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MG slams Ford over TUPE regs
Page 6
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a A row has erupted between car giant Ford and union leaders over the transfer of scores of car transporting jobs to the company's in-house delivery team.
The Transport & General Workers' Union says it is now in dispute with Ford, claiming the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981, known as TUPE, are being breached.
But Ford says the union needs to settle the TUPE issue with Ansa Logistics, the contractor which handles car deliveries for the company and has more than 200 drivers based at the Dagenham car plant in Essex.
The dispute follows a protocol signed last year by all three parties to help reduce Ford's European annual logistics bill of more than £600m.
A Ford spokesman says: "Ansa's cur
rent uncompetitive, high-cost structure needs to be addressed but there will be some migration of work to Ford employees anyway."
He adds that about 90 Ansa jobs at Dagenham will be lost, either through "efficiency improvements" or transfer of work to Ford's in-house delivery team.
A spokesman for the T&G says: ''Technically, Ford is right to say that if there is a dispute, it's with Ansa. But everybody knows that it is a Ford contract and Ford can't escape its responsibilities on this."
He adds that the union is not in dispute with the United Road Transport Union, which represents Dagenham's 280-strong in-house delivery team. A row between the two unions five years ago over the representation of these workers eventually resulted in URTU's expulsion from the TUC.
Robin Kemp, non-executive chairman of Ansa, says discussions are ongoing; he promises that they will be dealt with in a "non-confrontational way".