Political Commentary
Page 53
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Probing the
Pay. -Packet
By JANUS
WITHOUT taking one side or the other on the thorny question of wages, one may still hope that as many hauliers as possible will supply the information for which their representatives on the Wages Council are asking. The aim is to find out from each operator how many employees he has who are covered by the Road Haulage Wages Orders, and what they earned and how long they worked in each of the four complete weeks of last November.
A constant complaint on the Wages Council, at least from the employers' side, has been the lack of reliable information of this kind. It would be misleading to say that the trade unions have always taken the initiative, but the circumstances and times are such as to compel the employers to stay on the unrewarding defensive. The procedure, which has become almost a ritual, is for the unions to put forward proposals for more wages or improved conditions, and the employers find it difficult to withstand the attack unless they can counter the facts and figures with which the other side are armed.
In spite of this, it cannot be said that exorbitant concessions have been granted by the , Wages Council, although the workers have certainly done as well as, if not better than, the rest of trade and industry. They have made frequent applications during the past few years, and on each occasion have obtained something either for the whole industry or for certain sections of it. The men in road haulage received two rises, each of 7s., in December, 1950, and September, 1951, followed by increases in April, 1952, of subsistence rates, dark money, and the wages for driving vehicles with a carrying capacity of over 15 tons. There was a rise of 5s. in August, 1952, upgrading of a number of localities in • May, 1953, and two further increases of 3s. in July, 1953, and 4s. this week.
Another 26s. a Week En a little over three years, all adults covered by the Orders have had at least 26s. a week added to their basic wage. For the most part, their actual earnings have increased by a good bit more. At a rough estimate, the average rise may welt have been something over 20 per cent. This would be more than the average increase for industry as a whole, but possibly a little less than the rise in the Index of Retail Prices, the socalled " cost of living."
As far as one can tell, the workers should be reasonably satisfied; but they still have room for argument so long as there exists no reliable picture of the actual earnings in road haulage. The survey now being made is designed to meet this point with a little more accuracy than is provided by the figures at present available.
Once every six months, the Ministry of Labour receive information from over 60,000 employers in trade and industry about the wages they paid in a selected week to some 61m. workers. The most recent survey covered the last pay-week in April, 1953, when the average weekly earnings over the whole field were £9 5s. 11d. for men aged 21 years and over and £7 17s. 7d. for all workers.
The Ministry publish details for each of the industries and services represented. In introducing the tables, it is stressed that "the differences in average earnings shown should not be taken as evidence of, and a measuye of, disparities in the ordinary rates of wages prevailing in different industries for comparable classes of workpeople employed under similar conditions." Nobody is likely to bother very much about this disclaimer.. If the figures for any particular industry are comparatively unsatisfactory, it wduld be asking too much for the representatives of the workers in that industry, to refrain from protest.
As practically the only figures available in respect of the road haulage industry are those of the Ministry of Labour, it is important that they should give an accurate picture. For the chosen week in April of last year, the tables report average earnings of £8 12s. 8d. for men and £8 7s. 11d, for all road haulage workers. The first figure is a good bit below the average of £9 5s. 11d, for trade and industry generally. Moreover, the average number of hours worked by men in road goods transport was 52.4, which was higher than the general average of 47.8 hours, and the average hourly earnings were 3s. 3.5d. and 3s. 10.7d. respectively.
Comparison Impossible Road haulage workers, concerning whom details have been obtained by the Ministry for use in the tables under the heading of transport, do not include men and women employed by C-licence holders, nor the staff of British Road Services. The Commission make their own analysis, based upon what they describe as an annual census. According to this, average earnings of male adults in the week ending March 21, 1953, were £9 19s. 6d. One might expect the figure to be higher than for other road haulage workers, owing to the heavier vehicles operated by B.R.S. and the absence of grading, but in any case the comparison is impossible because B.R.S. include clerical and salaried staff, who are left out by the Ministry of Labour.
This question of categories is important. From the point of view of the Wages Council, the Government statistics are imperfect in that they do not exactly correspond with the workers entitled to statutory wages. It is even more important to know whether the net is thrown wide enough. In all the industries concerned, the returns received by the Ministry covered rather more than two-thirds of the total number of wageearners employed. For road goods transport, the total was 20,000 out of 166,000, or rather less than one-eighth. Where so varied an industry is concerned, this proportion can hardly give a result sufficiently accurate for comparison with other industries, and the employers' representatives have good reason for making a determined attempt to assemble a larger body of evidence+,
The task is not easy. Hauliers have a reputation for not filling up forms, but like the rest of us they have become reconciled to doing so at the bidding of the authorities. When the Ministry of Labour say that they sent out 64,400 forms and received back approximately 61,500 "suitable for tabulation," we accept the statement without surprise. It is a different matter when it comes to compiling information for private individuals or associations. It would be a pity if hauliers lived up to their reputation in meeting the present inquiry. They would harm only themselves by refusing to lighten the burden of their representatives on the Wages Council.