Unions set claims
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• Transport union representatives in Road Haulage Association member companies met this Tuesday at Transport House, London, to hammer out the main points of the 1991 pay and conditions claim.
As a result, the Transport and General Workers' Union is recommending RI-IA regions demand: wage increases based on the Retail Price Index plus 2% — currently a total of 12.6%; a 39-hour working week; a £2 rise on overnight subsistence; five weeks holiday after one year's service; a minimum of 55 hours per week holiday pay (or average earnings); double-time on Saturdays after four hours; payment for HGV licence medicals; and £8,000 compensation for drivers who lose their licence through ill health.
John Moore, drivers' leader at the TGWU, stresses that the conference only recommended the main points of the claim. "There will also be many local issues the regions will want to take up," he says.
The conference was followed on Wednesday by a joint meeting of TGWU and United Road Transport Union shop stewards from NFC companies, Pickfords and BRS.
For the first time the two unions are preparing a single claim, and although no details
were available as CM went to press, it is clear that a reduction in working hours and a wage rise of at least 2% above the rate of inflation will be on the shopping list.
"We are looking for a substantial increase in the basic wage," says URTU general secretary Frank Griffin. "Plus a reduction in the working week to 39 hours.
"We are not messing about this time," warns Griffin, "employers will have to snap out of the ostrich syndrome — it's no good sticking their heads in the sand, the demand for shorter hours won't go away. As for wages, I want to put £5 notes in my members pockets, not percentages."
Meetings with NFC are likely to begin in late October with a view to settling the claims by 1 January 1991 when the current agreements terminate.