OPINIONS
Page 79
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ON occasions the leaders of the more powerful trade unions will voice opinions .or i a wide Variety of subjects that appeaf,to have only a remote . connection with he normal functions . of a union, The .opinions are often set out in a harshand uncompromising form, and are combined with a strong attack on the opposite point Of view. . The employers, who have to negotiate with theunions, may wonder with apprehension whether it is going to be their misfortune to be assailed in the same vituperative
language. .
Surprisingly, when it come § to looking after their own affairs the unions adopt a• comparatively mild tone. One would like to think that this is a reflectioa of the basic belief in the brotherhood of man, whether employer or employed, and in whatever state of societY.. The restrained manner of Mr. Frank Cousins in. hi S article on road transport wages and conditions in The Commercial Motor for September 23 is in sharp cOntrast to much of what he has had to say to the Trades Union Congress and the Labour Party Conference. Perhaps the explanation is to be found in the difference between dealing with abstractions and dealing with flesh and blood.
Reason Possible?
One may still wonder whether, even in the calm and moderate frame of mind that permeates Mr. Cousins' article, it is possible to reach a reasoned agreement an the points he raises. The situation is confused almost beyond the reach of logic. Different wage scales and conditions now apply to independent hauliers and to British Road Services. The increase in the speed limit for heavy goods vehicles, over three years ago, raised problems that even now are unresolved; nobody dares contemplate what may happen when there is a veritable network of motorways with no speed limit at all. Passenger operators, faced with demands for higher wages, are already impaled on the dilemma of keeping fares high enough to show a profit and low enough to stop the public from using their, own transport.
Mr. Cousins is unduly optimistic in his assessment that the general public would be willing to pay" a justifiable and reasonable charge for a service which could be both adequate and efficient, provided that it was known that the intention of the undertaking was to create proper wages and conditions of service for those employed by it." The public will grumble and pay where they have no alternative. Otherwise they will turn to their own transport,
On one•of Mr. Cousins' points there can. be no argument. He wants to see throughout the road transport industry adequate schemes for industrial pensions and for payment during absence caused by sickness. Commercial vehicle operators must accept that they have a responsibility towards the man who has stayed with them for a long time. Nearly all operators agree with this in principle, and a growing number of them have instituted schemes. that should meet with Mr. Cousins' approval. Even the small haulier, who unaided might find difficulty in making the necessary arrangements for insurance, has available to him the scheme sponsored by the Road Haulage Association.
An equally clear and unanswerable case cannot be given on such matters as hours of work and night work. Circumstances 'vary in different industries, and within the same industry. Mr. Cousins, although he avoids saying so directly, has to make a distinction between the goods and the passenger side of road transport. On the goods side, he claims, there is an overwhelming case for a reduction in maximum hours without loss of pay. The passenger operator is merely told that he ought to pay more money to compensate his employees for their irregular hours of work, which often includes work on Sundays and other days normally regarded as holidays.
Mr. Cousins has nothing to say about night work on passenger vehicles but he is severe on the haulier, particularly the long-distance operator. Greater administrative attention, he says, should be given to "the possibility of reducing to the absolute minimum the operation of .unessential night journeys." Planned operation, especially in large organizations, could find means of completing,. much of the work during the hours of daylight.
It is open to question whether, as Mr. Cousins suggests,. driving by night is more dangerous than driving by day. One must balance the advantage of less frequent traffic against the disadvantage of worse visibility. But in any case the problem is not as easy as Mr. Cousins supposes. Transport is a service that is required at specified times. Broadly Speaking, the haulier has to collect and deliver in accordance with the instructions of his customers. Their arrangements have in the past made it necessary for him to trunk his vehicles by night: his goodwill would scarcely improve if he ceased to do so.
If anything, the customers tend to grow more exacting. The problem is aggravated by what Mr. Cousins naturally regards 'as a praiseworthy development—the trend towards a five-day working week in a large number of industries. The times when a road haulage lorry is likely to find itself welcomed at a factory are shrinking, and so is the freedom of the haulier to maneeuvre. Restrictions by local authorities on loading and unloading cause further difficulty.
Overtime Preferred
Drivers would naturally approve of the proposal by Mr. Cousins that they should receive the same pay for working fewer hours. They might not welcome equally warmly the idea of reducing the number of hours that they should he allowed to work. Most of them would prefer to have still available the opportunity of earning extra money. Mr. Cousins maintains that the speed of the modern vehicle and its greatly increased carrying capacity make the work of drivers more onerous. He has left out of account the immensely improved standards of vehicle performance and Of driver comfort.
He is going too far in maintaining that many employers regard the maximum number of working hours as the "normal hours." No employer is going to keep a man working for as long as possible, and to pay him for doing so, just because the law allows it and for no other reason.
In urging a reduction in permitted hours of work Mr. Cousins is following the pattern set by B.R.S., and may feel he has to do so because his union negotiated the agreement with the nationalized organization. It may be significant that he makes no reference to this point, nor to the increase in the speed limit which was the starting point for the negotiations in any case. It is still too soon to say how the B.R.S. agreement is working out. Until this is known, other commercial vehicle operators may think it best to bide their . time. The unions also might care to consider achieving their object by other methods more acceptable to the drivers and more easy to put into effect without dislocating the work of certain hauliers. For example, an increase in paid holidays might be preferred to a decrease in the number of hours worked in a week.