cropper's column
Page 34
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Hauliers must use 'Queensberry' rules
• Road transport is in the forefront once again on a public issue and has set the first case under the new industrial relations regime. The Government has laid down that "Queensberry" rules are to apply in this sphere, where for years there have been no rules.
The container stuffing controversy, where Heatons Craddock and Bishops Wharf secured injunctions from the National Industrial Relations Court, has seen the rules brought into action. For the moment the issue has turned away from industrial relations proper to contempt of court.
Road transport needs to appreciate the container issue from its own industrial standpoint. The contest may not yet have been won, despite appearances. For the moment the unions have been caught in a trap of their own making by refusing to acknowledge the law, they lost the opportunity to present their side of the case.
The dockers' attack at Liverpool is twopronged. Container stuffing is but one spear head of their policy; parity issue on wages and conditions is the other one. This second probe is being progressed on a requirement that no transport firm is allowed to supply a vehicle at Gladstone Dock, Liverpool, until it has signed an agreement with the dockers' joint committee: this stipulates the payment of wages and conditions at parity levels with those of the dockers — a far wider issue than the container one. Heatons have been blacked primarily because of their refusal to sign the wage agreement, and this issue could affect many hauliers. For the Liverpool dockers are seeking support at all docks.
Heatons' case seems amazingly strong. They have their own employees behind them and yet are struggling against workers in the same union. The company holds an annual agreement signed with a local official of the TGWU.
Heatons" shop stewards have been busy obtaining signatories of support from the company's 100 drivers to the firm's refusal to sign the parity agreement.
But this strong case could be undermined. I understand certain hauliers have signed the parity agreement. Hauliers need to think clearly: they should act under the Queensberry rules. For decades, they have suffered from union pressures, particularly from outside
employees, and have often capitulated. It must be anticipated that, before the -dockers v. road transportissue settles down, some
aspects of this tussle will come before one court or another. NIRC may well be influenced by a union submission (when it decides to turn up, because the union is entitled to use Queensberry too) that some employers have already signed the parity agreement. The fragmentation of the industry and lack of cohesion among operators could lose a vital battle which at present looks like being won.
Ralph Cropper