URTU asked for names
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by Karen Miles • The United Road Transport Union has been challenged to produce a list of supermarkets which force hauliers to break the law, after the union's general-secretary accused the supermarkets of forcing down haulage rates.
David Higginbottom told delegates at last week's Trades Union Conference that rates are being forced down to levels where "no operator can provide training, decent wages and conditions and adequate vehicle maintenance and still make an acceptable return on capital."
He says: "Some of the big users of transport services, notably the major supermarkets, are so intent upon shaving a few pence off their rival's prices that they are endangering public safety." The British Retail Consortium reacted by asking Higginbottom to draw up a list of the supermarkets which he alleges are encouraging lawbreaking.
"We will submit it to any relevant firms," the BRC promises, but it refutes Higginbottom's accusations, arguing that most contracts between supermarkets and hauliers contain a clause stipulating that operators must not break the law. "It is not in the interests of supermarkets to break the law," says the BRC.
An URTU motion promoting minimum rates, the power to seize unlicensed Operators' trucks, more money for enforcement and the registering of LGV driving instructors and driving schools was carried unanimously by the TUC.
A motion supported by the Transport and General Workers Union was also accepted unanimously: it called for a reduction in the truck driver's working day and more rest periods.