'No Japanese vehicles' -I Law
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JAPANESE vehicles will be blacked if they come into Britain — whether they are owned by British companies or registered abroad. That was the message from Transport and General Workers Union Midlands supremo Alan Law this week.
Mr Law has joined TGWU Bridgwater and Taunton district secretary Tom Searle in calling for the banning of all Japanese lorries in Britain.
Mr Searle has spearheaded the campaign against Dublinbased Hino vehicle assembler J. Harris (Assemblers) Ltd, which has plans to establish a new assembly plant in Britain, probably in the Liverpool area.
And this week Alan Law told CM: 'The workers have the power to say enough is enough."
Now calls are going out within the union on an unof ficial basis for the vehicles to be blacked both by drivers and, in some places, by workers loading and unloading at depots and industrial premises. If the ban comes into effect in Britain, it is likely that among the first to be affected would be Irish hauliers coming into Britain.
So far Britain's only Hino operator — Vicon Transport of Liverpool — has not been affected by any action.
And when CM spoke to him, Vicon proprietor Victor O'Rourke was unrepentant about buying Japanese. "I'm very satisfied and the drivers like them," he said.
Mr O'Rourke — a Road Haulage Association member — also said that his drivers have to carry Transport and General Workers Union cars, and they have so far had no trouble.
Protection
The blacking of Japanese vehicles started after a television programme exposed the danger of the imported vehicles to the British industry.
Mr Searle said the Somerset men had decided at a meeting immediately afterwards that the blacking was on. "We hope to stop them doing the same with the lorry market as they have with the car market — we want to protect British jobs.
"This ban is already the policy of 65,000 people, including 12,000 in the Midlands and 10,000 factory workers in Somerset," said Mr Searle.
"It makes no difference who builds it and what name it carries, this ban will affect any Japanese lorry — even if it has some European components it will still be blacked, asserted Mr Searle.
He added: "If every driver in the Midlands, West Somerset, Lancashire, Preston and Leyland says he won't drive a Japanese lorry then their employers won't buy any.