TGWU card in a storm
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THE NEW HIRE or reward hgv drivers' card was at the centre of a stormy meeting of Transport and General Workers' Union regional secretaries and trade group national officers in London last week, reports JACK SEMPLE.
The meeting showed up a growing split within the union over the new card.
Regional secretaries and some trade groups are understood to have been strongly critical of the new card and to have called for a review by the union's finance and general purposes committee when it meets next month.
The cards are unworkable because they cannot be policed adequately, argued some regional secretaries. They opposed the card because it is likely to lead to a two tier membership, not only within the union but within the haulage trade group, between those who have the card and those who have not.
There is a feeling that in most areas the card will become discredited and that the system will have to be scrapped.
The hgv card has been issued in most areas of Britain with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The TGWU in Scotland has not issued the card at all.
.Strong support for the cards has been seen in some areas, however, and some officers in the haulage trade group feel they can control the cards without the assistance of regional secretaries.
The issue of the cards has worked best in tightly knit areas where there is a good relationship between the TGWU's driver and docker groups.
Liverpool officer Bob Robinson told CM this week: "The card is working well on Merseyside. We have had very few hiccups on registration and distribution, with 1,300 cards sent out to hire or reward drivers.