Neely slams TGWU
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HAULAGE unions were attacked by Road Haulage Association chairman Bert Neely at the Association's annual conference in Portugal this week.
The Transport and General Workers Union, he said, is "totally reluctant to grasp any new opportunity at all. Their immediate reaction to any innovation is to say 'no' without thinking anything through or even consulting their members, "Perhaps it is a legacy of the immediate post-war years when life was easier for all of us — full employment and plenty of opportunity for employers and employees; but conditions are vastly different now.
''The result of that era, a mixture of tired and weak management coupled with militant trade unionism, so reduced our competitive edge that we now have to take unpopular decisions purely to survive.
"I was horrified to look in on the recent TUC conference when, apparently, the measure of the unions' effectiveness is in exact proportion to its militancy. I just cannot understand this mentality.
"We, as managers, as well as our drivers, are trying to earn an honest crust from the same industry. If either of us make a fundamental error or, frankly, becomes bloodyminded, we both end up on the dole queue."
Neely urged the Chancellor to think again on capital allowances: "We urge him to listen with intent not only to our pleas but to those of the CBI whose small firms council has somewhat belatedly realised the insidious effect this will have on business investment," he said.
Neely renewed his call for the setting up of special vehicle courts which, he said, are needed because of the complexity of road haulage