NHA takes stock
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• With all members now working normally, the National Hauliers Association executive meets this week to consider the next move in its fourweek-old rates dispute with Derbyshire quarry owners.
Official recognition as a trade union is now a "formality", says the NHA, and it is determined to pursue the dispute, which has already led to some rates increases. General secretary Malcolm White has ordered his members to work normally for now to prevent further High Court injunctions, such as the one won by Tarmac last week. ARC had also decided to seek an injunction, but stopped the action when hauliers returned to normal working.
The NHA is under investigation by the Office of Fair Trading to see if it contravenes the Restrictive Practices Act 1976 or the Competition Act 1980.
"The NHA setting a rate as a condition for supplying a quarry could have implications for being anti-competitive and restrictive," says a spokesman for the OFT.
He denies that the complaint originated from the quarry owners, but the NHA is not convinced.