovered, it was intended to take it before the Licensing Authority, with a view to applying for the revocation of the culprit's licence,
Mr. Harold Goodwin, of Bradford, pointed out that the trade uniens were challenging the employers' contention that the Yorkshire interim agreement was no longer operative. The unions held that the interim agreement was continued after its date of expiry, December SI, by the award made by Sir Richard Redmayne, that this award became a decision of the National Board and that that decision was final.
Mr. Holdsworth replied that there was no statutory power behind the National Board, but there was statutory force behind the fair-wages provisions of the Road Traffic Acts, Yorkshire A and B-licence holders who are members of the North-Eastern Division of the C.M.U.A. have now been recommended by the divisional committee to sign the undertaking to carry out the terms of the Yorkshire employers' scheme. This has now the support of all the operators' associations represented on the employers' panel of the Yorkshire Board, With the exception of the Sheffield Horse and Motor Owners Association.