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Final WTD meeting?
Page 7
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TRANSPORT SECRETARY Alistair Darling is poised to convene an 11th hour meeting of employer and trade union leaders to resolve outstanding problems with the Working Time Directive.
A Department for Transport spokesman confirms that the meeting has been agreed to in principle, even though the regulations come into force in just six weeks' time.
He is happy to meet with the stakeholders and iron out issues but we don't have any dates or times so nothing has been arranged yet. It does not necessarily mean that something will be."
The spokesman adds that Darling is keen to publish the final version of the regulations as soon as possible but a request for the meeting had been made by one of the stakeholders.
The disclosure will heighten fears that the final version will not be published before the official deadline of 11 February — just 40 days before the implementation date of 23 March (CM 27 January).
This would leave many hauliers with insufficient time to make the necessary adjustments to shift pat terns and delivery schedules.
But Ron Webb, national secretary for road transport in the Transport & General Workers Union, says the meeting would provide an opportunity to remove confusion surrounding periods of availability.
"I've got employers asking me what the right interpretation of this definition is," he explains. "if we can achieve greater clarity and a far more common sense approach to things then it's got to be a worthwhile exercise in my view."
Freight Transport Association policy manager Joan Williams says no invitation to the meeting has yet been received from Darling.