;TAs seek fair deal it Notts meeting
Page 22
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
LLS for more freedom for Group Training Associations were 2,,d last week when their chairmen and training officers met at ttingham University, reports JOHN DARKER.
'he conference brought ether for the first time the tirmen and group training icers of 26 nationwide As, and the initiative for meeting came from the msby Garage and Trans GTA, following earlier etings in the Eastern Area, h-le object of the conlice was to prime the GTA resentative on the Road nsport Industry Training ird, Herbert Taylor, who ; present along with Ken ;ers, vice-chairman of the A, and Len Harper, RHA fling and education officer, he conference was highly ical of competition — said be unfair — from the rational services group of RTITB. This fee-earning .ion was said to have made rofit of £66,000 last year, ley that should be passed k to the GTAs.
ow-cost college courses for CPC qualification — as low as £17 in the Midlands, said Fred Baker, also came under attack. He alleged that colleges could buy training material from the Board at in-scope prices.
Some speakers wanted the 71 road haulage GTAs to be pruned to 30, so encouraging developments towards "miniMotec" status, and wanted to augment the power of the GTA movement in negotiations with the Board.
Other GTAs, though of relatively small size, insisted they were profitable and that it would not be in members' interest to merge with neighbouring groups.
The plea for more of the industry's money to be returned to it in the form of better grants or more training help was well received. John Masters (West Hertfordshire) said the RTITB Levy income rose from £17,542,000 in 1975 to £23,010,000 in 1979, and in the same period administrative costs increased by 99 per cent from £553,000 to £1,110,000. Yet grants to the industry declined by 37 per cent in this period.
Amongst the more controversial suggestions was the idea that drivers and/or trades unions should pay for much of the cost of hgv training. There were a number of calls for measures allowing training costs to be recovered when staff were poached by firms within the industry, many of which paid nothing for training.