Rates don't push it'
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He reminded haulage conTactors that although they lad failed to achieve a proJuctivity bargain at national evel, this did not mean that :hey could not achieve one at ompany level. He suggested :hat members of the FTA night seek the opportunity to achieve productivity im3rovements in any wage )argains which they now made.
Mr Beckham appealed to the Government for help. In easing some of the constraints which, he said, stood in the way of increased productivity. Among the items which he specifically mentioned were heavier vehicles, which would lead to fuel savings, and the deferment of the introduction of EEC
drivers' hours regulations and tachographs.
Returning to the Scottish haulage dispute, Mr Beckham asked that the lesson that had been learned from alleged picketing tactics should be borne in mind for the future. He said: "One of the lessons must surely be that we can ill afford the further relaxation of the laws
of picketing currently being considered by Government. The right to stop vehicles has always been recognized as wide open to abuse and crime. It has therefore been jealously and rightly confined to the police. To extend it to pickets can only be an open invitation to violence. It would constitute irresponsibility of a very high order."