Employers reject pay claim for extra el
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By John Darkenl THE EMPLOYERS' side of the National Negotiating Committee last week rejected trade union claims for higher pay. I understand the unions asked for a straight increase of 20s on present rates, an additional 5s per night subsistence payment, a third week's paid holiday and a reduction of one hour in the working week, to 40 hours. No mention was made of any productivity strings.
A claim has now been submitted to the Road Haulage Wages Council and the union side will presumably formally apply in the same terms as at the NNC discussions; no specific amounts are included in the original notification to the secretary of the RHWC.
A meeting of the council normally takes at least three weeks to convene, and in the holiday season it may take longer.
I understand that each of the trade unions involved (TGWU, URTU and SCMU) is actively exploring the possibility of negotiating productivity agreements with selected employers yielding higher earnings for agreed norms of performance.
The conventional claim now lodged with the RHWC is not felt to have any bearing on productivity questions as such—no doubt the union spokesmen will urge that the cost of living has increased and that wages in comparable industries are rising.
Present RHWC rates for lorry drivers are: Up to 5T: 110 18s 6d al 1 3s 6d London area); over 18T: £12 16s 3d (£13 is 3d London area).