TGWU to go for a 25 per cent claim
Page 7
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k CLAIM for a 25 per cent increase on basic minimum wages has wen decided upon by the Transport and General Workers' Jnitm.
A. a conference of TGWU lelegates in London last rriday the union agreed that it vould press for an increase of :5 per cent on the current lasic top weight minimum wage of £64 per week natioLally in this winter's pay tegotiations. This figure will le calmed by drivers at all the toad Haulage Association egitmal negotiations in Deember.
The increase will mean that [rivers of top weight vehicles -those over 21 tons gvw — will be claiming £80 per week lasic. This figure will range town to drivers of vehicles letween one and five tons gvw vhc will be seeking around £75 a week.
Also decided by the union last Friday was an increase in the overnight allowance from £7.50 to £10, and a new meal allowance of E2 a week. It is also demanding an extra week's holiday.
The Road Haulage Association would not respond to the union's proposed claim. Said an RI-IA spokesman: "We have not yet received official notification of the claim. When we , do our committee will no doubt discuss it and comment appropriately."
Earlier this month drivers in the Leeds and Bradford area of• West Yorkshire settled their wage negotiations for this winter at £76 per week for the top weight minimum rate, an 18.75 per cent increase. But delegates at the conference in London last Friday agreed that the national level of claim should exceed this.
West Yorkshire road haulage employers agreed to the £76 figure quite quickly, which could indicate that hauliers throughout the country may agree to settle at £80 without the need for a repetition of last winter's strike, which started over a refusal of a TGWU claim for a20 per cent increase.
The Transport and General Workers' Union has not tied in the question of tachographs in its wage claim. It has apparently decided that this is an issue to be dealt with quite separately (see page 3).