Peace breaks out at ARC
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• An uneasy truce between Amey Roadstone (ARC) and its striking tipper owner-drivers emerged suddenly last week.
For an agreed month's cooling-off period until 2 November, ARC has agreed not to suspend tipper and concrete mixer owner-drivers who have breached their contracts through strike action.
Legal action by ARC against a strike last week had failed to prevent disruption.
The National Owner Drivers' Association, NODA, whose 114 members have recently paralysed ARC premix plants in the South East on three separate days, has also agreed that there will be no further industrial action until 2 November.
Most important of all for NODA, which is fighting to be recognised as the single nego bating body for improving rates and conditions, is ARC's increased enthusiasm for a meeting with it — but ARC public relations head Simon Moore continues to argue that the company has "an absolute duty to communicate with individual owner-drivers", and says that of the 600 owner-drivers on contract with ARC, only 114 are NODA members.
Meanwhile Moore stresses that ARC will do its best to see that the meeting will take place, and NODA secretary Mike Binns warns that strike action will be resumed unless there is a meeting.
ARC's sudden decision to meet NODA followed a successful stoppage last Wednesday (30 September) and attempted legal retaliation by ARC on Friday (2 October). An attempt to gain a High Court injunction to prevent illegal picketing floundered on insufficient grounds.
Binns says: "When they realised that the injunction would fall apart they were looking for a deal," adding: "I am pleased about the outcome — our blokes don't want to go on strike."