Owner-drivers flock to NODA by Philip Robinson
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• Hundreds of owner-drivers are mounting a campaign to get themselves a better deal. Many of them feel they are being taken for a ride, and their money used for speculation.
Following our story (CM April 13) of Quickmix Concrete Co Ltd promising their owner-drivers an increase in guaranteed earnings, owner-driver representatives throughmt the country have been phoning and writing to CM all week seeking the address of the National Owner Drivers' Association and their help.
It is unlikely, however, that they will get the quick deals that they are after. Mr J. Cameron, national co-ordinating officer of NODA, who represents 1000 drivers, said that they have yet to organize themselves with a committee structure which can cope with a big influx of new members.
Mr Cameron told CM: "I am impressed with the number of inquiries you have received; it is a similar reaction which we have experienced over the past 12 months. At the moment we are consolidating our position and hope that when the time is ripe both the owner-drivers and road haulage companies will benefit from our organization."
Of the calls we received, while some drivers were prepared to come out into the open, others feared victimization. One of these represented some 60 drivers in the the Flintshire area where they want to organize their own ODA. He asked for the company's and his name to be kept secret until they were organized: "We have had one or two contracts dropped in mysterious circumstances and I would not like to put myself or any of the others in a position where they might lose their living," he said.
"We can't iron out the things we think are unfair because we are all separate." He said that the base rate in his area was £750. This is the amount of reserve fund which the driver must have lodged with the company he is contracted to before he gets an increase on his basic monthly payment of around £120. The Flintshire representative said: "I reached that price within eight or nine months. But before you reach that the employers take 30 per cent of our gross earnings.
"They charge five per cent for paper work and if we are working after time on a job then the customer is charged more — but we don't get the extra." He said that drivers were allowed to use the company's workshop for emergency repairs "but it costs £2 an hour".
He concluded: "We have already asked Mr Cameron if he will talk to us and advise us on starting a local association."
Typical of many of the inquiries received at CM was one from Mr Graharri White, one of 24 owner-drivers with Mixed Concrete in the Bristol area.
He told CM: "We draw £120 per month. That was £5 behind the Quickmix drivers but with their increase, we now lag by £30. We want some uniformity: whatever one
gets we should all get.
"It took me five years to reach our reserve price of £1000. We had a meeting with the management about three months ago and they said they would think about increasing . .. they still are."
Mr R. G. Hall, md Mixed Concrete Ltd, said that he did not wish to comment.
Owner-driver Mr R. D. O'Boy, who is contracted to Redland Gravel Ltd of Walmer Green, estimates that his employer has about 150 owner-drivers.
"We are much better off than a lot of others, but there are parts of our contracts which we'd like to get sorted out." But Mr O'Boy did not specify the problems nor how much the Redland Gravel drivers reserve rate is.
However, Mr A. F. Harris, the company's transport manager, told CM that drivers were paid £130 per month basic and when they had achieved their reserve level of £800 they went on to full earnings of about £400 per month.