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Unions fail in last-ditch bid to derail VVTD
Page 6
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fRADE UNION LEADERS net transport industry stakeholders' last week in a bid to ierail the Working Time Directive, put no conclusion was reached.
The T&G, URTU and the TUC -net road transport trade associaions in what FTA chief executive Richard Turner described as a 'very cordial but robust" meeting.
The unions made it clear they do not agree with the regulations on issues such as periods of availability, holidays and occasional drivers. The FTA says the unions initially demanded clarification of these rules but conceded it was a fundamental change they sought.
The road haulage lobbyists are still concerned that the unions are working to win concessions from the government in an election year. But CM understands from a [MT source that major changes are unlikely.
"We were there reluctantly," says Turner. "We thought the whole thing had been decided. We are so far down the path that this is all desperately unwelcome.We expect changes at the margins.., but this isn't at the margins, it's at the core."
RHA chief executive Roger King says: "It was far too late to alter the definitionsnowj ust four weeks from implementation."
The unions agreed to the WTD's implementation provided there is a government review after six months. "We have patiently argued our case but the government has come late in the day to realise there is a problem with the guidelines," says T&G national secretary Ron Webb,