ECC cuts drivers wages
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• English China Clay has slashed wages of Cornish tippermen by up to £120 a week, but drivers are not opposing the cuts.
"The drivers made it clear they did not want to take action against ECC," says Tony Phillips, district secretary for the Transport and General Workers' Union which represents ECC's 120 drivers at St Austell.
"However, the cuts have left a nasty taste in the mouth," says "ECC is not getting the same level of co-operation from the drivers — they won't do the company favours any more."
According to Phillips, ECC has replaced union rates of up to £350 a week with Road Haulage Association benchmark rates for the region. Long-distance drivers are now getting £120 less a week and other drivers are losing up to £80. The TGWU says holiday allowance and sick pay has been cut.
The RHA benchmark rate for Devon and Cornwall — set through the region's Joint Industrial Council — is £152.10 for a 40-hour week. The RHA told CM it did not know if ECC had consulted it about the pay cuts.
Phillips says the drivers' reluctance to take action is because ECC made 750 workers redundant this year, although none of these were drivers. "The drivers may feel they are better off as they are than looking for work elsewhere," he says.
The TGWU believes some of ECC's directors would like to give the work to outside hauliers. Phillips thinks the wage cuts were inspired by fierce competition from local hauliers undercutting rates.
The TGWU continues to maintain a "reasonable relationship" with ECC, says Phillips, "it's a case of damage limitation."
As CM went to press no one from ECC was available to comment.