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156 
THE SHELL TANKER DEAL
Page 40
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How unionised drivers can win better terms and conditions
Few of this year's industrial disputes have had such an impact as when Shell tanker drivers received a 14% pay increase in June.
The dispute, involving drivers working for subcontractors Hoyer and Suckling Transport, culminated in a four-day strike. When the drivers threatened to repeat the strike, the companies settled the argument with one of the most generous pay offers in any sector this year.
The background to the dispute was complicated, with the two sides characterising the pay of the drivers in wildly different ways: the union claimed its members were being paid the same as in 1992, while the employers said drivers had received pay rises totalling 27% in the four years prior to the dispute.
It never became clear if Shell itself became involved in the final settlement, although the oil company's massive recent profits were used by the union as evidence that a pay rise was affordable. What seems unarguable is that when the tanker drivers decided to flex their industrial muscles, it worked.