roductivity will be egotiating priori
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3 UCTIVITY will dominate road-haulage wage negotiain the coming months even although this year's settler' will be moulded by the Leeds/Bradford settlement.
t deal for a £76 40-hour has set a likely minimum 1 eludes a El a week meal ) ance which is disliked snally by many hauliers. y feel a halt should be to the on rush of fringe I its concessions and are to press for simplified pay 11 with real productivity a es. These will probably be confined to attempts to abandon fixed running times and restrictive practices which inhibit the full use of some companies' drivers, but opportunities are limited.
One group at this week's Road Haulage Association conference in Brighton was particularly pessimistic about progress in this direction. There was "no chance" of any productivity clawback at all and it poured cold water on any idea of haulage wages rising by less than the retail price index.
So far attempts to introduce a 35-hour week have been resisted — it was part of the Leeds/Bradford claim — and battles could be fought over this.
Many hauliers at Brighton agreed that any move to cut the basic working week should be resisted even if it means another confrontation.
While some operators' talk of a salaried driver, maybe little more than a cherished hope, there is a clear indication that the industry wants to change its wage structure and wagenegotiating practices.
Assenting hauliers groups such as Leeds/Bradford are a thorn in the flesh of the Joint Industrial Councils and some large companies want to do all the running themselves.
They would like the existing negotiating structure to disappear and are keen to take the lead by negotiating directly with their employees. Their direct contact, they feel, will ensure that productivity is dealt with more urgently.
But smaller concerns feel this would expose them to the risk of being picked off by both unions and larger companies and are determined to defend present procedures.