Will commonsense prevail on wages?
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IN THE North-west the RHA is not blessed with the simplicity of negotiating on wages on a Joint Industrial Council. The set up is peculiar.
First, the RHA itself has 13 sub-areas one, in Caernarvon, basically Welsh speaking. They formulate what they consider should be their offer.
This year it was that they can concede no increase at all, taking into account the depressed state of the industry and the fact that major customers say that they are not prepared to increase haulage rates in order to fund increased drivers' wages.
Then the RHA negotiates with: • The TGWU in North and MidWales • TGWU in Birkenhead • TGWU in Liverpool • TGWU in Manchester (Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester)
• URTU in Manchester (the whole of the North-west for this union).
So there are five bails in the air at the same time.
The date for the next agreement is January 1 (February 1 for North Wales).
The unions' claims? Road Haulage Association members found them totally unrealistic, I am told, based on the Retail Prices Index about 16 per cent with fringe benefits.
But so far at the negotiations there has been no banging of the table or threat of a walk out. Talks have been dominated by an awareness of difficult circumstances in ' the industry from both the hauliers' and drivers' points of view.
Bill Farnorth, recalling Mrs Thatcher's colourful phrase "Winter of commonsense", gave me his personal view: "I am optimistic that commonsense will prevail in this beleagured industry." Labour costs are under pressure, and hauliers have to absorb other increased costs, he said.
Meanwhile, in the North agreements have been reached around five per cent. The Yorkshire agreement in particular can't be ignored in the Northwest, but what will happen can be agreed only at another RHA. area negotiators' meeting, which was due to be held this week.
One of the problems facing hauliers is that even in these difficult times some need to invest in more sophisticated equipment Tautliners and so on. And these aren't cheap. At two or three meetings members have mentioned pressure from customers for hauliers to be equipped with better facilities.
Coupled with this are worries about the potential move up to a 40 tonnes maximum permitted gvw in Britain. While hauliers are aware of the economic and engineering cases for this, perhaps customers would expect a spin off in the form of decreased rates, while operators have to pay big interests on loans to buy appropriate equipment.
Anyway, they seem to be facing demands to spend in other directions such as better loading/unloading facilities. So reactions to 40 tonnes are mixed.