Ultimatum for URTU on Ford
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by Sally Nash III The United Road Transport Union has been told it will be ejected from the TUC in February unless it encourages Ford drivers to return to the Transport (R. General Workers Union.
The latest twist in the long-running inter-union battle took place at a special hearing of the TUC over URTU's acceptance of 250 drivers in Ford's truck fleet based in Dagenham, Essex.
The TUC wants URTU to urge the drivers to return to the TGWU and to pay the larger union a fine of £36,000.
URTU now has until the end of January to comply with the ruling. It has been warned that it will be suspended from TUC membership on 1 February until this year's Congress in September if it fails to pay up.
URTU has called an executive committee meeting on 11 January to discuss the issue, but a spokesman warns that a U-turn is "extremely unlikely".
"The law says that everybody is entitled to join a union of their choice—and the statute law takes precedent over the laws laid down by the TUC," says the union.
TUC general-secretary John Monks accuses URTU of attacking
procedures, saying: "This is a sad day for the trade union movement and orderly industrial relations in this country".