Pickfords recognition row
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• sources say that removals giant Pickfords has derecognised the Transport & General Workers Union, following a dispute over working conditions (C.1/ 2,1-30 April).
However. Pickfords maintains that only the national agreement has lapsed and it is still in negotiations over pay and conditions.
The row centres on proposed changes to employment conditions for established and new workers. After talks with the union Pickfords decided to keep existing conditions for its current staff but still wanted to impose changes on new staff. The TGWU says that Pickfords notified the union that derecognition would take effect on 2 May—the day Labour was elected. But Pickfords' human resources director Michael French says: "We have not derecognised the union. The national agreement has not been renewed but negotiations are still in progress." A meeting between Pickfords and the union has been arranged for the first week in June, he adds.
In April the TGWU threatened to ballot drivers and porters on industrial action following the breakdown of talks on working conditions.