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Drivers' strike threatens transporter firms' existence

30th September 1966
Page 51
Page 51, 30th September 1966 — Drivers' strike threatens transporter firms' existence
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

rE official strike of 649 transporter cilrivers, ferry men and yard workers of the Longbridge Group of Delivery Agents in Birmingham could put several of the 15 member firms out of business within a few days. Some of them had been carrying scores of employees for whom there was no work for three or four weeks and are now in a serious financial position.

As COMMERCIAL MOTOR went to press there was not a sign of the dispute being resolved. As a result, BMC will have to lay off some 25,000 workers by the middle of next week and if the strike continues long enough the jobs of 250,000 will be in danger. The first of the 333 redundancy notices to delivery workers takes effect on Tuesday.

It seems clear that the workers have broken an agreement signed last December which lays down that there shall be no strike or lockout while a clearly defined negotiating procedure is in progress. The final step in that procedure had not been completed.

On the other hand some firms precipitated the strike by posting redundancy notices before receiving the Transport and General Workers' Union negotiators' final reply on their redundancy proposal.

A statement by the LGDA criticizes comments by senior trade union officials concerning the strike as "unwarranted, unjust and untruthful" The union's proposals for work-sharing, as opposed to redundancy, had been found to be uneconomical and unworkable, but at no time during the negotiations had a dispute been declared. "It is to the union's discredit that it has seen fit to ignore the disputes procedure of our agreement," the statement added.

Mr. Harry Urwin, the TGWU's regional secretary, claims the employers' statement is not factual. "The employers precipitated the problem by issuing redundancy notices for 50 per cent of their work force, whereas even BMC is making only about 10 per cent redundant, and the needs of the two are related."

Why will the LGDA not agree to worksharing? A senior official of one of the firms told me: "It creates a situation in which malingering flourishes. The union proposal insisted on the use of trade plate drivers where it would only be economic to operate transporters".


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