A frosty window on 1971
Page 17
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"Unless there is a very sharp upturn in the economy, approximately 40 per cent of the trucking companies now operating will be out of business, and that includes some major companies." It may be small comfort to British hauliers to know that as they enter a new year their cousins in the States are, as evidenced by that grim quotation in an American transport journal, facing hard times; but at least there may be some crumb of reassurance in knowing that there are others even in the world's most prosperous nation—faced with rocketing costs (especially wages) and a competitive market.
The American diagnoses and prescriptions, too, . have a familiar ring: wage increases not justified by productivity, and Ineffective management; a need to examine the productivity of each depot, to be more selective in accepting traffic and not to be misled by sheer traffic volume; and the advisability of looking closely at the position of supervisory staffs and the incentives offered to them. There is also a wryly familiar message in the comment that "the employers are apparently not equipped to deal with large unions and dissident locals (branches)".
British hauliers using all their effort and ingenuity to remain profitable should also be able to make use of every posSible means to efficiency, but in this they are frustrated. How much longer, for instance, must the industry suffer the TGWU's Luddite attitude towards tachographs?' We all know that successful schemes using these devices are bringing better pay and productivity, yet these schemes have to be operated clandestinely to avoid trouble. Tachographs would also be a "natural" for the ETA working party's just announced suggestion for cutting turn-round delays.
Even more frustrating to efficiency is the Government's rejection of new weight categories for trucks, on which an MP writes trenchantly in this issue. The public is easily swayed by talk of "amenity"; it is up to operators and manufacturers to make known the price which has to be paid, both nationally and individually.