Strike action by Cemex drivers is 'unavoidable'

Strike action by 700 Cemex hauliers is now "unavoidable" and could see a series of one-day stoppages later this month, according to the drivers' representative.

Owner-drivers' representative Mick Binns said he hadn't seen any change in the hauliers' situation since he sent a letter to the company's UK president Ignacio Ortiz last month, warning that action would be taken if pay problems were not rectified by the end of August.

Binns, who represents around half of the 700 Cemex owner-drivers and is spearheading complaints from other regional drivers' associations, said: "The feedback I have had this morning [Monday] was that the August accounts were in just as much of a mess as those of the previous 18 months were."

He said drivers have complained for the past 18 months that they have had problems with being paid too much or too little, which then caused knock-on difficulties for them with HMRC.

And he was not happy with Cemex's response to his letter, from UK vice president of materials Mike Ogden. "That letter gives us the same rhetoric that we've had from the company for the past 12 months, that people are working hard to put these things right, and things are getting better, which they're not," he said.

Cemex played down the threat of a strike and said Binns was out of touch with the current situation. Ogden said: "Over the past three weeks, Cemex has made numerous unsuccessful approaches to Mr Binns. We are disappointed he has not contacted us for an update on the situation and suggest that he may therefore lack a full understanding of the current situation."

Ogden added that Cemex had held constructive meetings with clusters of hauliers and that he expected an amicable outcome to the dispute.

But Binns said feelings were running so high that he expected any action to involve the majority of Cemex owner-drivers. "This is not something that I am proposing. The drivers are just so angry and so frustrated about it, they are demanding action," he said.