Yes, owner-drivers can band together
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Noda is a good tip and the least drivers can do is ask for earnings forecasts to be provided in the way one French trailer operator does. Jack Semple investigates
WHAT is Europe's only registered trade union for ownerdrivers? That unique position is filled by the National Owner Drivers Association, which has its office in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.
Unions is a dirty word to most owner-drivers, whether they are tramping, on international work or driving locally. Most of those who have joined the industry's two main unions have done so to get their heavy goods vehicle driver's card.
Owner-drivers who were employees relish their new freedom from restrictive work practices as well as the ability to take days off when they want to do so.
That's all very well when the money's rolling in, but it becomes a hollow freedom when the level of earnings can't meet running costs. The motives, temperament and skills within the owner-driver community vary widely, and while many are happy to go for high risk, high rewards in the open market, others are prepared to trade potential earnings for security and predictable earnings.
Many went on to tax Schedule D, not through ambition, but to keep their jobs when their bosses sold off unprofitable fleets but kept the traffic.
This was how Noda started, 20 years ago. Its 700 members are mainly drivers of cement mixers, although it does have some tipper drivers who have similar contracts with companies in the ready mixed concrete industry.
It has negotiating rights with Redland, Tilcon, RMC, Greenhams and is fighting a prolonged battle with ARC for negotiating rights. Last month it agreed an increase of seven per cent on rates with Greenhams. Rates over the past six years have just about kept up with the increase in operating costs, according to national coordinator Mike Binns, himself a former contract driver.
Rates calculated on a radial basis are reviewed annually and are held at the level fixed for 12 months. The ownerdriver normally buys the vehicle only over a five-year period, while the concrete firm owns the mixer.
The tipper drivers have until now operated under a similar arrangement, except that they own the whole vehicle. ARC looks like breaking ranks, however, by exposing its tipper drivers to market conditions, and has written into this year's contract a clause which allows it to adjust the rates to meet market conditions. The contract drivers do not expect them to be adjusted upwards!
Noda also forms the base for formal local communications between site managers and the drivers, which have proved useful both to the companies and the drivers in improving local conditions.
Membership of Noda costs £100 a year. There are more tangible benefits of membership, including and insurance scheme for major mechanical failure which was introduced with the Royal Insurance and is now used by 200 members. The policy covers failure of the engine, gearbox and back axle, and costs £17.50 a month in the first year (covering labour only) and between £47 and £60 a month thereafter, covering parts and labour.
The effect that Noda has on the terms and conditions of its members' contracts can be overplayed. Mixer work is so specialised that the contract drivers are in a stronger position in demanding set rates over each 12—month period. They often buy the trucks from the mixer company.
Earnings of the drivers are directly related to the amount of work they do, although partly dependent upon the amount of work which is available. Noda drivers are most un likely to strike, because, apart from anything else, other firms would carry the traffic.
But there seems little doubt that Noda helps to bring an element of stability for both sides of the mixer haulage contracts, and it gives legal and licensing support to individual members.
Between this type of agreement and owner-drivers who are doing entirely spot-hire work lies a range of relationships between the supplier and buyer of the haulage service. They are not all as stable as they should be.
In France, trailer operator Calberson (Dieppe) is able to forecast how much each of its 50 owner-drivers on domestic work will be paid over a 12month period, to within £500, assuming they work 48 weeks exclusively for Calberson. A computer keeps each driver up with his average earnings, so that allocation of the most profitable runs are not down to the whim of the traffic manager.
The system stops drivers who are prepared to run themselves into the ground from making exceptional earnings. But it provides Calberson with a stable pool of hauliers prepared to be flexible in their patterns of work, so that service levels to the shipper can be improved.
Firms do not have to have a system as elaborate as Calberson's to run an efficient service. And large trailer operators are generally in the useful position of being able to predict quite accurately their level of traffic in the coming year. But there are benefits all round in making an attempt to forecast earnings, which should be possible in an established operation. The relationship should not have to be full time for the ownerdriver to have a clear idea of how much he can expect to earn. The process would help concentrate the minds of both sides on what their costs and profits will be.
Many owner-drivers are doing very nicely at the moment without outside help. They know exactly what their costs are, can cover business troughs and are happy with their present method of operation. They find their own backloads and do their own business planning.
But there is scope for less exploitation and more communication between the ownerdriver sector and the firms they work for. Owner-drivers could do worse than to take the Noda example and get together to get a clear idea of the earnings they can expect. They stand a better chance of success if they take collective action.