Tippermen picket hits six quarries
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• Tippermen in Derbyshire claim to have brought six quarries to a virtual standstill in their fight for a 20% rates rise.
There appears to be deadlock at the three Tarmac, two RMC and one Steetley quarry. Managers say they are keen to talk about rates once tippermen return to work — but the hauliers refuse to go back until the quarries make a better offer.
Tarmac and RMC have offered to compensate operators for the rise in diesel caused by the Gulf crisis, but hauliers' leaders say this amounts to an increase of only 0.5p per tonne/mile. "We were messed around in the last negotiations. We're not going back until it has all been sorted out, although we are open to negotiation," says Graham Bennett, a haulier at RMC's Dove Holes quarry.
Bennett says very little limestone is being moved out of the six quarries. The only trucks coming in and out are those belonging to own-account operators collecting their own materials.
Tarmac's press officer says: "On the matter of haulage rates, the company will hold detailed discussions in order to devise a programme for haulage rate adjustments."