Sole union plan slated
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by Ian Wylie II A campaign by the United Road Transport Union to create a single union for the haulage industry has been slated as "irrelevant" by its chief rival, the Transport and General Workers Union.
URTU plans to kick-start its campaign next month at the TUC conference in Blackpool. URTU resigned from the TUC earlier this year following the Ford race row, but it will hold a fringe meeting on 16 September to explain why it believes the industry would be better served by just one union.
General secretary David Higginbottom says he believes many road haulage workers are in favour of the idea, with some keen to see a single European union created too: "I want to find out if there is popular majority support for the idea in the ▪ industry and then, if there is, to persuade other union leaders to help me bring about a situation in line with the democratically expressed preferences of their members," he says.
But the T&G, which says it has not yet been approached by Higginbottom, claims the campaign smacks of desperation on URTU's part. "We certainly need a single voice in the transport industry, but we can achieve that by working together," says national organiser Danny Bryan. "I find it rather ironic that a union which left the co-operative movement of the TUC is now campaigning for greater co-operation and integration. The single union campaign is simply URTU's way of justifying its isolationist strategy."
URTU also intends holding a series of regional campaign meetings at Gateshead on 27 September, Hull on 4 October and Cardiff on 25 October.