Welsh offer
Page 5
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
SOUTH WALES hauliers have offered hire or reward drivers a 3.52 per cent wage rise from this month, but the Transport and General Workers Union says it expects its members will reject it.
The rise would take the top rate for drivers to £88 for 40 hours and would raise overnight subsistence by 25p to £9.75. All other terms and conditions would remain the same, and it would not be backdated.
TGWU officer Geoff Jacob, who has been seeking a £90 rate for the area, says the absence of backdating devalues the offer to 2.64 per cent for the whole year, and predicted that members will reject the offer in a ballot.
No Union recommendation has been made on the offer, but it if it is rejected the Union will call for selective strike action against operators not paying a higher basic rate.
Results of the ballot will be known at the end of April, but before then the TGWU's national commercial group committee will decide its response to the Road Haulage Association's rejection of its request for two-tier national wage bargaining for hire or reward haulage.
National secretary Jack Ashwell said he anticipated that the committee will want to take the matter further when it meets in London next week.
He also confirmed that the Union has given its officers some room where companies want to introduce 38 tonne lorries. Officially, it still opposes the weight increase, but this is being reviewed at the trade group conference in July and is expected to be reversed.
Where companies want to discuss the matter with the Union, officers have been given authority to seek an extra 15 per cent on the top wage rate with an assurance that there will be no redundancies.
Mr Ashwell said he expected the negotiating process would take some time, and that no deal need be signed before the July conference. He added that only one company has approached him so far to discuss 38-tonners.