UCI hours row deepens
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• The row between the Transport & General Workers Union and Nottingham-based UCI Logistics escalated last week after the company wrote to union leader Bill Morris complaining about local officials.
It centres on allegations made by TGWU local secretary Eddie Drummond to the Vehicle Inspectorate over drivers' hours infringements at the firm's Robsons division (CM 21-27 September).
The allegations mostly concern the failure to allow drivers to take rest periods.
UCI's managing director Ian Veitch says he has written to Morris to register his concerns: "We think the situation has been totally mismanaged," he says.
Veitch called in the Freight Transport Association to check tachograph records when the allegations surfaced. Although no problems were found, Drummond declared the entire investigation a whitewash: "I have documentary evidence to show the company has breached regulations," he says. "They did not allow my shop steward to participate and then said to me there was nothing untoward."
Drummond says that the steward who first questioned the alleged hours irregularities has since been disciplined, although Veitch says this has nothing to do with the tachograph investigation.