TGWU bows to 38-tonners
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GRASS ROOTS pressure is likely to lead rapidly to the Transport and General Workers Union withdrawing its opposition to the 38-tonne lorry, writes the news editor.
While the policy cannot be reversed until the commercial group's biennial delegates' meeting in the Isle of Man in July, union officers admit privately that it will need to be in time to negotiate realistic rates for drivers manning 38-tonners.
Indeed, some officers admit that there is little they can do to prevent drivers from manning what will become the new flagships of their employers' fleets. Many drivers, they argue, will regard the handling of a full 38-tonner as a feather in their cap.
The dilemma facing the officers is that they cannot negotiate an enhanced wage rate for 38tonners until after July, even though employers will be free to load the lorries to their full capacity from May 1, and so increase the payloads and profit potential of some vehicles by around seven tonnes.
As one officer told CM, the union is likely to avoid getting itself into another pointless corner as it did with the tachograph, when its official opposition persisted for some time after the instruments became compulsory.