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Hgv drivers merry-go-round
Page 83
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Control of wages by government restriction may apply to the actual increase, but the matter of timing appears to be somewhat irregular. Shortages of skilled drivers have been reported in various areas of the country for many weeks, and reasons advanced for such shortages have been many and varied, extending from normality to hints at payments under the counter.
Compliance with government permitted increase can, and does in certain circumstances, create problems. The organizations which increased wage rates in November 1972, probably found a number of unexpected applicants for driving positions, and with reasonable luck their fleets were at or near full strength until a competitor raised his existing pay rates in accordance with government restrictions, 12 months after his last increase.
Presumably, the situation will reverse itself as increase anniversaries occur and rates, again strictly in accordance with controls, are allowed to rise. Nobody can blame drivers for making these switches; particularly as employers' hands are tied until the elapse of 12 months from their last wage increase. Variance of pay rates can be further aggravated in those cases where manufacturers and distributors sometimes relate drivers' wages to some of the conditions appertaining to their productive and distributive services.
Indeed, it is true that in many cases, drivers' wages and conditions are tied to these other activities. It is not surprising in such conditions to find anomalous situations arising in the field of general haulage. For the time being there would appear to be a float of drivers, who can quite legitimately take advantage of a situation where government controls at present tie operators' hands, and bring about periods in which some vehicles have to be laid up, until wages can again be advanced.
At the crux of the matter, one fears that there is a definite shortage of qualified heavy vehicle drivers necessitating urgent national recruitment. Firstly, however, one wonders what is the extent of the shortage?
Drivers are recruited through local advertisement and the goodwill employers generate. To that extent, the industry is split, and that is perhaps where many of us find the situation extremely exasperating.
NIGEL BREEZE, Thorpe Bay, Essex.