Timing is the secret
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THE WARNING BELLS are ringing, heralding the onslaught of the unions in this year's pay award. We have already said that operators should spell out what they can afford to pay. They should support their arguments by presenting their drivers with copies of the company's profit and loss account.
It would also add weight to their case if employers made it plain that excessive wage claims would lead to redundancies — and they most assuredly will.
Timing in this exercise is vital. The employers' case must be made out before the unions take up an entrenched position on a percentage claim.
They will instil into their members' minds a figure which will prove difficult to change subsequently. It would make more sense if the drivers went to their branch meetings armed with the facts from their own companies.
It would be even more advantageous if they went to the branch meeting with a letter from their employers saying that from a specific date their pay would be increased by a specified percentage. After all it is the employer not the union who is footing the bill.
It is folly to wait for confrontation, followed by negotiation and concluded by reconciliation. Better by far to make the additional payment before a claim is made — to be sure the claim will not be less than the offer.