'Let MoD compete': TGWU
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• Transport fleets in the armed forces should be able to bid for commercial haulage work to save drivers' jobs, says a top union offical.
Jack Dromey of the Transport clz General Workers' Union says military lorries carrying parts for the services could work in the private sector in order to provide work for Ministry of Defence civilian drivers who face the sack as part of the current defence cutbacks.
Dromey is proposing a plan to the MoD which would allow its in-house Royal Navy Supply and Transport Service fleet to contract out its services to the private sector. But he admits there could be problems in "putting together a practical approach".
Before the MoD could offer haulage it would need a standard Operators Licence — and the move would probably infuriate hauliers, who would see it as unfair competition.
The Road Haulage Association says: "If the state were to go into private transport operation it would be quite a turnround for the Conservative government."
The MoD says there are no plans to use its civilian lorries commercially.
The MoD plans to cut 35,000 civilian jobs by the middle of the decade — many of them drivers and transport managers. Dromey says the TGWU will try to recruit members of the armed forces who are also due to be made redundant as part of the Government Options for Change cuts, The haulage industry has always been a popular civilian career for former armed forces staff, but unless the economy improves many of them will face the dole.