comm - EN - r
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
NO FORESIGHT FROM BRUSSELS
So a "slight tightening up of the rules" from the Government could send 3,000 currently employed drivers to the slag heap of unemployment. Once again Eurocrats in their comfy office chairs in Brussels are deciding legislation that our Government is prepared to agree to with a wink and a nod.
The new eyesight legislation—see news opposite— means thousands of drivers can begin their luxurious summer holidays joining the dole queues on 1 July. If you can't read the largest letter on an eyesight test without glasses or contact lenses, you can either get your bike out ready to sign on the dole or get your deck chair out and get a tan. One thing's for sure, you won't get any money. Because to add insult to injury, these drivers, having had their livelihoods sliced away in one swathe of EU bureaucracy, will not be able to claim compensation for losing their jobs. Talk about kicking a man when he's down. Any redundancy payments, it appears, will be left to the discretion of bosses. Given that marins are tight—if you're lucky enough to have any at all—how many bosses, when they know they don't have to under law, will cough up redundancy payments? And the reason for this new law? The excuse from the Government is safety. Drivers could be blinded, says the Department Of Transport, because their glasses could be knocked off when driving along and contact lenses could pop out. Excuse me, how? Have you ever heard of this happening? What are the research statistics showing this? And there's the rub. So far, the Government is unable to prove that drivers who do have impaired vision and wear glasses or contact lenses are a threat to road safety. The advice from the DOT to those who do lose their LGV driving jobs that they should take up driving cars (yes, a spokesman did say that)—because those eyesight tests are less stringent—is flippant and unsympathetic.
Hopefully some flexible, understanding employers will be able to find those who fail the new test other duties, but we certainly don't envy those of you who join the 2.5-3 million current unemployed in looking for a new job. The United Road Transport Union's call on the DOT to pro vide early retirement grants or retraining grants is to be commended and fully supported.