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'WHOLE INDUSTRY NEEDS TAKING TO TASK' SAYS UNION
Page 16
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THE TRANSPORT & General Workers Union has hit out at the media for portraying foreign drivers as unsafe, saying that it is the industry overall that should be taken to task for long hours and poor vehicle standards.
Ron Webb. T&G national secretary for transport, is concerned by recent press reports about Eastern European drivers which portray them as breaking drivers' hours regulations and using poorly maintained trucks. The focus on Eastern European drivers diverts attention away from the problems of stronger regulation of drivers' hours and higher vehicle standards for all road users, says Webb.
"It is extremely unhelpful to put a narrow, headline grabbing xenophobic focus on foreign drivers when the truth is it is the industry that needs taking to task," he adds.
Drivers in the UK are still working long hours, says the T&G. It pants out that truck drivers routinely work nearly 30% more hours than the UK average in spite of the EU Working Time Directive which stipulates an average 48-hour week.
T&G general secretary Tony Wood ley says there is no evidence to show the directive is cutting drivers hours. The government promised a review of how the Directive is working in the UK," says Wood ley.
"Reports from T&G represent
atives up and down the country make it clear nothing seems to have changed. That is something we'll be bringing to ministers' attention."
The Annual Survey of Hours & Earnings produced by the Off ice of National Statistics for 2005 showed median weekly hours for lorry drivers were 48, compared with a UK median of 37.
Truck drivers worked an average of 49.3 hours per week; the UK average was 38.3 hours.