Only qualified support for tachograph strike
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MORE MILITANT ACTION NEXT WEEK?
from our industrial correspondent • About 4,500 Midlands lorry drivers took part in the 48-hour unofficial protest strike against "spy in the cab" tachographs on Monday and Tuesday. The Birmingham area and parts of East London were worst hit by the dispute.
But very few drivers joined the strike although the unofficial leaders had urged up to 500,000 men to support the protest.
It was a triumph for the Ministry of Transport and three haulage unions which had appealed to the drivers to work normally.
On Teesside, Mr. Raymond Cass, who led 500 drivers during a recent fortnightlong tachograph strike, decided against supporting the national stoppage. He said "men on Teesside have done their share in making it plain we are opposed to the proposals to install tachographs".
Mr. Bill Axon, who led a two-week strike in Manchester, also gave the 48-hour stoppage only qualified local support. But he helped to campaign for the strike in Birmingham and the Midlands.
The London strike leader, Mr. John Crispin, said: "This strike is not meant to be disruptive; it is just a warning of what can be done and what we will do if they insist on installing the tachograph."
Most drivers, he said, had worked overtime to clear goods at the weekend and they would soon catch up on deliveries delayed by the strike.
The worst effect of the stoppage was on British Leyland. About 4,700 car workers had to be laid off because the movement of body shells from Pressed Steel Fisher at Castle Bromwich to Austin's Longbridge works was halted. The dispute "lost" production of about 1,750 cars—half of them for export—costing about £1.2m.
A meeting of 170 Birmingham shop stewards will be held on Sunday to decide on further militant action against the tachograph. A week-long stoppage in the Midlands is one possibility.
Mr. Ken Jackson, national haulage secretary of the TGWU, said: "Most of our people accepted the union advice not to join this week's stoppage. We are opposed to these devices. No other section of industry would tolerate them. But we don't think the strike was necessary.
"We have told our local officers that the best service they can provide for our members is to press for productivity agreements which increase earnings and reduce hours on a voluntary basis, thus making the attachment of tachographs totally unnecessary."
Mr. Richard Marsh has given a "firm assurance" to the TGWU, the United Road Transport Union and the Scottish Commercial Motormen that they will be fully consulted before he drafts regulations to enforce the powers given him under the Transport Act to make tachographs compulsory on all lorries. It is doubtful whether Parliamentary time can be found to pass the necessary regulations for about 12 to 18 months.