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TIME FOR ACTION
Page 46
Page 47
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Transport unions are increasingly flexing their muscles, but todaVs issues are more complex than pay alone. Patric Cunnane reports.
To many observers, the dispute involving BritishAirways check-in staff during the summer heralded a new era in industrial relations because it was about hours instead of money. Many staff were represented by the GMB and Kevin Curran, its general secretary. famously remarked: Time is the new money."
The same would appear to hold true for the haulage industry, where the introduction of the Working Time Directive in 2005 is setting challenges for both unions and employers. The United Road Transport Union, (URTU) which represents around 18.000 HGV drivers. says this is the biggest single issue. It aims to ensure its members suffer no loss of pay if their hours are reduced to meet the legal requirement of an average 48 hours per week over any 17-week period. The Transport & General Workers' Union (T&G), which represents around 120,000 HGV drivers.shares this view. General secretary Tony Woodley recently launched a seven-point drivers' charter which called for a '48-hour average working week with no loss of earnings' while repeating the union's demand for a £10 an hour minimum wage (CM 2 October).
URTU general secretary Bob Monks says its members earn an average £20,000 a year and the only way to resolve the 48-hour riddle is by employers negotiating with trade unions, otherwise whatever action companies take to lower wages could be in breach of contract law. This could apply to proposed cuts where drivers are salaried; where drivers have contract ual hours plus guaranteed overtime and even where overtime is not guaranteed but is habitually worked. "We don't want companies put out of business.but neither do we want to see wages reduced," says Monks. The increased costs will need to be passed on to the customer and to you and me."
Shopworkers' union USDAW claims to be the largest union in road transport after the T&G.National officer Sharon Ainsworth says the union is negotiating working time arrangements ahead of the legislation."We have a deal going to ballot at the moment," she says. USDAW members' wages range from around £18,000430,000 with the highest paid working the most anti-social shifts.
Ainsworth is determined that wages will not suffer because of the directive. "Transport has been propping up industry in this country for years,she says. "If wages are cut, it will force drivers out." USDAW is using the working time regulations as an opportunity to negotiate better deals on work/life balance so that its members spend more time with their families.
TheT&G is equally determined to banish a culture of long hours and low pay."Many members work 60-70 hours a week. not through choice but to reach a decent standard of living," says aT&G spokesman.T&G members recently demonstrated in London against long working hours and the dangers of fatigue (CM 16 October).
The main tool enabling unions to tackle employers effectively is the Employment Relations Act 1999, which introduced the right to recognition.A minimum 10% membership in a workplace can trigger a ballot in which at least 40% of eligible voters must vote in favour to gain recognition. However, both unions and employers stand to benefit from voluntary agreements which may be established without a ballot and are less hidebound by law.
"We are dealing with more and more recognition claims," says Monks, who says that a major hurdle remains old-fashioned prejudice against organised labour. "This industry still has a dreadful fear of unions and third-party involvement. Even though employers join third parties such as the Road Haulage Association (RHA) and the Freight Itansport Association (FTA), they are nervous about asking how we can help."
Pay remains the major concern for unions but other issues are chasing hard on its heels. "Pensions are much higher up the agenda, since many drivers do not have occupational schemes." says the T&G. At Shell, a dispute involving 500 tanker drivers centred on the T&G's demand for a final salary pension scheme to include all drivers, not only tht 142 currently covered (CM 30 October).
The union is also keen to improve skill training which, it believes, along with pay and hours is linked to the recruitment an retention crisis. -The cab of the 21st cent is remarkably different from 10-15 years so there are skills to renew," says theT&( Part of its strategy to attract more drivers. 20-year-old recognition agreement with] power Driving which aims to raise standh. throughout road transport. Manpower wants to see drivers given 'the same respc skills in other sectors'. Health & Safety is the T&G's hitlist.too, and it plans to con( nationwide surveys. "We have carried ou pilot study among hauliers in Hull and it I not make good reading for the industry."