ccept owner drivers call
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D HAULAGE ASSOCIATI N national chairman, Jo n Silbermann, appealed to Transport and General ricers Union to accept the A membership card as th y would a union card en they are dealing with er drivers.
e asked that the trade-union m vement should cease to be in co flict with the owner driver an should instead see him as a w rthy member of the roadha lage industry.
ut Mr Silbermann was also cr tical of the owner driver.. H said that they have some uilt-in attitudes which need co rection," and he cited the b ief that the owner driver co Id take time off when it su ed him.
Mr Silbermann accused o ner drivers of taking unrea'so able risks. He said that these ris s were brought about by the ov r-keenness and enthusiasm of he owner driver.
Owner drivers had been "ensl ved and abused by customers a a their rights needed fighting to — many owner drivers lived in near bankruptcy in years gi e by".
Referring to the British A sociation of Owner Drivers, M Silbermann said that the sociation "claimed to exist," a d he had gone out of his way to find out who the officers were unsuccessfully.
He went on to describe the R A's efforts to negotiate an a sociation with the BAUD. patience and mistrust took
o er and before. we knew where w were break-away factions w nted to negotiate with the R$-IA. We were disappointed t t the ideas and schemes of t e BAUD did not materialise.
The route to success for an overall owner-driver association lay in the local owner-driver associations. The local associations were the mainstay of the BAOD and this was absolutely right," said Mr Silbermann.
If owner drivers wanted representation then they should join their trade association, and that was naturally the RHA, continued John Silbermann. Owner drivers must not expect the RHA to run their businesses for them.
Mr Silbermann concluded by saying that the unions must be fair and recognise that there were people who did not wish to employ others or to be employees themselves — they merely wished to work on their own.
In answer to a question on tariffication from Carryfast general manager, Martin Oldroyd, Mr Silbermann said that it led to "laziness and inefficiency" on the part of owner drivers. He believed in competition, and while he was happy about Government enforcement of maintenance standards and associated matters he saw no place for tariffication.
MAT Fleet Service chie. executive, Ken Turner, relate( a case in which owner driven had approached manufac turers directly and bypassed hi a company. Mr Silbermanr replied that the owner drive must never be a threat to corn panies which act as "mothe hens" to them.
In answer to his question or the future of the owner driver Ready Mixed Concrete director Peter Bennett, was told tha some owner drivers cannot lai bothered with the certificate o professional competence an will leave the business, but, ad ded John Silbermann, the' would be succeeded by a nev breed of owner driver wh, accepted the CPC just as mudl as they did a driving licence This would lead to a better quality owner driver and h would also be more au fait.