Wages must match output, RHA told
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AY must be related to performance and not to some idyllic belief 'tat increases each year are a right or an entitlement, Transport ecretary David Howell has told Road Haulage Association memers.
At the Association's Bournelouth conference, he said that iere can be no escape from ?ality.
"Unearned pay rises reduce ding standards and concentrate ie burden of unemployed eople. The way to avoid this in le future is not by reviving inomes policies and social )ntracts, which we all know by
experience fail, but by a greater sense of realism in wages bargaining."
Mr Howell paid tribute to the contribution made by employees and management in the haulage industry for reaching realistic agreements last year.
Referring to the Government's proposed sale of heavy goods vehicles testing stations to the private sector, Mr Howell gave some words of encouragement: "I want to see greater efficiency and flexibility; second it is very important that there are full consultations with the industry and good arrangements for control of the system; third I shall choose very carefully the people to take on testing — the good qualities of the present system must be maintained.
"The possibility of Lloyds Register of Shipping taking over the testing network is attractive. This needs some further consideration on both sides, but it is very interesting and I am actively exploring it." Mr Howell told the conference that the Government is pressing ahead with as many by-passes as possible and gave an assurance that "We are very much on target in carrying our programme set out in last year's roads White Paper."
On the Armitage Report, Mr Howell said that all the recommendations in the report have been fully considered. "I intend that a full statement of our intentions in respect of the complete set of recommendations shall be made in the fairly near future."