A FINELY BALANCED ACT
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"It is an onerous document which puts certain responsibilities on owner-drivers which I believe places them in an impossible situation."
That's the verdict on the latest contract for ARC owner-drivers from National Owner Drivers Association secretary Mick Binns. As one who spends most of his working life fighting for the rights of owner-drivers contracted to the big aggregate and cement companies he should know a good contract from a bad'un. Under the proposed new "franchise" agreement the ARC drivers will lose a number of their guarantees and rights, including the unwritten guarantee that ARC will buy back a driver's wagon if things don't work out. But in this day and age aren't such guarantees out of place? Most hauliers would jump at the right to have pay negotiations written into their contracts: for most operators the rate is what the customer pays—take it or leave it. Of course if more hauliers left it they'd probably get the rate they want, but that's another story. Most hauliers would also love the bulk buying power of ARC when it comes to negotiating a deal on a new tipper chassis or on insurance.
NODA is warning the ARC drivers that at the very least they should register as limited companies so that their houses cannot be taken from them if they go bust. Quite right too. Nothing (apart from death and taxes) is guaranteed, and hauliers who expose themselves to that kind of financial risk need their heads examining.
Of course one man's onerous document is another man's "exciting opportunity". That's how ARC sees it, and to underline that claim it says that ARC drivers can now work for other customers, Considering the hundreds of hauliers who put all their eggs in one basket only to get them broken, isn't that a good thing? If there's a moral to be drawn from the latest ARC wrangle it's that if ARC and its drivers want to live in harmony their relationship must be symbiotic: both sides need to benefit from the arrangement. Having decided a long time ago that it didn't want to own its own transport Fleet ARC should accept that it has little to gain,in terms of operating efficiency or image, by creating contracts that place its ownerdrivers on the defensive.
But it also needs to be said that certain owner-drivers should adopt a more businesslike approach to franchised haulage and not expect conditions and guarantees that Joe Soap haulier never has, and never will have. The relationship between the cement giants and their ownerdrivers has always been a finely balanced affair. Both sides should bear that in mind as they fight to maintain the balance: tipping the scales too far either way could bring the whole system crashing down around their heads.