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Midlands Challenge
Page 25
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The Transport and General Workers' Union has lost little time in carrying out its stated intention of pressing on with claims for more pay in defiance of the freeze —though it has chosen a bizarre gesture with which to try to force through the acceptance of the Midlands "hgv differential". It is signifi: cant that the union has not chosen to make this a fight about lower-paid workers, since drivers servicing the motor industry are among the best paid in haulage.
Not for the first time, British Road Services finds itself defending a position which, if breached, would send another wave of "comparability" claims rippling across the country. The big difference this time is that the company's resistance is backed by the terms of the Government's pay freeze policy; and it is no coincidence-that a State-owned group has been selected for attention.
There is an upside-down logic about the union's claim that the members hold hgv licences for the purpose of enabling their employer to carry on his business: the drivers would soon find the licence's personal value brought home to them if they tried to obtain equivalent jobs elsewhere without it. Legally, the handing-in of licences does not change the drivers' status as qualified heavy goods vehicle drivers; but if the Licensing Authority took them at their word and withdrew their licences they might find themselves in a very odd situation.
Removing the novel situation which colours this dispute however, reveals it as a clear attempt by the union not only to circumvent the freeze but also to escape the obligations of the agreed negotiating machinery. It is quite clear that failure to agree at district level should have led to the claim being referred to the national joint negotiating committee — a development which the management is now seeking. Boat-rocking which threatens to disrupt a sizeable slice of Midland haulage and the industry it serves will receive little public sympathy — especially when it is on behalf of men already averaging over £40 a week, or twice the basic figure which the Wages Council recently recommended.