Drivers on the tobacco contract at delivery firm Lynx’s depot near Glasgow are meeting after the company told them their security enhancement would, in effect, be stopped.
The 14 drivers are currently paid an extra sum to reflect their extra responsibilities in carrying valuable loads and the extra risks they run of hijack or theft.
Lynx has now told the drivers and their union, the Transport & General Workers Union (T&G), that this extra money will, in future, be paid as part of their basic pay.
According to the T&G this means the tobacco drivers will get the same rate as all the other Class 1 drivers at Lynx, but only by giving up their security pay.
“This is not the right way to go about dealing with these drivers and what amounts to danger money,” said Tony Trench, T&G regional industrial organiser.
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“There are perfectly good reasons for that enhancement and they haven’t gone away. What has changed is that Lynx is trying to cut costs.”
The possibility of balloting for industrial action would be raised, but he said that it was too early to say if that would definitely happen.
