bird's eye view by the Hawk
Page 41
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• One lump
Jack Jones, the TGWU's masterful general secretary, had some strong words to say about the Lump — the Labour-only subcontracting system so rife in building and civil engineering — at Brighton last week. He feared its spreading like a canker into road haulage, and I know several prominent employers in the industry who would agree with him. If drivers — or mechanics, traffic clerks, even managers — opt for the independence of agency life they are only following in the (mini) skirts of the dolly girls, receptionists and nurses who started the trend a decade ago.
Any employer facing the loss of good men to the agencies should ask himself what attractions they can offer which he could not provide in his own business. Money? That is a difficult one with wages restraint. Maybe profit sharing and more effective systems of joint management (which are now becoming very respectable) would keep the lads in their home nest?
• Another lump
It has been recognized for years that lump
loads electrical generating equipment and the like — are getting bigger. CM's John Darker talked to a Pickfords driver at Brighton who had been to a factory to see a 600-ton "lump" due for completion several years hence, and which would require to be moved by road.
There are not very many operators with the equipment available to shift such machinery but, even so, it appears that quotations have to be submitted years before the actual movement takes place. How'd you like to quote for something moving in 1978? What percentage would you allow for higher costs between now and then. ...
• Delayed union
John Lowry, who was chairman of the Scottish Commercial Motormen's Union when it merged with the TGWU, told m that the merger was first proposed in the time of Arthur Deakin, some 20 years ago, and the question had been discussed many times in the interim before the marriage was finally consummated.
Usually, union mergers take place because the smaller party is hard up. This was not the position with the SCMU/TGWU tie-up. "We were led to the merger because of the Industrial Relations Act", said Lowry. "We knew what risks we'd run with our impetuous general secretary, Alex Kitson, as a small union facing possibly penal penalties under the Act."
I take the militant Scottish Lads' point; the TGWU can shrug off a £55,000 fine with little discomfort but fines of that order could liquidate a small union.
• URTU next?
What will URTU, the Manchester-based drivers' union decide at its triennial delegate conference in August? This union, whose membership is variously estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000, has been courted by larger unions for years. It may decide to soldier alone, enjoying the pleasures of independence. If it merged with any union other than the TGWU there would be some red faces at Transport House!
• Busman's holiday
Len Forden, chairman of the TGWU, is a perky busman with a genius for chairmanship. His only problem in handling nearly 1000 brothers at Brighton was after a speech by the Irish secretary of the TGWU. The latter's conciliatory speech was not to the liking of a handful of Irish members and for a few minutes — as a Forden ruling was contested — it looked like an exciting situation. A brief intervention by Jack Jones quelled the mini-revolt.
I gather that a busman traditionally provides the TGWU with its chairman. This is not because of the present strength of busmen but because the original power of the TGWU in Ernest Bevin's day came largely from those municipal aristocrats of yesteryear, the tram drivers.
• After Jack
For years before a top union general secretary retires there is speculation among camp followers as to who will succeed. Moss Evans, a fiery Welshman, and a leader in the various Ford negotiations, is one man who is tipped to succeed Jack Jones. Harry Urwin, Jones' number two, has considerable gifts as a platform speaker and much experience in the top levels of negotiations at home and abroad. But has he enough fire in his belly?
Alex Kitson certainly cannot be ruled out, for in oratory and socialist conviction he stands out compared with some other officials of the TGWU. A long-shot? Well, Larry Smith comes over extremely well with a mass audience. He has a confident manner and a sense of humour, and could mature into a powerful national union figure. His power-base, though, is relatively small, since In.smen do not pack the fist of lorry drivers in tne union's councils.
• Sunday campaign
Interesting to see that the Sunday Times has publicly admitted what we had all assumed — that it has been running a deliberate campaign against heavy lorries.
The point came out during last week's High Court hearing of a complaint that the newspaper had been running a campaign against an anthropologist. Denying that this was so, Sunday Times editor Harold Evans told the court that running a campaign was a very definite, deliberate decision, adding: "It is usually an extremely persistent exercise, running over weeks, months and sometimes even years, and supplemented by editorial opinion. No campaign begins without my approval and my personal supervision."
Then he said thLt air pollution, road "juggernauts" and compensation for thalidomide victims were the subjects for recent Sunday Times campaigns. So now you know.
• Prize basculable
As Berliet has been swift to point out, drivers of the new H-series Ford (CM last week) will not be driving in just any old cab but in the prize-winning Berliet KB 2400 basculable. On its introduction at the Paris Salon in 1970 it was awarded Le Grand Prix de L'Art et de l'Industrie, la Coupe de PAutomobile Club de France, la Coupe de la Federation Nationale des Transports Routiers and la Coupe du Journal les Routiers.
It had better not leak!