Nourishing the grassroots
Page 24
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Mike Billingham (below) has left full-time union work to champion the cause of OwnerOperators UK. He outlines his aims to CM.
• Mike Billingham is keen to talk to owner-operators — once he has tracked them down.
Since he was taken on by Owner-Operators UK to fill the new post of national development manager a month ago, he has found that potential members are hard to find.
"You can't just go and knock on an office door, because if the man's not out running his vehicle, then he's not earning," he says.
Billingham has a brief to double Owner-Operators membership to 1,000 in a year.
Display unit
Next spring he will be taking a trailer display unit on a promotional drive to truckstops and truck shows all over the country.
Being on the road is nothing new for 39-year-old Billingham, who has been in transport all his life. He drove for a parcels company, which is now defunct, before taking a full-time post with the United Road Transport Union.
For the past three years he has been the URTU's national recruitment and development officer, facing an uphill task in an organisation which now has 19,000 members, compared with 30,000 a decade ago.
His union experience makes Billingham sympathetic to the aims of Owner-Operators UK. "Most owner-drivers start off as drivers and maybe by choice, but often through pressure of being made redundant, set up on their own. It's one of the easiest businesses to get into, and the bloke may be a good driver, but he can be guilty of making very basic business mistakes. I want to help him avoid these," he says.
Sheer lack of time often leads to scanty planning and mistakes, claims Billingham. "The owner-operator is trying to run a busines out of his cab. Most of the calls for help we get are from the wife or partner back at the office."
Owner-Operators can ease the pressure by acting on behalf of owner-drivers on legal matters or when a breakdown strikes. "We don't always use the cheapest source of advice, but we use the best value," he insists.
The organisation is anxious to encourage its members to check and price out a job properly before they agree to take it on: "There's too much of a take it or leave it attitude towards hauliers, and in some cases it would be better for the driver to leave it," he says.
"We're advising membrs to credit-check potential customers if they don't know them," Billingham adds. "There's nothing wrong with asking for a reference — the first owneroperator who did this told us the client was delighted. It shows that someone is taking the job seriously." Poor cashflow is a problem which most owner-operators suffer from. "Avoidance, rather than recovery, of debt is the way forward," says Billingham. Increased fuel charges are "significantly affecting owner-drivers' costs — and the customer has never been prone to accepting higher charges".
But Billingham believes there is usually a cure for ailing small businesses "because the problems can be recognised earlier than in a large set up and assistance can be given".
He relishes the grassroots level of the issues he is tackling at Owner-Operators: "We're out to campaign, but I'm not talking about the big political campaigns — they're for the idealists." Improving rates and conditions is something Billingham is committed to: "Executives on the road can keep an eye on their business by using faxes and phones at business centres based at hotels all over the country," he says. "The owner-driver has to make do with a scribbled message on a payphone wall."
Truckstop chains
Owner-Operators wants to make the truckstop chains aware of the needs of its members. "There should be a private room with an account telephone, fax and postal services on a pay-as-you-use basis," says Billingham. "The driver's got time on his hands when he's taking a break, and he can then sort out some administration."
Billingham will be talking to BP and Shell — "who have responded well to other campaigns" — about having an account facility where the services can be charged to members via Owner-Operators.
"I've always promoted the interests of lorry drivers and although the trade unions have tried to meet the needs of the self-employed, they can't provide the dedicated specialist services needed. And that's our salvation," says Billingham. "I'm available 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
0 by Gill Harvey