BRS man's support for delivery drivers
Page 14
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
SUPPORT FOR low-paid local delivery drivers came last week from Eastern BRS managing director L. W. Atkinson when he addressed a Nottingham meeting of the Centre for Physical Distribution Management.
Referring to the past winter's haulage strike, he said: "I believe the transport industry has had the first taste of a determination to raise wage levels."
He added, referring to short-distance High Street delivery drivers, that the men who work hardest in transport traditionally get the least reward.
Mr Atkinson compared their wages with those of longdistance trunk drivers, a job which he did for many years before entering management.
Mr Atkinson was talking on a general theme of the costs of contracted and own-account transport, and pointed out some of the factors which affect the rates charged. He listed such items as the "staggering" increases in vehicle and tyre costs, and pointed out that labour charges demanded efficient use of all staff. "A chargehand fitter on night duties can earn £9,000 a year. He is a very expensive man who must be used properly."
Mr Atkinson agreed that a customer has a perfect right to choose which haulier he employs, but said also that the haulier has a right to choose his customers.
He instanced a case in East Anglia in which "through the simple use of a Japanese calculator" more money would be made if additional loads were refused at the current rates.