RHA MAY HAVE TO FIND LABOUR TROUBLE-SHOOTER
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From Our Industrial Correspondent NOW that the policy of voluntary negotiation with the unions is virtually in ruins, the RHA is trying hard to make a completely fresh approach to the whole question of labour relations.
There is an impression that a fundamental weakness of the Association's position is its lack of professional negotiators.
This extends not only to the part-time nature of its representatives on the Wages Council, but also to the lack of experts in industrial negotiations at head office.
Serious thought is therefore being given to the appointment of a full-time labour relations officer to strengthen the team at Upper Woburn Place.
Presumably such an appointment also envisages the setting up of a full-scale industrial relations department which can advise individual members and supply up-to date statistics and other data for use by the employers' side. A major innovation of this nature would obviously have a very considerable impact on the labour relations field and might go a long way to placing the employers on a more equal footing with the unions.
One cannot help wondering whether some of the less progressive members of the RHA will be courageous enough to approve the undoubtedly high level of salary which will be needed to attract a man of the right calibre to act as the industry's trouble-shooter.