COMMENT
Page 7
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FAIR DAY'S PAY FOR A FAIR DAY'S WORK
If haulage, in the words of the BBC2's Fast Show, is the "hardest game in the world" then container hauling must be the hardest part of the game. Last week owner-drivers working for P&O Ferrymasters out of Teesport got together to try to get rates increased from a paltry 78p a mile. And who can blame them? As Ritchie Johnson, who helped organise the union, puts it: "We feel ignored and walked all over." How often have we heard this within the haulage industry? Black cabs in any city centre charge more than 78p a mile and they cost rather less to run than a 38-tonner. P&O justifies these rates, saying it is under pressure from the strong pound. But in 1996 P&O Trans European made £13.6m, so someone is making some money. It is generally held that it costs El a mile to run a large truck safely, legally and while paying the driver a decent rate. Sulobies working for P&O out of Teesport driving less than 2,000km a week (and some claim they often are) receive just £64 for the privilege. Only when they start driving nearer 3,000km do they earn the equivalent of a week stacking shelves at a supermarket. P&O is allowed to get away with such rates because owner-drivers and small hauliers don't stick together and demand decent rates. The Welsh farmers decided they had had enough and, while CM never condones breaking the law, you can understand their frustrations. Like the men at Teesport, they are fed up with being taken advantage of. While cowboy firms are prepared to undercut legitimate sub-contractors' rates, large firms such as P&O will get away with offering a rate that no self-respecting cabby would stand for.