iwners should oin RHA Law
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iEW message to owner-drivers was delivered by Transport and General Workers' Union Elands supremo Alan Law at the-weekend: join the Road Haulage Association — we can't help peaking at the RHA's istock conference at iitwich, he said that the ei was far more able to ser owner-drivers than the )n was.
ater he commented: "I'm saying that we don't want owner-drivers as members; it I am saying is that we 't help them. Theirs are the )1ems of employers, so let n join the RHA."
fr Law's comments fly in the face of TGWU policy as laid down by national organiser Jack Ashwell when he spoke at the RHA tipping convention in March.
Then Mr Ashwell called on all owner-drivers to join the union.
The new attitude is bound to please some owner-drivers who consider that they carry the TGWU membership card merely as a card of convenience, but equally they are not likely to be happy about Mr Law's exhortation to join the RHA.
Neither will they be happy, about Mr Law's attitude towards the owner-driver. "They cannot be efficient — I am not in favour of one-man bands in any industry," he said.
Replying to conference chairman Barry Hempsall, who told Mr Law that in some areas owner-drivers had been told that unless they were members of the TGWU they would not be tipped, he said: "We don't seek to organise the owner-drivers, we seek to encourage them to join the RHA — we can't service them," he said.
Mr Law also had a message for all hauliers: "There are too many of you," he said.
"You are becoming the authors of your own downfall. If the Government gets a working majority at the next election they will nationalise you," warned Mr Law.
But on the subject of tachographs he was firmly in line with TGWU policy of total opposition to the instrument.
Answering a question about how drivers stood if they refused to drive a vehicle equipped with a tacho with regard to the contract of employment — and the law enforcing the use of tachos, he said: "The employer would not be breaking the law if the driver refused to drive the vehicle.
"The fitter would not be breaking the law if he refused to work on the vehicle."
He claimed that the union campaign against the tacho was not unpopular with the employers. "The emotional aspect has gone. We don't use the term 'spy-in-the-cab' any more," he added.
"The transport industry is functioning properly. We're not complaining about the employers or pay and industrial relations have never been better," he said.
But on EEC legislation, Mr Law took a tough line. "All our ministers have protested that if you join the club you obey the rules — but in a democratic society, if you don't like the rules you change them.
''Previous transport ministers have not convinced the other ministers of UK needs. Fools are governed by rules, wise men are guided by them," said Mr Law.