Welsh operators withdraw tippers from quarries
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"TAKE COURAGE" said the sign over the door of the Windsor Club, Conway Road, Newport, Mon., an exhortation which the temporary occupants took to heart on Saturday. The occupants were 32 independent tipper operators with a common aim—to obtain more favourable rates from their customers, the quarryowners. This was a display of strength by all sizes of operator from the largest down to the owner-driver.
The trouble which had been brewing for some time boiled over on Friday when the tipper men withdrew their vehicles from the quarries. We understand that two quarries are involved, Livox and Risco. Following the withdrawal, a meeting was called, and the result was a 100 per cent attendance at Newport on Saturday. The Press were not admitted to the meeting, but Mr. Noel Wynn, who acted as spokesman for the operators, was interviewed exclusively by COMMERCIAL MOTOR as he left.
Mr. Wynn said that the basis of the tipper men's complaint was that there was no standard rate in operation between them and the quarry owners. The purpose of the withdrawal of vehicles was to get their customers to agree to a scheme of collective bargaining. "The quarry owners refuse to meet us in this way", said Mr. Wynn.
The tipper operators, although working together in this matter are not one of the many groups which have been formed in recent years to deal with similar cases. "Many of them are not members of the RHA", said Mr. Wynn, who is himself a vice-chairman of the RHA.
Mr. Wynn, continued: "The decision of the meeting was to go back to the quarry owners involved, with each group of tipper operators acting independently." Livox engage 17 vehicles daily, the remaining 15 being on work for Risco. It is understood that the material being carried is hardcore for the Severn Bridge northern approach roads.
While negotiations are proceeding the tippers will not go to work; the operators believe that the shortage of tippers which exists in South Wales will assist their case.
J.P.B.S.