A strike by fuel tanker drivers has been averted after workers narrowly voted to accept a deal to end a dispute over safety, job security and minimum standards.
Although the workers’ union, Unite, had recommended rejection, 51% of the workers, across seven haulage firms, voted to accept the deal that brings an end to a lengthy dispute which has seen panicked scaremongering from the Tory government.
The deal includes proposals for a drivers’ “passport” - an industry-wide checking service as part of a scheme to enforce minimum standards on pay and health and safety. Unite has warned bosses that the vote leaves “no room for complacency”.
In a re-run ballot of workers employed by Hoyer which took place before the vote on the deal, 75% voted to take action short of strikes, but only 39% voted to strike. This indicates a genuine lack of confidence in strikes as an effective tool for winning improvements, and clearly the vote on the deal gives Unite no mandate to organise a strike. But it is interesting that an incredibly narrow vote in favour of a deal is seen as a cast-iron mandate to accept in and call off a dispute, whereas similar votes to reject deals (such as the recent vote by Unison members in the NHS to reject the pension deal) are always dismissed by union leaders as insufficient mandates for action.
The 49% of tanker drivers who were prepared to fight on will be feeling deeply frustrated.
They should push their union to set a deadline for implementation of the new deal and pass policy to commit Unite to re-balloting for strikes if the deadline is not met.
