A new union “crack squad” has won breakthrough pay deals for lorry drivers crucial to keeping pre-Christmas supply chains open.
Transport workers’ union Unite has secured wage rises of up to 20% for truckers delivering food, gifts and supermarket products.
A string of victories over the past two months is credited to the creation of the union’s “special disputes unit”. It has been central to settlements including:
- 20% for 39 HGV drivers at a logistics hub company in Chippenham, Wiltshire
- A 17.5% rise and paid meal breaks for 24 Liverpool tanker drivers delivering bulk liquid food products
- A hike from £11.41 an hour to £15 for more than 90 Argos drivers in the North West, taking annual earnings from £26,700 to £35,100.
Colleagues have put the results down to new general secretary Sharon Graham, who pledged to target the union’s resources on winning disputes. She also set up the crack team hub.
It includes specialist and local negotiators and aims to settle strikes or threatened industrial action in critical sectors .
Ms Graham said: “These results are an excellent reflection of how the union intends to focus all its energy and willpower in the future on fighting for jobs, pay and conditions for our members. It’s early days but the special unit I set up is already beginning to bear fruit.”
Unite also said at least 200 cement lorry drivers, who are essential for the building industry, will get rises of 2.75% backdated to the start of the year plus 3.25% from January.
Other above-inflation deals have been secured with Heinz, Sainsbury’s, naval bases and for refuse workers in London.
Strike action that could have halted car production at BMW Mini in Oxford was recently averted when Unite drivers for a components firm were awarded 27% over two years.
More than 400 workers at a global engineering firm in Cambridge have won the right to union negotiating rights for the first time. The successes follow a critical lack of lorry drivers, threatening festive supply shortages.
Ministers have blamed Covid, an exodus of overseas operators following Brexit and low wages in the industry. Hauliers complain of a shortage of new recruits and delays in the issuing of new training licences by the DVLA.
