Toleman drivers back at work
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• Toleman drivers have ended a three-day strike following assurances that a 25% wage cut
will be reinstated when the car transporter's fortunes improve. Drivers stopped work at sev eral depots on 6 January when the Transport and General Workers' Union accused Toleman of reneging on its promise to end the wage cut which came into force in October 1990.
Now the company has promised to meet the unions every month to review its financial position. It has also promised to restore wages to their 1990 level and pay a 10% profit share when the recession lifts — and 30 drivers at Toleman's Southampton depot have been reinstated. They were made redundant before Christmas when Toleman lost its 45,000-car Fiat contract leaving eight employees to service contracts for Renault and Ford. The two sides meet again this week to determine new manning levels at Southampton: "We are very happy with the outcome — we understand the financial position of the company," says Alan Day, TGWU national chairman of the Toleman committee.
Toleman says it needs to restrict wages to 20% of the company's revenue: "In our industry we are powerless when a downturn comes," says a spokesman.
"It's a fixed market — we cannot create extra sales by marketing."
The settlement means that the union has agreed to shift a backlog of 1,000 Fiat cars which have been at Southampton docks since the dispute started.