Court stops strike
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• A vote for indefinite strike action at Summerfield Group's Middlewich depot has been averted because of a court of appeal ruling in February which made the driver ballot invalid.
The ruling, which centred on a dispute between a college and its teaching staff, states that unions must identify the staff it plans to ballot to the aggrieved company.
Twelve of 16 drivers at the Cheshire-based depot had planned to take action from Tuesday 5 April. They wanted to protest against Surnmerfield refusing to recognise their chosen union, the United Road Transport Union. The general haulier says it will not recognise URTU because it already has an agreement with the General, Municipal, Boiler Makers and Allied Trades Union.
URTU's regional officer Peter Mills plans to start the process of balloting the drivers this Saturday (9 April): "Summerfield's employees want us to recognise them because URTU is specifically a lorry drivers' union," says Mills.