Wanted: a charter for owner-drivers
Page 22
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by John Darker • Serious discontent voiced by ownerdrivers at a West Country quarry may herald an attempt to improve the status and contract conditions of owner-drivers throughout the country.
About a dozen owner-driver members of the RHA under contract to Hobbs (Quarries) Ltd, of Flax Bourton, near Bristol, are hoping that Mr Joe Cox, RHA Western area secretary, will be able to improve their working conditions and rates by negotiation with the quarry owners. The group, known as the Transmix Owner-Drivers Group, numbers about 20. A sizeable minority of the drivers have yet to be persuaded into RHA membership, costing i10 per vehicle plus one guinea entrance fee.
Mr Cox, whose efforts on behalf of West Country quarry operators received national recognition a few years ago, thinks the difficulties of the Transmix Group may be symptomatic of many other groups of owner-drivers. A number of firms employing large numbers of owner-drivers raise rates infrequently under protest, he says; but the owner-drivers observe the high pay of employed drivers, who have none of their responsibilities, and compare their lot adversely.
At Hobbs (Quarries) Ltd sites near Bristol, Mr Cox has so far been unsuccessful in arranging a meeting with management to discuss the grievances of owner-drivers. Two recorded delivery letters were sent to the company on October 2 and 12, without receiving acknowledgement. Nor has there been any response to a further letter sent to the private address of the managing director of Hobbs (Quarries) Ltd On November 5 .requesting his personal intervention. Says Mr Cox: "There appears to be a complete lack of interest or concern by the company for its contracted
owner-drivers . . Such disgraceful treatment is not conducive to harmonious relationship and savours of industrial ignorance thought to have disappeared in this day and age."
Some grievances of the Transmix owner-drivers are as follows:—
(a) The Agreement is felt to be heavily weighted in favour of the customer firm and the owner-drivers' group wish to discuss amendments.
(b) The rates paid to the owner-drivers are rarely adjusted to meet increased operating costs despite requests. It is claimed there has been only one rate adjustment in over two years, despite cost increases amounting to 30 per cent or more.
(c) Alleged contrayentions of the standing orders issued by Hobbs (Quarries) Ltd or any orders from the management are construed as warranting disciplinary action against the owner-driver concerned, with no right of appeal or arbitration.
(d) It is alleged that any protest by an owner-driver, that statutory regulations preclude his ability to undertake certain work, is frowned upon.
(e) The rate of interest on the owner-driver monies retained in reserve by the company should be increased to market rates.
In Mr Cox's experience some contracts are less onerous in their effects on owner-drivers than the terms obtaining at Hobbs (Quarries) Ltd. He believes that the return to the owner-driver, under most current agreements, is less than would accrue to the general haulier carrying out identical work. Accordingly, would-be entrants to owner-driver schemes are being cautioned to take legal or expert advice before signing any agreement.
The Transmix Group experience poses the real dilemma of ambitious drivers: if the contract terms are unduly loaded against the driver he will soon find that he has all the responsibilities and risks of an operator's licence holder and hgv driver; his rewards as a businessman and his rights in a dispute with management are less than if he became or simply remained an employee-driver.
Owner-driver contracts have multiplied in the building, sand and gravel and quarrying industries. If the grievances of the Transmix Group drivers are in any way typical it would seem to be high time that all agreements are approved by the Department of Employment and the Licensing Authorities in consultation with the Road Haulage Association and the road transport trade unions.