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Drivers in race row slam TGWU

6th February 1997
Page 7
Page 7, 6th February 1997 — Drivers in race row slam TGWU
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by Karen Miles • Ford drivers at the centre of the company's race row have accused their former union of giving them a racist image.

Representatives of the 300 Ford Truck Fleet drivers employed at the company's Dagenham site have issued a statement to "set the record straight". The 300 are applying to join the United Road Transport Union after dissolving their branch of the rival Transport and General Workers' Union. They are angry that they were unable to air their views at last week's industrial tribunal which studied allegations of racism in the recruitment of new driving staff at their site.

John Cheshire, senior shop steward at Dagenham, criticised the TGWU for manipulating media coverage of the dispute: "People haven't heard the truth," he says. "We're not racists; colour of skin doesn't come into it. Everyone goes through the same selection process and we're above the national average for employing people from the ethnic community."

The TGWU says that it has never made a case against the drivers. "We have always made it clear that it was Ford management's responsibility to fulfil its equal opportunities policies," says TGWU South East Regional officer Steve Hart.

Ford currently deals only with the TGWU: it refuses to say if it will be willing to recognise the URTU.°


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