'Go slow' by test stations
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An appeal has been made by the AA in the Greater Manchester area for hauliers to carry out their own tests on vehicles while engineers at the two hgv test stations in the district, Brinnington (nr Stockport, Cheshire) and Heywood in Lancashire, take part in a "go-slow". The DoE is allowing exemption certificates to be issued to lorry owners whose certificates have run out.
This week there were indications from the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers' hq in London that the go-slow may spread to all parts of the country. New districts to be affected are the Midlands and parts of Yorkshire. In Manchester, because of the go-slow tactics, engineers of test stations claim that they are at present dealing only with half the normal number of vehicles.
Mr Bernard Regan, Stockport AUEW secretary. told CM: "The skilled testing station engineers receive a basic rate of only about £22 compared with average wages of about £32 in industry. They want to negotiate a productivity bonus scheme but, for the last year they have been faced with nothing but frustration. Part of the trouble was that they were treated as civil servants."
Mr Less Ambrose, national organizer for the AUEW, confirmed that there was a danger of the go-slow tactics spreading.