URN launches its own driver agency
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by Miles Brignall • The United Road Transport Union (URTU) is to launch its own driver agency promising a fairer deal for drivers.
In what is seen as a challenge to established agencies, the union plans to create a £4m-a-year turnover business starting in April 1997. As well as providing pensions, holiday pay and reasonable wages, the union says the operating company will return half of all profits to drivers under a profit sharing scheme.
The agency will trade on strict adherence to drivers' hours regulations and high maintenance standards. URTU, which has long campaigned for improved drivers' conditions, sees this as a practical way to gain better conditions for drivers.
The business plan for the agency has been produced at the Manchester Business School where URTU's general secretary David Higginbottom is studying for a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA). The union is already canvassing the views of the industry and says it has support of a number of large employers of drivers, including some supermarket chains, who are prepared to "pay a premium rate for a premium job".
The move fits neatly into the Labour Party's call for a "stakeholder" economy, calling for greater employee input into the running of firms with rewards for those who do so.