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Is there a pattern emerging on driver pay in preparation
Page 7
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for the Working Time Directive (see page la)? As the group human resources manager for ACC says: "To try to do something towards the end of the year is probably too late."
He's right; 2005 will come sooner than you think. And ACC's staged offer of a 35% increase in average hourly rates to around ',ciao Co-op drivers should focus the mind of any operator pondering what to do about the WTD. The approach is simple: you pay more for less, but try and 'lock in' your drivers and gain flexibility along the way.
For what it's worth, the proposal comes less than a month after Castle Cement offered a similar early offer of a four-and-a-half day week and a 9% average pay increase.
So should you get your retaliation in first? That depends on whether you still think the Working Time Directive can somehow be turned back But if King Canute couldn't stop the waves lapping around his ankles, what hope have we got?
Implementing the WTD is one job in transport that definitely isn't 'justin-time'. Now's the time to decide how exactly you intend to handle your business in a post-WTD world (and that doesn't mean simply giving all the work to owner-drivers).
Play catch-up now and you might just be able to negotiate a decent compromise. Leave it to the last minute, and you'll be well and truly over a barrel. Some choice, eh?