Midlands clearing house 3onanza hits South-west
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Alan Millar talks to RHA in Devon and Cornwall about this 'forgotten' area and finds an air of very cautious optimism despite the recession. Pictures by Dick Ross.
11,N OFTEN do reports about present recession mention South-west? While discusins concentrate on Britain's instria! heartlands, Devon and rnwall suffer just as much as ler areas, particularly when Jlti-national companies trim )ir petticoats.
There is plenty to worry uliers in the two counties, as ad Haulage Association area airman Dan Henry and secre-y Andy Robertson are quick to int out. But they are confident
one day —they can't say en — business will pick up, d they are striving to help 3ir members as best they can. Dan Henry, as general manler of Exeter-based South astern Traffics Ltd, the RHAonsored clearing house (CM, !ptember 7, 1979), is already in gular contact with members, d has his finger on the pulse commercial life.
A big worry at the moment is at some clearing houses in the idlands are, to use his own ards, making a bonanza by rrying china clay and bore clay )m Cornwall to their home ea for minimal rates. He won't y what those rates are, but Id me that local hauliers are sing a regular source of inme to owners of hundreds of idlands lorries who are epared to keep their wheels turning, regardless of the cost.
It is hard to fight this problem, he says, and he fears it could result not only in bankruptcy for the firms which do this grossly uneconomic work, but also for the local operators who are being smoked out of their traditional market.
Matters are not helped by the depressed state of the china clay trade. English China Clays are working only three weeks out of four, are making workers redundant, and have plans to close up to ten of their pits this year. The company also has taken an international blow following the start of the Gulf War, as all shipments to Iran have stopped. That used to be a lucrative job for hauliers taking bulk loads from Cornwall to docks at Northfleet, in Kent.
Earlier this month operators were also coming to terms with such other recent blows as the impending closure of Fisons' factory in the area.
Devon and Cornwall are suffering now from the classic problem of the branch factory economy. New industry, often light engineering or electronicsbased, is attracted by Government incentives and rates rebates, often in the face of international competition for the jobs available. But, come the day when the subsidies run out, then the factory starts to live on bor
rowed time, and the firm hops off as soon as there is a cheaper alternative.
The high cost of transporting electronic parts, say, from Redruth to Stafford, is held up as evidence of what is wrong. Dan Henry can point out examples of where advance factories are still being built in the South-west, only to lie empty because industry will not accept current haulage rates.
One answer, he believes, would be a subsidy, paid either to the haulier or the industrialist, to keep transport costs closer to those of a firm based nearer to the centre of Britain. He insists that such a subsidy would not be an affront to the haulier's dignity, and he says that the RHA is very concerned about the need to keep Devon and Cornwall's industry viable.
It is these higher haulage costs which complicate wage negotiations. Devon and Cornwall cannot ignore national trends, especially as its agreement runs from February 1, at the end of the haulage pay round, but it is terrified in case its members' costs are pushed way above those elsewhere.
Talks with the Transport and General Workers Union are always cordial, as one would expect of a region where there is a strong community identity, but the message ringing in the employers' negotiators' ears is a simple one. Many employers are convinced that they cannot afford any increase at all, as they fear they cannot increase their rates, and that they should seek a standstill until the summer.
Many in the area fear that almost any wage increase will be unenforceable. Even the £80 Yorkshire norm, which has been accepted in six areas and offered in others, might be more than some operators can afford, and there is a strong grass-roots feeling among Devon and Cornwall operators that the 47.5-hour guaranteed week should be reduced. Dan Henry points out that, already, at least one firm in the area has negotiated a 20 per cent wage cut — an increase is out of the question — just to prevent redundancies.
With such a climate of austerity, it is little wonder that the area negotiating committee is bracing itself for one of its big.gest phases of unpopularity. In times of plenty, it has been on the receiving end of members' flak, as it was when the last two years' "almighty" increases of around 20 per cent were negotiated.
But it would be foolish to pretend that all is gloomy and depresssing in South-western haulage. There still are opportunities to gain business, and ro/ro ferries will soon be bringing in supplies of winter cauliflower — brocolli to you and me — which Devon and Cornwall operators are well placed to carry into the rest of the country. The RHA doesn't need to do anything to direct its members towards such opportunities, according to Dan Henry. There is a highly efficient grapevine which gets to hear of any business very speedily, and those operators which move first will do best in carrying the winter cauliflower.
There also is the paradox of some operators in the area being embarrassed by the volume of their traffic. At least two of the larger operators in Devon and Cornwall are being compelled to sub-contract some of their work to others.
That grapevine is a symptom of the esprit de corps which makes Devon and Cornwall one of the liveliest and friendliest of RHA areas. It fought successfully against a suggested merger with the Western and South Wales areas which would have countered the rising costs in the industry.
Dan Henry claims such a move would only have produced minimal savings, and the atmosphere which at the moment is more like that of a club than a trade association, would have melted away. Small, he insists, is beautiful in the case of RHA areas, and he points out that a haulier in Penzance gets exactly the same attention from the RHA as his counterpart in an industrial city.
And that service is provided almost on a shoestring. Andy Robertson only has one full-time clerical assistant, along with a part-time hand, but their lack of numbers is more than cornpensated for by the contribution they make to the smooth running of Roadway House, in Plymouth. The premises, too, are as cost-effective as they can be. Part of the building is rented by Gestetner duplicators, and another section by an insurance broker, thus adding to the revenue and justifying rather better premises than other RHA areas occupy.
Andy joined the RHA only last year, when Peter Robinson resigned to manage a cold store in Plymouth. His previous career was somewhat hotter than Peter's present one, as he spent 33 years in the Army, latterly in bomb disposal, dealing with "explosive devices" which the Provisional IRA planted in Britain and Northern Ireland.
He says there is much of his army experience which can be translated into RHA practice. "We don't have any bombs in the RHA," he says, "but it is all about managing men, and that is what is important."
An area secretary is in an unusual position in that he is an employee of the Association, and that he is expected to represent the views of the membership, not dictate those views to the members. But there often
are instances where the members look to the secretary for
leadership, he says, and he would be failing in his duties if he did not provide it.
It probably is no coincidence that Andy is not the first RHA man to come out of the Services. Peter Robinson came from the Navy, and impressed his membership with the contribution he made, and Scottish secretary Tom Brattin is an ex-soldier who runs a particularly efficient area.
Among Andy's first experiences with the RHA was a meeting between North Devon subarea members and local Conservative MP Tony Speller, who ousted Jeremy Thorpe at 1979's general election. Mr Speller impressed operators as an active constituency MP, and they were glad to note his willingness to absorb opinions, such as the operators' fears of what might happen if heavy goods vehicle test stations in the area are sold to private enterprise.
Mr Speller was keen to find out whether members received many complaints about heavy lorries from individuals, or whether most originated with such pressure groups as Transport 2000. According to the members, all complaints can be traced back to environmental pressure groups, Dan Henry says he cannot recall ever haying.received a complaint from a member of the public.
With a post-Armitage Report climate in which public debate about the heavier lorry is coming more and more into the open, it is important that operators make their voice heard in the community, and Andy Robertson has been given full authority to reply to hostile letters or articles which appear in local newspapers.
Many operators already enjoy good relations with their cc munities, because they form integral part of it. Dan Henry] point to one operator who is first-name terms with hundn of his fellow villagers, who pl drums every Saturday night the village band, and who u spotted disguised as a Nub slave in a torchlight cami going through the village!
Such outright integration v the community does a great d to make the lorry more accer ble, but what about the speci. of Armitage? Dan Henry s. operators would be happy accept the report as a packagi something which Sir Arti Armitage was at pains to str it is not — which will benefit country and the environm( But it won't mean a windfall hauliers, he says.
There will be additional bill: pay, with vehicle excise d bound to go up, and envir mental measures demand greater contributions operators. And there could consequences if the hem vehicles mean fewer vehicles, everyone predicts. Drivers n well ask for significantly hig basic wages to drive the hem lorries, especially if there are dundancies among the driven
Relations with local authi ties already are close. The R joined forces with the Frei. Transport Association supporting the Devon Cou Council engineer with the ro4 schemes included in I. structure plan, by pressing the completion of by-pas: around villages, and a sim inquiry is pending in Cornwall It is this blend of friendlin, and business efficiency whicl a hallmark of the Devon z Cornwall area, and which boc well for operators' survi' through their present difficulti