Linkman backs down on wages
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by Juliet Parish • Linkman Tankers has staved off the threat of industrial action at Purfleet by promising it will drop new methods of calculating pay if drivers' wages decline as a result.
Last week the 30 Essexbased drivers accepted an improved company offer of £214.20 minimum weekly pay from January—currently they are guaranteed £185.00. With the increase they accepted controversial company plans to reduce the time for which they are paid for tipping and loading.
They also undertook to travel 50km (31 miles) at the rate they currently earn for 43km (27 miles) (CM14-20 October).
Drivers had feared they could lose about £40 a week under these schemes, but the TDG subsidiary says it will make up any shortfall in lost wages in the first 26 weeks of the trial. And if the drivers' unions are unhappy with the new wage calculators, after 12 months Linkman will review its pay policy.
The deal settles a yearlong dispute between Linkman and the chemical and oil goods drivers, which work on seven different contracts. Methanol drivers, a group of five, will benefit from an increase in pay for a 40hour basic week from £141.10 to ,£154.50. All drivers have been given ,E185.00 compensation for not receiving a pay increase during 1993.