Don't rock the boat
Page 33
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Too many people seem bent on making an unhappy situation worse, to judge from the news of strike threats and rumblings and grumblings around the road transport industry. There will be sympathy for the viewpoint of haulage employees who, having tolerated the Wages Council and been alternately hopeful and dispirited about the benefits of the national negotiating committee, were then faced with the far-from-bountiful recommendations of the Prices and Incomes Board.
But they must at least recognize that the Board has attempted to help the lowest-paid workers despite the Government's holding action on wages. And they should at least try to understand that few hauliers are in a position to distribute largesse; the evidence to the PIB showed how drastically profit ratios had slid downwards, and in any case an attempt to pay would probably be referred immediately to the PIB—and condemned.
It may seem clever to a few to try and repeat the "Birmingham differential" campaign—in Liverpool, for example. But this is the moment for a little more broadminded solidarity: a two-way appreciation of the common threats to the industry. One must hope sincerely that both sides will try to take the heat out of the situation, and that those involved will listen to peaceable as well as militant counsellors.
Vital Statistics
Whatever unladen or gross weight figures are finally chosen for the proposed demarcations in the Transport Bill, the effect will be to boost the considerable new interest in weightsaving on goods vehicles. Chassis designers, with memories of misguided efforts in the fairly distant past, will perhaps approach the task with caution, although they have in their hands the most obvious potential for big savings. But new thinking on body weight should draw operator, bodybuilder, material supplier and chassis manufacturer closer in an attempt to provide more exact matching of all the things that make up a good load-carrier. Traditional, proven materials—such as steel and hardwood—will retain many unchallenged applications, but there is new ground for the lightweight metals, and especially the reinforced plastics to cover. Some bodies described this week are but examples of how good the latest plastics products can be.
Shared experience
One of the wisest and most capable executives in transport; a brilliant young design engineer; a strongminded and vastly experienced trade union leader; and three "operational" experts: these six will come together to address and advise transport men at CM's 1968 conference. It promises to be a challenging and stimulating occasion, as we explain on pages 64-66. Is there any other industry so ready as transport to share its experience?