£80 basic wage spreads
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THE £80 a week driver's wage has broken out of the Yorkshin "golden triangle", following agreements in the Western area ant Kent.
The Joint Industrial Councils for both areas have agreed an £80 basic rate for 40 hours for top-weight drivers, with pro-rata payments to drivers of smaller vehicles. In the West Country, this represents a £4 a week (5.2 rise. The jump, and in Kent a £3 The Western deal increases subsistence from £8.75 to £9.25, and 20p per day meal allowance goes up to 23p. Where drivers have also had a night out, their 50p meal allowance rises to 57p.
Kent's subsistence rises from £8.75 to £9.50. In neither casi were any other aspects of thi claim conceded by employers and both deals run from Januar 1 Few other deals look likely tc be concluded before the Christ mas holiday, and this pay rounc could well drag on longer thar that of 1978/79, when a nationa strike threw a spanner into thE works.
This time, there is still a stron€ body of opinion among haulierE that there is no money available to pay any increased wages, anc talks in Scotland, the Northwest, and Northern England are still circulating around this point.
Offers have been made in the East Midlands and Southern England, that in the East Midlands being "somewhat similar" to the settlements achieved elsewhere, according to Road Haulage Association area secretary Bill Morton.