'The Labour Party's excuses for interfering1 are fast disappearing'
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AS neat a job as possible has been made of the task of grafting the British Road Services Federation on to the constitution and structure of the Road Haulage Association. The main problems were to ensure that the representation given to B.R.S. was suitable and adequate— to borrow the language of the traffic courts—and to insulate from the agreement any political issues on which the two parties might find themselves obliged to take opposing sides.
It would appear that these two problems have been overcome without too many elaborate conditions which would have created difficulties of their own.
Admission of the 10 B.R.S. companies to membership augments the vehicle strength of the R.H.A. by perhaps 15 per cent. It is natural, therefore, that the companies would expect to have some say in national as well as local affairs. The normal process of promotion is that a member is elected by his sub-area to the area committee and from there to the national council who appoint from their own ranks the chairman, the vice-chairman and the principal national committees. This procedure, which has worked reasonably well, would not be appropriate in the special case of B.R.S.
On national bodies B.R.S. would naturally prefer to be represented by their leading officials. It is unlikely that those officials would be sent forward by the normal process of selection. The choice would be haphazard. There might be a large number of B.R.S. members on the national council or none at all, and those persons who happened to be appointed might be local officials who could not be expected to speak with authority on national matters. The sensible solution is to determine what representation is reasonable and to allow B.R.S. to make their own appointments.
Four nominees have now been accepted as members of the national council. B.R.S. are also entitled to one member on each sub-area and area committee. In this way they are given the advantage over every other member of the R.H.A. of guaranteed representation at every level. The national council members also have the right to be appointed to national committees. On the other hand neither they nor the local representatives are entitled to vote or to serve as chairman or vice-chairman; and the local members of committees cannot ascend the ladder of promotion.
Problems Denial to B.R.S. of the highest offices of all within the Association is a reminder of the issues on which they could be divided. If next week's or any subsequent general election led to the formation of a Labour Government and if that Government decided to favour nationalized road transport at the expense of independent operators, the position of a B.R.S. chairman of a predominantly free enterprise R.H.A. would be untenable. Even under a Conservative Government there might be problems on which R.H.A. and B.R.S. would find themselves following different paths.
That the difficulties envisaged are mainly or entirely political is indicated by the granting of greater freedom to B.R.S. representatives on the R.H.A. functional groups. They are eligible for election to any office or committee of the groups and can go forward to the national council. The groups concern themselves with specialized operations and their authority does not extend to matters affecting the road haulage industry as a whole. Within a group the B.R.S. representative is indistinguishable from the other members. It is only within a limited sector of the national field that the difference can be detected.
In other words the agreement between R.H.A. and B.R.S. has been carefully and skilfully drained of all political content. There may still he a political moral in it, especially on the eve of an election. Both sides have shown as clearly as possible without putting it in so many words that they regard the political differences between them as relatively unimportant and that they are much more interested in getting together on the practical problems which in the last resort are all that count.
No Notional Pion
The Labour Party's excuses for interfering, if they were ever valid, are fast disappearing. The fact is clearly reflected in successive party statements over the past 10 years. What began as a flat threat of re-nationalization soon became a promise to bring order out of chaos by waving the magic wand of integration. The election manifesto makes one thing clear if little else—that the Party at .present have no national plan for transport. The main threat, and a vague one, is that B.R.S. will be given all necessary powers to extend their fleet of road vehicles and to develop a first-rate national freight service." The decision to join the R.H.A. might almost be construed as a hint that B.R.S. prefer to fight their battles by co-operating with the rest of the road haulage industry and not by remaining outside in a privileged position.
Among the interesting consequences of the latest move may be a re-examination of the whole structure of the R.H.A. B.R.S. have the advantage that they can appoint to the national council each year the four people they think best suited to speak on behalf of nationalized road transport Not every R.1-1.A. member can expect to have the same facility, but there must be many people within the industry apart from those already serving on the national council whose services would be valuable especially on technical committees, working parties and so on. There might be a case for reorganizing the R.H.A. so as to make the maximum use of the potential.
Plans for closer co-operation among members have to be made for the most part outside the machinery of the R.H.A., even when only members are concerned. The subject is at present under consideration by a special committee. the report from which might well include the suggeqion that the R.H.A., without taking an active part in running the businesses of members; could assist them by providing a framework within which arrangements for interworking could be set up. Where B.R.S. have a part to play in these arrangements, it will be at least helpful that they are also members.