LEF T O U T A forthcoming European Union directive aims to give
Page 40
Page 41
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
staff a better picture of how their company is performing. In theory, this should be a step forward for employees. But, as Mike Sherrington reports, haulage firms with less than 50 employees will not be covered by the new legislation.
There used to be a Heineken advert that claimed its beer reached the parts others failed to. The trouble with the latest European Union directive on informing and consulting with the workforce is that it reaches, in most cases, the parts that do not need reaching, and leaves those in need of guidance untouched.
The problem, as far as the road haulage industry is concerned, is that the directive only initially applies to companies employing more than 150 people and, even for those, it will not be introduced for another three years. Gradually the number of firms the directive applies to will be widened, but it will never apply to any business that employs less than 50 people. This will leave the great majority of road haulage firms, many of which have limited industrial relations practices. outside the net.
Even for those firms to which the directive does apply, there is no agreed penalty if they fail to comply with it. A Department of Trade and Industry spokesman says: "It is still early days. We have only just agreed the size of the firms to which the directive will apply, and I expect any penalty for non-compliance to be agreed at a later date."
Union angered
The fact that the directive will apply to so few companies has angered the road haulage trade unions. Bob Monks, general secretary of the United Road Transport Union, explains: "While I welcome anything that will
promote closer co-operatio between employer an employee and will lead to partnership approach, have a genuine concern th the directive will not apply t small firms, when I clout that the average size of road haulage compan exceeds 25 people.
"The government seem to bend over backwards t pander to small firms. Thi is not the only piece oflegii lation where small firms ar exempt. The Discriminatio
Against Disability bill on] applies to companies tlu
employ more than 20 stal and I believe this is discrim nation in itself" A spokesman for th Transport and Generz Workers Unions accepts that many smal family-run firms will, by their very natur( tend to talk to their staff about their plans, be says that many of these small operations ar working very much at the margins of th trade and are under pressure to cut corner without informing their staff.
The two major trade associations, th Freight Transport Association and the Road Haulage Association, are still considerinl their response to the code, but most of th larger firms, to which the legislation applies seem unfazed by it.
One typical response comes fron Amanda Butler, head of human resources a
DFDS Logistics, which employs 1,800 staf in the UK. She says: "It might mean a lita bit of extra work for us but, in reality, wi recognise the T&G and regularly consul with them over our plans."
A spokesman for Parcelforce Worldwide whose parent company Consignia employ,
more than 200,000 staff across the glob agrees, saying: "We already have an elaborab tiecharrisni for inlormirig our staff of change. Aany of them are union members; so we talk egularly to the unions, and we also publish a eries of newsletters to keep staff up to date vith recent developments."
Directive welcomed
;ary Watson, sales and marketing manager Or Stockton-based Stiller Transport, which .mploys Soo UK staff, welcomes the direcive. "We have Investors in People accredita tion and have instigated a cascade method of giving information to our drivers. We might have to involve more drivers in this, but the directive mirrors our business philosophy. Anything that can help us recruit and retain top quality drivers has to be good," he says.
Adrian Watt, commercial director of Peterborough-based Kenny Transport adds: "This is something we can live with. We inform our drivers what is going on in the company, providing it is not commercially sensitive. I am far more concerned at the implications of the working time directive and a new training directive, both of which in my opinion will have much greater ramifications for the industry."
So, however well intentioned as the directive is, it seems in many cases to be preaching to the converted. And for the 75%of all small operators who run five or fewer trucks, the new directive, however well intentioned, looks like being a complete and utter irrelevance.