Gentlemen
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versus Players L. ET nobody imagine any longer he can trace in advance the pattern from start to finish of a wages claim on behalf of road haulage workers. No sooner is an apparent routine established, than something unexpected turns up. The latest claim, by throwing a new light upon the machinery of the Road Haulage Wages Council; may lead many operators to examine more closely aspects that they had previously taken for
granted. .
As is customary throughout industry, negotiations on road haulage wages resemble the fixture between gentlemen and players that may soon become an anachronism in the world of cricket. The trade unions are a machine designed specifically, if not primarily, to make money for their members. The employers' panel of the wages council, on the other hand, are merely an offshoot of the Road Haulage Association, plus a few representatives from other organizations. They are very much a side of amateurs facing the professionals.
One would have expected the appointm,ent of-members of the panel to be the subject of anxious discussion within the R.H.A. They have a far-reaching responsibility, so much . so that they might be excused for showing a reluctance to serve. In practice, membership of the panel has undergone few changes since the wages council was first set up. When from time to time there has been an opportunity for a re-appraisal, the retiring members have almost always been re-nominated for the approval of the Minister of Labour.
Old Servants At the least, they have been not unwilling to stand again, and they have, of course, served the industry unselfishly and well. Few operators can complain about their representatives. Good men were elected at the outset, and there is much to be said in favour of keeping them in office. What is unexpected is the fact that the continuation of service is due as much to the indifference of operators as to the undoubted merits of the candidates. Few hauliers could name any of the people upon whose work, skill and astuteness depends the level of wages in the whole industry.
The players have set the gentlemen a puzzle with some unusual features. It was unexpected that no parallel claim should have been submitted to British Road Services. The double-barrelled attack, used several times for the submission of recent claims, had for the unions advantages that they have apparently 'decided to forgo on this occasion, perhaps in return for other advantages that are not yet clear.
. Equally surprising, when the circumstances are known, was the lack of prior information about the details of the claim by the trade unions. When the claim itself was soextraordinary, the employers' panel were bound to ask for an adjournment, which the independent chairman was almost as certain to grant. The representatives come from all parts of the country, and it is not always easy to find a suitable date for a meeting. The trade Unions must have known that the secrecy about their intentions, which would not have mattered had the claim been for a straightforward increase, made inevitable a delay Of at least three weeks, As for the employers, they met the day before the council meeting, and no doubt considered all the likely pros and cons. For all
the good it did them, they might as well have spent their ingenuity in tilling up -coupons for the pools.
Other, unexpected features of the. somewhat abortive discussion by the wages council were the disregard of the present fuel situation and the absence of any reference to the increase in the speed limit for heavy goods vehicles. Both points may' help, to explain the lack of concern by the unions about the delay in considering their proposals. By the time any new wages order is published, if not by the time the wages council . meet again -on February 5, the fuel crisis may be over what operators are optimistically learning to call the hump. The later the date also, the nearer it will be to May 1, when the increase in the speed limit is due to take effect.
Strangest of all is the wages claim itself. Although it appears to leave the structure of .the wages orders intact, it stretches the fabric to what may be well beyond the point of tolerance. The main point is a dramatic increase, mostly a doubling, of the six differentials separating the categories of vehicle carrying capacities in -accordance with which road haulage wages are paid.
Little Reward for Skill
In principle, there is something to be said for an occasional re-examination of wage differentials. All through industry and commerce the complaint has been that extra payment for special skills remains the same on paper, but in actual money has become much less, even negligible.
The assumption, incorporated in the earliest wages orders ,and never challenged, is that the responsibility of the driver increases with the payload, and that his remuneration should also increase. There have been one or two minor changes in the differentials, but for a long time they have remained at 4s. in each case, except that an extra payment of 3s. marks the difference between vehicles up to 1 ton and vehicles up to 5 tons.
At the other end of the scale, 5s. was agreed as the differential when a new category was introduced for vehicles with a payload exceeding 18 tons. Had the unions :suggested that the 5s. should become general, this might have been considered reasonable. Their proposal that each differential should go up to 8s. means that the difference between the lowest and the highest categOry, at present £1 4s., would increase to £2 8s. Whilst the worker in the lowest group,Without benefit of differential, would get a rise of 8s., those in the top class would get £1 12s.
It is questionable whether even the drivers, particularly those less favourably placed, .would consider increases fair that range between 5 and 20 per cent. If they do, the reason can be only that wages in the road haulage industry are seldom paid strictly in accordance with the wages order. To secure good drivers, even for' the lighter vehicles, operators may often pay wages applicable to a higher category. If the unions' claim were successful, many drivers might expect a higher increase than would be due to them on paper.
The deliberations of. the employers' panel, when they met on Tuesday, may well have led them to consider changes in the wages systems more fundamental than those proposed by the unions, but more in accordance with present-day practice. (-23