Counsel on wages
Page 4
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The proposed death by euthenasia of the Road Haulage Wages Council will meet with a very mixed reception. The Road Haulage Association has already expressed its intention in due course to -lodge and substantiate serious objections." The trade unions will no doubt give three hearty cheers.
The unions have never taken the RHVVC seriously. Its function ran parallel to that of the unions in that it sought basic minimum wages in road haulage and therefore represented the large number of non-union employees in the industry. But it was slow, too slow; pathetically so.
It was common practice to issue a newly negotiated wage structure months after the last union negotiated rise. Its basic levels were consistently lower than the union rate for the job.
The unions will see the demise of RHWC as a further recruiting opportunity and there is little point in the employers visiting the Wailing Wall. The only hope they have will be a Statutory Joint Industrial Council, but if established it must be setting the pace and not wandering along behind the unions.
It has been said that there is a vehicle specification to meet every transport requirement. Next week, CM'S readers can test that statement against the specifications for the vehicles Britain imports. We are publishing their specification tables.This is a handl reference when new vehicles are being considered.
And it's not all theory in CM. We have been to work with a number of the imports: Saviem, Honda, Roman, Magirus, Fiat and a DAF coach. We've also been getting the inside story on IVECO from a man who should know. We'll tell you all about it and more in CM next week.