Teesside on brink
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EMPLOYERS and unions have two weeks to avoid a strike of haulage drivers on Teesside, but both sides appear keen to resolve the present impasse.
Some 500 drivers voted to give 21 days' notice of a strike last weekend after rejecting the employers' offer of a £4.40 increase in the 32.5-tonne basic rate to £92,80, with a 50p subsistence increase including what drivers say was an "insulting" proposal to make that cover parking charges.
Transport and General Workers' Union officer John Yates, who said he was mandated to settle for at least a £5.60 increase, told CM the strike would only affect companies which had not settled individually at the higher rate. He said around a third of the 1,500 drivers in the area were already covered by such agreements.
If that happened, the firms which have yet to settle would find their contracts at risk of being taken over by the others. The employers had indicated to him that they were prepared to let the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) intervene in the dispute.
The Acas counterpart in Northern Ireland, the Labour Relations Agency, helped employers and union agree a new wage scale there last week, with basic pay rising by £5.75 to £97.75 for 32.5 tonnes and £103.75 for 38 tonnes. Subsistence rises by 35p on bed and breakfast, taking the total subsistence to £11.65.
Britain's biggest percentage settlement so far is a 7.5 per cent rise in West Cumbria, taking its bottom-of-the-scale 32.5-tonne basic rate from £87 to £93.50.
Weeks of haggling have finally ended with a 6.11 per cent settlement in the West Midlands, with the 32.5-tonne rate rising from £90 to £95.50, and a 38-tonne rate now being £98 for 40 hours. Subsistence rises by 50p to £11, and an extra day's holiday has been agreed for employees with ten years' service.
A 6.38 per cent rise has been agreed for the six companies involved in direct negotiations covering the Birmingham container base, and for the dozen other companies which pay their rates. In total, the deal covers about 200 drivers.
A £6 increase gives drivers of all weights of artics a £100 basic rate, plus a E3 supplement and overnight subsistence is up from £11.75 to £12.25.