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Minister set to stop the clock?
Page 5
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CRANSPORT MINISTER Nilliam Rodgers dropped ;ome broad hints this week hat he is thinking of backing he unions and employers in .heir fight against the tachograph.
And although he has not finally made up his mind, Mr Rodgers has promised that at the very least there will be no sudden moves to make the tacho compulsory.
Mr Rodgers spent two hours )n Monday talking with a Jelegation from the Transport And General Workers Union.
After the meeting, a Department of Transport spokesman reported that 'there was not much difference between their points of view."
Only four weeks ago (CM October 22) the TGWU officially declared war on the fitting of tachos in vehicles working in the UK.
The union's national road transport committee expressed total opposition to the fitting and operation of the "spy in the cab" and gave official backing to members taking militant action.
Mr Jack Ashwell, national secretary of the TGWU's road transport group told CM on Tuesday that the Minister had assured them that he has no intention of introducing "penal clauses" in line with Common Market regulations.
"We got the impression that he is not pro-tacho. He said that his thinking on the issue was in line with what has been suggested by us," said Mr Ashwell.
The union has been leading a move in Brussels to make tachos compulsory only on international journeys (see story on page 5).
Mr Ashwell said that the Minister was "obviously sympathetic to our view". But the delegation accepted that Mr Rodgers was still relatively new to his post and because of the complexity of the issue "needed to know what was what". The DoT spokesman said that the meeting had been very amiable. The Minister had told the union that he was very conscious of their concern over the matter.
"He will be writing to the union as soon as possible giving them an assurance that there will be no changes in the rules over tachos or anything else affecting drivers without consultation.
"The unions are worried that the legislation making the tacho compulsory will arrive on the statute books overnight and the Minister has promised that this just will not happen," he said.
Since the beginning of the year, Britain has been in breach of Common Market regulations requiring a tacho to be fitted in all new vehicles of more than 3.5 tons as well as in every lorry carrying dangerous goods.
The TGWU hard line on tachos was prompted by militant action from drivers in the Midlands and at Ellesmere Port, where employers were forced to remove tachos from vehicles or face having them blacked.