Exel Sunday row: ACAS called
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• A row about Sunday working has led the Transport and General Workers Union to call in ACAS at Exel Logistics' Brinsworth depot near Rotherham. Next week's meeting will attempt to resolve a dispute over a seven-week rota in which some drivers are working more Sundays than others. About 75 of the site's 120 drivers, who were employed before 1995, say they had a verbal agreement with the previous management that their five-day weeks would not include Sundays. The remaining 45 drivers, employed since 1995, signed similar five-day contracts but have been working most Sundays. Now they are demanding equal treatment with the pre-1995 drivers, with a reduction in Sunday working. The pre-1995 drivers have agreed to work one Sunday in seven. The Exel site works solely for J Sainsbury, which required Exel to switch to an annualised-hours system in 1995: "More recently trading patterns have changed and drivers are required to work more than one Sunday in seven," says an Exel Logistics spokesman. "The company denies any knowledge of the verbal agreement so we have involved ACAS to find a way forward," according to T&G regional officer John Evans. "The problem is not insurmountable."