Guise and hols
Page 4
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WE cannot help but return to the subject of the Road Haulage Association's proposed conference venue for 1983. Marbella on the Costa del Sol may offer excellent conference and leisure facilities but was it right to move the event there this year?
The Confederation of British Industry said last week that a return to "Buy British" is now apparent and will help us to beat recession. Yet the RHA goes foreign.
The unions have settled on a realistic wage award but the employers chose to have a conference where many of their employees cannot afford to take a holiday.
The industry has a bad public image yet its leaders elect to show the good side of their face to the Spaniards.
The event is called a conference but there are as yet neither speakers, subjects nor conference programme. That is putting the trailer in front of the unit.
It all sounds too much like a package deal winter holiday. Holding it during Britain's only motor show is surely bad judgment. Of course, we respect the RHA's financial judgment. Marbella may be cheaper than Middlesbrough. The attraction of a winter break cannot be denied.
But, we ask, what good can it do for the industry as a whole and the RHA's 13,000 members in particular?
By all means let these hard-working men have a leisurely break in Spain. But not under the guise of a conference.