The wrong time to strike we can't win, says union
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• Negotiations between the South Wales road haulage industry joint council and the Transport and General Workers' Union (CM February 12) broke down on Friday. The union is claiming a 20 per cent increase on RH 94 while the employers have refused to step up their offer beyond 10 per cent.
The union has already said that failure to reach agreement would result in selective strike action in South Wales and by Monday one company, Western Roadways Ltd, had already been affected. However, it seems that the strike threat may disappear if Mr G. Phillips, the union's co-ordinating officer in South Wales, is guided by his area secretary Mr T. Jones.
Mr Jones told CM this week that this would be a strike which they could not win. In his opinion it was quite the wrong time to push for an increase in the basic of 20 per cent with so much redundancy already existing in South Wales. "It's daft," he said, "It's the wrong time to strike—the employers must win."
Mr Jones went on to say that Mr Jack Jones, the TGWU general secretary, had told him this week to do everything to reduce the number of strikes as they were too costly to the union at the moment and that in the present atmosphere the union would gain nothing.
Mr Don Harfoot, RHA area chairman, told CM that the employers would not be prepared to go beyond the 10 per cent offer. It was his opinion that, despite denials of the union, South Wales was merely following in the footsteps of Mr Alan Law, TGWU's area secretary in the West Midlands. "What he gains today, the South Wales area seeks tomorrow. I have suggested that if the local area is not satisfied with the basic wage then it should be prepared to seek a new national agreement, but this suggestion has been rejected by the union."
At the time of going to press it was understood that Mr Phillips was meeting with shop stewards to discuss whether to implement strike threats or take the advice of the area secretary.