st year's rates for 30pc of drivers
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In the West Midlands, where -nployers have offered £81 in.ead of the current £79.50 per ,eek, CM spoke to 13 drivers. ix of them were on the £79.50 asic, two were earning less ran £79.50, and the rest in es?.ss of £79.50.
North-western drivers are la similar position, with an £8i asic on offer instead of the curmt £78. Three drivers CM spoke r were on £78, three earned iore than £78 (with one of the lree earning £84), while lother North-western driver as getting only a £75 basic. RHA secretary for the Northest, Bill Farnorth, told CM he !els most employers in his area -e paying £78, some £81, and a Tiall number £83, which our
random survey broadly confirms.
In the East Midlands, where the Transport and General Workers' Union says it wants the Joint Industrial Council disbanded next month, drivers seem to be faring well compared with their colleagues in other regions. Employers have reaffirmed their offer to increase basic rates by £3 to £80 per week, which the union has rejected.
Despite this, the seven drivers we spoke to were earning more than £80 —one of them claiming to be getting a basic £120 per week.
Seven drivers from Scotland were on the controversial £83 basic, one was earning £86, and four earning less than the agreed £83. On Tyneside, three drivers we met were earning the agreed £80 basic, while one was making £80 plus.
In Carlisle, an £80 basic has been agreed, but the two drivers from the region we spoke to were only earning £80. We also interviewed two drivers from the depressed South Wales area, one of whom was earning the agreed £78.28 per week, the other more.
Subsistence or "night out" payments vary greatly from region to region, our survey confirms. Most drivers seem to get between £9 to £9.50 a night, but again there were exceptions. The East Midlands driver on £120 per week basic said that he was also receiving £12 subsistence per night, while one Eastern area driver and one Scottish driver were each receiving £11.50.
Several metropolitan/southeast and southern area men were getting only £7.50 per night despite agreed rates of £9.75 and £9.25 respectively for each area.