Union asks for huge pay rise
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Union leaders are to demand pay increases of around 45% for truck drivers from next year.
The Transport & General Workers' Union says a basic rate of E7 per hour is vital if problems of driver shortages and excessive working hours are to be overcome, But the demands have already been criticised as unrealistic.
The claim will apply to drivers of 38-tonne trucks and above in the hire and reward sector. T&G national secretary for road haulage, Danny Bryan, says: "Drivers are working an average of 70-plus hours a week to make a living. They face long hours, low pay and ever increasing pressures from employers and their clients. A pay rate of £7 per hour will go a long way to help," But Mike Salmon, regional area manager far the Joint Industrial Council. says: "I am sure that if our members could afford to pay them 17 an hour, they would do so. But there just isn't the money to afford that increase. The driver shortage gets worse every day but I think the TGWU is being very unrealistic to go for 17.'
In the East Midlands, the regional joint industrial council (JIG), which covers pay and conditions for hire and reward, increased pay by 3.6% this year. giving drivers of 38-tonne trucks an hourly rate of E4.83 an hour for a 40-hour week.