Freight News
Page 16
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38-tonne rate to be new norm?
LAST WINTER's wage negotiations for hauliers may have been among the least eventful on record, but they have also further reduced the number of areas in which a settlement has been reached.
The Transport and General Workers Union's much reduced aspirations with a £6 claim in most areas replacing previous years' demands for rises of around £15 in some cases, helped speed settlements in most of the major areas, perhaps to such an extent that some negotiators may have wished they had asked for more.
The employers may also have recovered sufficiently from the worst ravages of the recession and have benefited from falling inflation to be able to come much closer to the drivers' claims, meeting the £6 claim in full in some cases. Last winter's settlements range between 5.4 and 7.5 per cent, compared with a range of between three and 6.2 per cent last year, but the number of areas in which no settlement has been reached has grown from only two last year to seven.
A new factor last winter was the advent of the 38-tonner. The national wage claim was for a 15 per cent supplement for drivers of the new vehicles, but settlements (where reached) range from 2.6 to 9.5 per cent.
One area has left it to individual companies to reach settlements for 38-tonners. Next winter, the 38-tonne rate is likely to be the norm in many areas.