VANTIEN AMBASSADORS
Page 63
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rrHE. man nn the van is just as important to you as -an arribasSador Of your btisiness as the • manager, the 'estimator or the clerk," claimed Mr: Arthur Edwards, managing director, I. J. Edwards, Ltd., Hinckley, at. the autumn conference of the National Association of Furniture Warehousemen and Removers in
London on Tuesday.
Having • provided training facilities for over 30 .years for other sections of their staff, Mr. Edwards urged that removers should extend these to include manual workers. The • first manual-workers' school for such training was held in Leicester in 1957, and organized by the Midland branch of .their, Instittine. Actual fUrnititre and a 1,000-cu.-ft. van were employed, and in 195& roCidels.were used.
. Since their schools have been held in the mid-southern, • north-western, Ports
• .mouth and London areas. Additionally, the mid-southern area had alsointroduced • a day-school for the training of office
. ..workers, he added.
But with an association membership of
• 1,100 in 12 areas, Mr. Edwards emphasized that for action to have been taken in only five areas represented only a• small percentage of their 'total membership. More effort was needed in the • future if theright tYpe of • labour-. was • to beattracted to the tennis/Mgindustry. This was particularly important at the present time if a high quality of service
• . were to be maintained. • "It was hoped to arrange a school in -London next February for member firms to. send one foreman, with the intention that he should return to his employers and pass on the knowledge he had gained. Full use was also being made of speakers from the Ministry of Labour's "Training Within Industry" unit, The British Productivity Council and the Industrial Welfare Society.
k was also suggested that there should be some form of membership available to manual workers in their Institute; for example, at student level.
• Th e principal objects of manual workers' training schools included the correct safe-lifting and moving of furniture, effects and allied goods, with the prevention of damage either in loading, -transit or at warehouses. By an increase in personal efficiency, training should reduce the time required for removal and warehousing operation consistent with safe and careful handling. The proper use and care of removal equipment, as distinct from motor vehicles, should also receive consideration. By inculcating men with a pride in their work, the standing of the furniture warehouse and removing industry would be raised. Information Was already available from the Institute as to 'the organization of such manual schools, suggested ante tables and subjects. Mr. Edwards particularly recommended the booklet, "A -Review of Drivers and Assistants," recently issued by the Industrial Welfare 'Society. In addition to dealing with employment pra'etices, incentiVe 'schemes, education and "qualification, the booklet also contains details of many films available for hire and dealing with the transport .industry generally.
• Transport, Mr. Edwards said, was one of the few major industries without standardized training facilities. Efforts were now being made' to amend this 'omission, and he announced that the Road Haulage Association were about to sponsor schools for training Of drivers in 'all their duties. He appreciated the interest being shown by the trade ,Press
recently with regard to the education of transport Workers. "
Instancing Possible developments, Mr. Edwards Said that he would like to see a national permanent school and POSSibly the provision of a modern 30-cwt. van,. suitably painted in the Association's name, to carry all models and training films, with a tape recorder to. give standardized instructions in the training programme. Many members felt that eventually their Association would have to employ a public relations officer.
With the implementation of the 40-hour week the industry would need more labour and it was essential that the new recruits should be adequately trained.
In subsequent discussion, Mr. Edwards agreed that whilst some co-ordination in the use of models and training methods was desirable, some allowance would have to he made for variations dependent upon local conditions. Emphasizing the need for local initiative when a training school was set up in Leicester, the employees attending were paid for an eight-hour day with allowances for meals and travelling.
The possibility of bulk purchase of vehicles, bodies and equipment was suggested as a possible development of
the functions of the. Association by Mr. Frank Sid, managing. director Strl and Sens, Ascot. If this were possible, substantial,economies could accrue to memberS and he suggested a 1,2'59-cu.-ft. van as a suitable standard size.
Whilst the criticism wasmade that such standardization would mean loss of • freedom of choice, wide disparity ranging from £425 to £1,275 in quotations for identical vans was mentioned.
Whether or not it was true in the 1920s that there was rail comnetition with the transport industry, it was not true 'now. This was claimed by Mr. Geoffrey Wilson, M.P. There would be so much traffic available in the .future that the problem of integration would not .arise. Shrinkage in rail. traffic . had nothing. to do with competition from operators.
The Labour Party was still advocating driving traffic back to • rail. Short of setting up a complete Communist, state in this country it was :useless, ?ski-. Wilson said; to.think one could force the public to:use,one type. of -transport more than
• another, The C-licence operator was the
rail e a competitor and, as a. recent survey
• showed, 'hehad, many advantages.
But -the ancillary userhimself had a competitor -in the private car, resulting from the congestion it caused., .Road organizations themselves could be corn; pletely unrealistic when creating estimates of future road traffic if they ignored such development as the vertical-take-oft aircraft.
There were exceptional complications for the removers in large cities, said Mr. D. R. Pearce, -removals manager, Army and Navy Stores, -Ltd., London. There . were limitations. to the • responsibilities which the average estimator could be expected to accept. He said that it was inevitable that congestion may well increase far beyond. the estimates of the experts, as was proved by the actual increase of 12 per cent, a year between 1958 and 1959, as opposed. to an estimated increase of 6 per cent.
. It was evident that the removal industry must consider the matter of congestion very seriously, as it affected even the smallest contractor operating in remote places in the country. Not only were the costs incurred by contractors involved, but one had to consider possible additional hotel bills incurred by customers and their families, and the worry and anxiety which could arise through removals not being completed in time. There could even be a second and third customer on the return route affected by the breakdown.
As representing the industry in the matter of congestion, the Association had a threefold responsibility—to, the police, its members, and their customers, Each must bear some responsibility for the Congestion and for overcoming the resulting difficulties.