New basis for Wages Council
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from our industrial correspondent • The field of operation covered by the Road Haulage Wages Council is to be redefined. The use to which a vehicle is put will replace the definition based on the weights of vehicles, while the Council's activities will cover workers ''engaged in the carriage or haulage of goods wholly or mainly for hire or reward", with certain exceptions.
The redefinition will be by an Order made by Mrs Barbara Castle, Minister for Employment and Productivityt notice ol the Order was published in the London and Edinburgh Gazette on Tuesday.
The move is made necessary by the Transport Act's replacement of A. B and C licences by operators' licences. Holders of C licences do not come . within the Wages Council's scope but if its future work were linked to the new licensing system many vehicles now operated under C licences would be brought within its field—and the number of workers involved would rise to about 600,000. But most workers engaged on own-account transport are covered by voluntary agreements or other wages councils, and there is no need for their inclusion in the haulage Wages Council. Hence the new Order.