National basis negotiations are bes
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WAGES negotiations should again take place at national level and involve a Statutory Joint Industrial Council or at least a National JIC, Dick Farmer told the conference.
iLoorviv ASPECTS of the aulage industry reflected by pea kers at the Road
laulage Association onference in Torquay last reek were as belied by the rilliant sunshine during the Iree-day meeting.
But National Ports Council irector-general Morris ifford was taken ill and was iable to give his paper due 1Wednesday.
Despite controlled scussion of the wages tuation in the industry hen the time came for the 'ndicate chairmen's reports e pay and conditions issue omed over the whole inference as new welopments became 'own.
Delegates were happy to ;CUSS the situation among emselves, but unhappy out public knowledge of sition.
Opportunities to question ) EEC Director of Transport )nt by with few of the ijor questions affecting uliers in the EEC being swered.
The conference was an portunity for the operators meet some of the vernment officials who ye control of at least part he destiny of many of the npanies represented at conference.
John Dole, head of the ght directorate of the oartment of Transport, A. Bailey, Under-Secretary he Treasury, were at the iference to deliver their )ers and answer )stions.
ttendance at the ference was one of the hest recorded and no one I cause to be disappointed le standards set by the akers.
)iscussion was lively and ry speaker was saved by bell with more questions unasked or saved to be informally at the end of a stion and answer ;ion. Mr Farmer who was chairman of one of the two wages and negotiations syndicates, said his syndicate had come to the conclusion that there should be a common anniversary for all wages negotiations so that the industry can get the whole issue dealt with at one time.
The syndicate has also considered the possibility of setting up a drivers' section of the RHA. "We should make an RHA card as valuable as a union card to the drivers," he said.
Mr Farmer suggested that this can be done by offering discounts on goods and services as an inducement to the drivers.
-We are young at this business of industrial relations, but now we are in it we must find remedies to some of the problems. We must train negotiators and make sure the unions do so too — the top union men talk a lot of sense but this is not always true of those lower down the scale," he said.
Customers also have to be educated to accept that they have to pay for good service and the RHA labour relations committee should be more than a fire brigade for the situations that arise, he said. If there is a slack time then the committee should be thinking of positive things to put to the unions.
"We should not be a punchball — we should be putting things to them," he added.
Chairman of the other syndicate on wages and negotiations, Bert Neely told the conference that if the Government is to say there must be free collective bargaining then it must leave the industry alone to get on and sort out its problems.
"The moment a percentage is mentioned it is taken as a challenge to the unions to try and break it," he said.
-We can settle wages and conditions but it does not relieve us of the responsibility of dealing with individuals."
Mr Neely said that labour re
lations must be left with the companies and he added that wages are too low when it takes a driver 55 hours to earn what a factory worker makes in 40.
Ronnie Butt added that there should be an instruction to all the RHA members that no agreement of any kind is to be signed without a clause that there will be no industrial action without a 14 days' written notice.
That way the two sides can get together and settle the problem in a civilised manner, he said.
Mr E. B. R. Smith commented that the tachograph would do "an awful lot of goo in the field.
"Gross pay is not related the number of hours chary and there are all kinds of cc cessions that enable the dri \ to get away with a larger p packet than if he had to wr down exactly what he did," SE Mr Smith.
-We should put our house order and communicate mu more regularly with the unio and the drivers.
"This industry consists of much more responsible body men than any other and v should put that body of men use."