Talks held in fuel tankers dispute
We are no doubt all temporarily relived at the decision to avoid bank holiday chaos through both parties in the tanker driver’s dispute committing themselves to arbitration. The sigh of relief is soon to become, I fear, a gasp of exasperation as the price of fuel continues, with this as the latest excuse to rise exponentially – pushing at the £1.50 a litre mark. This is very serious stuff as it is making rural places increasingly expensive and ultimately unsustainable as living environments. Petrol prices also seem to help bid up fuel oil costs aswell building a “double whammy” effect for rural dwellers. I don’t think there is anywhere enough discussion of this angle in the current range of fuel related stories. This story is typical, for what it is worth, it goes on to tell us:
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “For nearly two years, we have been trying to persuade the fuel distribution sector to work with us to defend best practice across the industry.
“It is vital that common, minimum standards on safety, training, wages and pensions are agreed to put a floor of best practice in the sector.”
A spokesman for Hoyer, one of the firms involved in the dispute, said: “Given that safety is a mantra for our business, we believe there are some fundamental areas of agreement between ourselves and Unite over the need to harmonise health and safety standards across the industry.”