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union recognition
• Tarmac Quarry Products won a High Court injunction last Friday to stop members of the National Hauliers Association striking for higher rates at its Derbyshire quarries in the heart of the Peak District — but it will soon have to deal with a recognised trade union.
The NHA is now seeking recognition as a bona fide trade union for its 1,500 members nationwide and expects clearance from the Trade Union Certification Officer this week. It hopes that this move will compel Tarmac to recognise the legitimacy of its dispute.
Although the NHA has officially ordered its Tarmac members back to work, sporadic action continued at some Tarmac quarries after the weekend. The dispute has also spread to other quarries owned by McAlpine, Tilcon and Redland.
Up to 12 of Tarmac's quarries have been hit in the dis pute. A letter sent to hauliers prior to the court hearing said the company was seeking an injunction to stop "unlawful acts being committed . . . at or near our premises . . . and for interfering with our contracts, business, and for attempting to interfere with the contracts of employment of third parties".
The letter was sent to individual operators because Tarmac does not recognise the NHA as a representative body, says NHA general secretary Malcolm White: "In simple terms, the injunction sets out to stop picketing," he claims.
White believes that other quarry operators in the area, such as RMC and Steetley, are also likely to seek injunctions against his members. "It's just a matter of time before they take the same route as Tarmac," he says.
Whatever happens now, White is concerned that Tarmac is not addressing the hauliers' demand for a 20% rate increase. "It must have cost them <£10,000 to take out that injunction — they're just throwing a cheque book at the problem."
In court Tarmac set out to disprove that the NHA could claim to he a union on the grounds that owner-drivers were not directly employed by the company, and that a union must represent a collection of workers in the company employ. But the NHA says owner-drivers contracted to Tarmac cannot legally work for anyone else, while outside hauliers are still obliged to complete the job personally — and must therefore be "workers".
Commercial Motor visited a number of Derbyshire quarries on Monday to test the strength of feeling.
At Tilcon's Ballidon Quarry drivers were taking a one-day strike to challenge the employer's offer of 4.5% on fuel costs. The stoppage involved 45 hauliers, and men on the picket line reported a sympathetic reaction from drivers coming in with some prepared to turn back. It was the first strike at the quarry for 20 years, according to NHA quarry representative Michael Salt.
"Strike action is totally alien to us," he says, "but we have not had a realistic increase since 1985. We received just 7% in June."
Tony Kent, who is also involved in the Ballidon negotiations, says he is losing 26,000 a month, but was prepared to let his 16 powder tankers stand idle on Monday. 'The lads are solid," he says. "If the quarries keep messing them around they will come out 100%. Some of them turn over £20,000 a year for just £6,000 — who can live on wages like that?" By the end of Monday Tilcon had improved its offer to 5%, and the men voted to return to work.
Another quarry on strike for the first time is Wardlow, near Ashboume, which is shared by Redland, McAlpine and Tilcon.
At RMC Dove Holes the men had voted to return to work after more than two weeks.
Tarmac quarries taking action despite the court injunction were believed to include Water Swallows, Hill Head and Topley Pike, but Tarmac told Commercial Motor that all its quarries are "now working normally".
Tarmac was not prepared to comment on whether it will recognise the NHA if it wins approval of the Trade Union Certification Officer.