Road Transport Topics
Page 34
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In Parliament
By Our Special Parliamentary Correspondent
WAGES BILL TO AVOID DELAY
THE Trade Boards and Rekid Haulage Wages (Emergency Provisions) Bill was read a second time without opposition in the House of Commons last' week, Mr. Assheton, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour, in submitting the Bill, said the conditions of road transport in war-time were different from those of peace and certain modifications were necessary to bring the scope of the 1938 Act into line with present conditions. Changes of wage rates required statutory periods of notice and it took several months for proposals to become effective.
Impatience at these delays might lead to action outside the Trade Boards or the Road Haulage Wages Board procedure and to disturbances which might be avoided if proposals could be carried through with more speed. The Bill, therefore, enabled the Minister of Labour to modify and to suspend certain provisions by means of regulations.
Regulations would not be made without consultation with the organizations both on the employers' side and on the workers side. Consultations had already taken place with the larger organizations and general agreement had been reached, A, B AND C CLASSES
THERE was a point, Mr. Assheton continued, connected with the definition and classification of roadhaulage workers which was made necessary by the new system. Under this defence permits were issued roughly approximate to the A, B and C classes, and it was now proposed that holders of permits should be dealt with as if they held the corresponding licences. The A and B types of permit would come under Part 1 of the Act and wages of drivers would be regulated by the Wages Board. This was a point which had been agreed.
Although holders of the C type were not necessarily confined to the carriage of goods in connection with the owners' own business, it was proposed, in so far as they did confine themselves to their own trade, that they would remain or be brought under Part 2 of the Act. This was a matter on which agreement had been reached.
Further C licence or C permit vehicles, operating under the Group System devised by the Minister of Transport, would be treated in all respects as C licence vehicles, so long as they continued to work in the group, even if they did not confine themselves to their owners' businesses. This was a wise provision and necessary " to enable the Group System to work satisfactorily.
There remained a small fringe for B8 which appropriate provision must be made, namely, vehicles operating under C licence or corresponding permit, which might occasionally carry goods • for hire or reward for persons outside their own group. It was not the intention of the Minister of Transport that C operators should be able to compete with A and B hauliers.
The extent of this problem was small and there was no doubt that they would be able to find a satisfactory way of regulating for this rare type of case. The matter was now under discussion with the Board and other organizations concerned.
Nothing in the Bill would affect the freedom of employers and trade unions to negotiate, on a voluntary basis, rates higher than those fixed. The legislation was definitely of a temporary character and terminated automatically when war-time conditions ceased.
The Bill did not change any of the fundamental principles on which the machinery of the Boards operated. It merely provided a way in which it might be speeded up.
SCOPE OF BILL INADEQUATE IT was pointed out by Mr. Benjamin 'Smith that the Bill in no way infringed any Act of the Statute Book, but facilitated negotiations and would check any untoward accident through procrastination.
Mr. Watkins drew attention to the fact that the Road Haulage Industry was carried on not only by people actively engaged in the movement of vehicles, but also by a large number of clerical workers, supervisors and administrative workers for whom neither this Bill nor the Act made any provision.
When the previous Bill was under discussion the then Parliamentary Secretary said it would produce fairness between undertakings, but complete fairness could be secured only when all employees were properly covered by similar safeguarding machinery. There were in the industry probably thousands of men for whom there was little or no Trade Union protection and no Statutory protection.
What happened actually was that an operator in Scotland, employing some hundreds of clerical and supervisory workers, would not recognize the Trade Union which sought to represent them and would not enter into negotiation with the Trade Union for rates and conditions. The result was that,
ultimately, the patience of the men became exhausted and they threatened to strike in order to get Trade Union recognition. The operator gave way, recognized the Union, and a satisfactory agreement was reached.
It ought not, in -the twentieth century, to be necessary for a group of
workers in any industry to threaten to strike before Trade Union negotiations were entered into.
Another instance, continued Mr. Watkins, was that of Pickiords, Ltd., a concern largely financed by the railways and employing hundreds of clerical and supervisory workers. It was not provided for in this measure. Pickfords, Ltd., in spite of the railway backing, refused to recognize the Trade Unions and the men were entirely at the mercy of their employer so far as pay, hours, holidays, etc., were concerned.
The Union of Mr. B. Smith would negotiate settlements for rates of pay for his people, but the foremen and supervisors had no Trade Unions to represent them and might receive less in pay than the men they had to supervise. He hoped the Parliamentary Secretary would look into this matter and see if the suggestion he was making could not be carried out.
Mr. Mander supported the attitude of Mr. Watkins and the Bill was read a second time.
SEWAGE GAS AND BENZOLE
THE Minister for Mines informed Sir R. Gower that the importance of sewage gas (methane) as an alternative fuel was fully recognized by his department and the question of its production and utilization was being actively considered.
Mr. Lloyd also stated that he hoped shortly to be in a position to make a statement on the encouragement of the extraction of benzoic by gas works and on related subjects, ROAD TO RAIL DIVERSION HARMFUL rrilE attention of the Minister of I Transport was called by Mr. Hannah to efforts which, he said, were being made by the District Transport Officer of Wolverhampton, compulsorily to divert goods from road haulage to the railways, and which threatened to deprive a number of men of their jobs. Apprehension was felt by manufacturers in that area of the effect on their foreign trade if rail transport were compulsorily substituted for road transport.
Captain Wallace stated that limitation in supplies of liquid fuel made it necessary that before supplementary fuel rations were issued it should be established that there was no suitable alternative form of transport. These restrictions inevitably led to a reduction of employment among drivers. Every effort, however, was made to restrict such diversion of traffic to what was essential in the national interest.
He would be glad to consider any case which was brought to his notice where it was alleged that restrictions on fuel supply had had a detrimental effect on the export trade.