new aristocracy of the road inay be in process of evolution'
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JANUS
WRITES
EVFN when the new scales of road haulage wages. come into effect it will still be possible in theory for an adult driver to receive less than £10 for a week's work. Very likely in practice there is not a single man who will be paid so little. This fact in itself lends strength to the suggestion frequently made that the wages machinery is out of date. It is faintly ridiculous that no use should be made of many of the figures which have been painstakingly produced by the Wages Council and solemnly confirmed by the Minister of Labour.
In a variety of ways, the statutory rates are supplemented in order to bring them up to a satisfactory level where this is necessary. The actual wages paid compare favourably with those in other industries, although the number of hours worked is somewhat higher than the general average. There is still a feeling that scales which related payment properly to skill and to effort would improve efficiency. Both employers and workers share this feeling to the extent that they recognize the advantage it would bring to them.
As the Bow Group have recently discovered in another connection, the need for a satisfactory formula does not automatically mean that it can be produced. So many diverse factors have to be taken into account in the consideration of wages for workers in road transport that the problem may ultimately be found insoluble. This should not prevent prosecution of the search. Useful discoveries may be made on the way. The more that the problem is understood the less chance there is of mistakes when dealing with it in the future. ,
EARLIER WISH REPEATED
In their recent statement of policy the Road Haulage Association has repeated its earlier wish for a comprehensive national body, on which British Road Services also should be represented, to deal with all relations between employers and employees, including the settlement of nationally applicable wages. Before this machinery is set up there would have to be detailed negotiations going to the heart of the many questions which have disturbed the good relationship with the trade unions in the past and which have sometimes produced divergent answers.
The basic wage machinery throughout road transport provides for payment by the hour and extra payment for , overtime. Difficulty is bound to arise in an industry where performance is so frequently improved by the raising of legal speed limits, by the provision of better roads and by new technical developments. In most industries the obvious step is to increase the basic wage so that the worker can either earn as much money as before in less time or can earn more money without working longer hours. Such a solution is seldom possible in road transport.
Disputes are still going on as a result of the increase seven years ago in the speed limit for heavy goods vehicles. The one point on which there seems to have been little disagreement is that the increase from 20 to 30 m.p.h. adds 15 per cent to the productivity of the long-distance driver. This was the proportion by which B.R.S. agreed to increase the wages of workers who showed an improvement in their performance. For an organization mainly engaged on long-distance work the move was comparatively easy although many snags have arisen in practice.
For the majority of goods vehicles the higher speed limit brought little or no benefit. Its effect could not easily be written into the wages orders which laid down payment for hours worked rather than miles travelled. Individual operators have had to make their own arrangements with their drivers, often by means of a bonus which inevitably becomes part of the wage by whatever name it is called. The result has been the development of a new scale of wages not recognized officially by the Wages Council.
SPEED LIMIT INCREASED
In the meantime there has been a general increase to 40 m.p.h. in the speed limit for all goods vehicles. So far it has not led to widespread labour disputes. Possibly these can be avoided in view of the fact that the increase is general. One spectacular result has been the operation by Sutton and Sons (St. Helens) Ltd. of a 350-mile round trip on an ll-hour schedule between St. Helens and London Colney. All but 96 of the miles are run on motorways where a maximum speed of 45 m.p.h. is considered tolerable. According to reports, the drivers are an-iply recompensed.
Some doubts have been expressed about such services. It is suggested that the vehicles will be severely tested and are likely to depreciate mach more rapidly than usual. Obviously the drivers must be carefully selected for their skill and physical fitness. A new aristocracy of the road may be in process of evolution. Once again remuneration would be fixed without reference to the Wages Council, whose influence would shrink still further.
PROBLEM GOES DEEPER
The problem goes deeper. in reaching a decision on the proper payment for a specific operation the temptation is to pay a good deal less or to impose a financial penalty if the operation is not completed on time. The driver will then himself be tempted to drive too fast if it is necessary to make up for time lost in town traffic or in a cafe; and to ignore mechanical defects when adjustments or repairs would delay him. Like many another victim of too rigid a timetable he becomes an accident risk.
Payment of inadequate wages by unscrupulous operators was one of the reasons for setting up the Wages Council. The likelihood that drivers will be exploited in this way is now much less. More important these days is that the driver should receive a wage which gives him an incentive, which encourages him not to work for more hours than the job requires and which is in the best interests of road safety. None of these effects flows naturally from the scales of wages laid down by the Wages Council. They are all points which should be considered carefully in discussions on new machinery.