JIC agrees 15 hourly minimum
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• Truck drivers in the East Midlands will be earning a minimum of 15 per hour by January 2001 in an agreement between transport unions, regional employers and the Road Haulage Assodation at the Joint Industrial Council in the East Midlands.
Negotiations led by the Transport & General Workers Union will mean a 7.3% increase in drivers' pay over two years: 3.6% in the first year and a further 3.7% in the second.
T&G chief transport negotiator Alan Tiplady says the deal is a major step in addressing low pay and long hours in the road haulage industry. "Nobody should be earning less than 15 per hour in this day and age," he adds. "It is a national scandal that professional lorry drivers have to work often between 50 and 70 hours a week to earn a living wage," While Tiplady credits employers in the region for their help in reaching the East Midlands agreement, many hauliers will not welcome the increase to their wage bills.
The T&G and the RHA agree that to pay drivers what they are worth, the entire industry needs to review its rates of pay and to convince Is customers that they cannot expect to "run transport on the cheap".
• Research carried out by the FIHA shows average pay for drivers rose by 4.4% in 1999.