No JIC here, says Alan Law
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by John Darker THE TENDENCY in road haulage for Joint Industrial Councils to replace a moribund Road Haulage Wages Council will get no support from the powerful Midlands TGWU negotiator, Mr Alan Law.
He told CM on Tuesday that JICs "tied everything up," frustrating those capable of giving a strong lead to the industry. "We still have no unemployed drivers in Birmingham," said Mr Law. "We are having to live on our fat at the moment but my members are grateful for the superior conditions their loyalty and strength secured in the past."
Could not the Employment Secretary, Mr Michael Foot, force the issue of Joint Industrial Councils, I asked Mr Law. "If the unions don't attend a Council it cannot work," was his reply.
"Why then," I asked, "do not the unions refuse to attend the Road Haulage Wages Council, since union leaders, for years, lave condemned the Wages Council for its inadequacy?"
"I am a member of the Wages Council" said Mr Law, "but I take very little account of its doings."
The Birmingham area TGWU men in road haulage for whom Mr Law negotiates will not attempt to secure more than the £430 subsistence allowance for nights out at the December negotiations with assenting hauliers, I was told. "If Birmingham had been first to negotiate, rest assured, we would have got the £5," said Mr Law. "We are getting £5, without exception, from the own-account sector."
On the issue of tachographs —the Minister of Transport, Dr John Gilbert, recently attended a large meeting of lorry drivers in Birmingham— Mr Law said opinion against tachos had hardened since the Minister's visit. He (Mr Law) intended to write to Dr Gilbert suggesting that Britain should ask for a two-year deferment on the introduction of tachographs, to be in line with the Minister's own position on deferment of the hours and distance regulations.