HAULAGE WORKERS AGAIN SFEK HIGHER PAY
Page 40
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT PPLICATION for a substantial increase in wages is to be made to 1Th the Road Haulage Wages Council by the unions. It is likely to be more strongly resisted by the employers than any submitted so far.
Coming at a time when, as the result of fuel rationing, all hauliers are fighting for their commercial lives and some have already decided to go out of business, the application will be keenly resented. If granted, it will place an impossible burden on hauliers and will inevitably tend to increase the wages of C-licence drivers, causing an all-round rise in direct transport costs.
The withdrawal of concession rebates on fuel supplies has already raised the fuel costs of some operators by as much as 6d. a gallon. With the new Is. a gallon tax and increased prices announced on Tuesday, some operators will be paying another 2s. a gallon.
Road haulage workers received a basic advance in wages of 9s. a week only last April. Subsistence allowance was also raised, It was the last straw which caused the Road Haulage Association and the National Conference of Road Transport Clearing Houses to recommend a general increase in rates of 5 per cent. The National Association of Furniture Warehousemen and Removers also recommended increases.
If wages and fuel costs rise again, higher road haulage rates will be unavoidable.
Holiday Period Changed R.H. (59) has now been issued by the Wages Council. It provides that the holiday season shall, as from next year, begin on May 1 instead of April 15. The closing date—October I5—remains unchanged. The change of date affects accrued holiday money payable on the termination of employment. Representations on the proposal may be made up to next Friday. About 10,000 free-enterprise haulage workers in Northern Ireland will benefit fronti a wage increase of 5s. 6d. a week awarded by the Road Haulage Wages Council. The working week in provincial areas has also been reduced from 46 to 44 hours, establishing a 44hour week throughout the Province.
The new increase does not apply to employees of the Ulster Transport Authority or to transport workers in Belfast and Londonderry, whose wages are fixed by direct negotiation.