Political Commentary
Page 59
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Last Round-up
By Janus
THE compulsion towards obscurity that seizes everybody concerned in the formulation of wages for road haulage workers is hard to understand. British Road Services, after much. discussion with the trade unions, have corrie.out with along and ambiguous statement that bears obvious signs of the mood of doubt and hesitation in which it was cOmposed.
The main -point in the statement is the promise of a _bonus of 15 per cent. on the basic rates of pay. The precise circumstances in which this bonus will be paid are still the subject of negotiation, but the reason for it, the statement makes clear, is the raising from 20 m.p.h. to 30 m.p.h. of the speed limit for heavy goods vehicles. .As a result of this, the "present work content'! can. be -achieved in less tins& better use can be Made of vehicles, and fewer nights Will have to be spent away from home. Bonus for All . . _ . However, the bonus will also be paid to the drivers of .vehicles with .a payload of under 5. tons, for which the• speed limit has remained unchanged at 30 m.p.h. The justification, in so far as the somewhat confused statement tries to give any, is that the maximum working day throughout BasS. will. be reduced from 11 to 10 hours.. Again the concept of "work content" is _brought in. It will be "examined in joint consultation and related to What can be carried out within 10 hour."
Thus, by a remarkable sleight of hand, the reduction in Working hours made possible by the increase in the speed limit for one category of vehicle provides . a reason for, in effect, a wage increase all round.The statement avoids the implication that the work. content of the lighter, vehicles is at present less than satisfactoiy if it can apparently be increased by 10 per cent, through the magic of a little joint consultation without the benefit of a higher permitted speed. The inference is bound to be drawn, but that will possibly not distress B.R.S. very much. They are primarily engaged on long-distance work with heavy vehicles, and the payment of something extra to the collection-and-delivery staff may seem a small price for the settlement of a difficult issue.
Problem for Wages Council
Because their particular solution suits B.R.S. is no reason why it should commend itself to the rest of the road haulage industry. Any agreement between hauliers and the trade unions must ultimately be given statutory force through a Road Haulage Wages Order. The Wages Council would have trouble in providing for a bonus which, in theory at least, is a payment made or withheld in accordance with the standard of achievement. The Wages Orders lay down minimum rates that every worker is entitled. to receive, regardless of efficiency, or of what B.R.S. call " work content."
Another obstacle to mere imitation of the nationalized example is the proposed reduction from 11 to 10 hours of the maximum working day. The law, as it stands, allows 11 hours. The Wages Council would be exceeding their powers if they sought to forbid what was legal, although individual operators, including B.R.S., may keep down the working time of their own drivers if they think fit.
Independent hauliers will not be able to ignore the 'substantial concessions now promised by B.R.S. They
will have to consent to something roughly equivalent. In view of this, they might do .worse than make a virtue of necessity. They have tended to wait supinely for the inevitable attack from the unions, which has generally taken the form of an application to the WagesCouncil. The employers might get their blow in first by making an offer designed to suit the circumstances.
Spirals are favourite symbols for present-day economists, who see wages and prices chase each other round and eyer upwards. At each revolution, the employers or the workers have the chance or the desire to take action. If they lose the opportunity, it seldom returns in the same form. Next time round, there again comes the moment for action. If it is let slip too often, the Consequences Can be expensive for the less skilful side engaged in this apparently interminable round-up.
On the last occasion that road haulage wages were under discussion, there was an opportunity to simplify the Wakes Orders, and to bring them up to date with due regard to the new situation caused by the raising of the speed limit. The many anomalies and complications that had crept in over the years could have been ironed out, and the altered conditions of the drivers of heavy
• goods vehicles could have been met by a manipulation of the 'differentials.
No General Plan The opportunity was lost. The Wages Council came to a decision whereby every worker received a rise of at least 7s. in his basic weekly pay, and the more fortunate were awarded as much as 16s. as a result of widening the differentials. There was some improvement in the form of an advance towards a simpler set of wage scales, but none of the changes was part of a recognizable general plan.
What was particularly surprising was the omission of any reference to the speed limit, the increase in which came into operation some three weeks before the new wages. It would be difficult not to agree that the unions won that particular round, leaving them, as it did, with an ideal vantage point from which to launch their next claim. They were able at one bound to win a substantial all-round increase and the.expansion of the differentials that had been one of their pet objectives for some time. At the end of the day, they still had intact the claim for the reward that everybody concerned has now agreed to be due to the workers for not too strenuously opposing the new speed-limit regulations.
On the next turn of the spiral, therefore, the employers appear to be at a serious disadvantage. Their latest concessions are already in the past, and cannot he called in aid as arguments against claims strongly reinforced by the agreements reached with B.R.S. and with some other large employers of lorry drivers. Once again, the hauliers have only the prospect of making the best of a bad job. They must make sure this time that they do just that.
Next week, I hope to make one or two suggestions to this end.