MoD STORIES ROAD TRANSPORT
Keep roads safe call
Unite has called for a fair deal for HGV drivers – amid warnings they are being forced to put themselves and the public at risk by working over 60 hours a week.
Low pay and rising demands from employers to do more increase the chances of serious accidents on the roads, the union warned as it launched its professional drivers’ charter in January.
Unite is demanding change, calling for a maximum 48-hour working week and an end to minimum wage pay for professional drivers who keep the country moving. The union will be urging haulage firms to sign up to the charter.
“Low pay rates mean drivers are being forced to take chances, working long hours just to make ends meet, said Adrian Jones, Unite national officer.
“Accidents are quite literally waiting to happen because employers are refusing to play fair. We need minimum standards across the industry to end the race to the bottom and keep Britain’s roads safe.”
Result – DSG members
Workers at the Defence Support Group (DSG) have overwhelmingly accepted a ‘significantly’ improved pay offer drawing to a close a long running dispute at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) facility.
Unite backed the revised pay offer of 1 per cent plus a £1,250
bonus.The pay deal, representing a 66 per cent increase on what was on the table before the dispute, followed 16 days of strike action.
“This significantly improved pay deal would not have been possible without the resolve of members who were determined to get a just and fair deal,” said Unite national officer Mike McCartney.
“It shows what can be achieved when workers stand shoulder to shoulder.” He said he hoped that Babcock, who will take over the running of the DSG, will continue to work positively with Unite.
Bosses need Unite too MANAGERS
In the first such victory of its kind at any Delphi site, Unite has won union recognition and a collective bargaining agreement for a management group at the Delphi Diesels Systems site in Sudbury, Suffolk.
The group of management staff has grown since Unite started pressing for recognition at the end of August last year. It means now all of the site workers, with the exception of the senior management team, are covered solely by Unite for the purposes of collective bargaining.
“The decision by managers at the site to join Unite and press for union recognition represents a cultural shift within the business and a growing recognition that only Unite can be relied upon to look after the interests of all workers on the site,” said Unite regional officer Neal Evans, who has lead the organising campaign.
The victory for the Delphi management group is but one of 11 other union recognition and collective bargaining agreements Unite has won recently in its on-going organising campaign.
6 uniteWORKS Spring 2015
TOP NEWS
Shoulder to shoulder
Howard Betts
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