Working Time Regulations Review
24/11/2008
As part of the ongoing review of the implementation of the Road Transport Working Time Regulations, a TUC delegation recently met with Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, at the House of Commons (Monday 17 November 2008) to press home the ongoing concerns relating to the transport industry’s interpretation of what constitutes a ‘period of availability’ (POA).
Frances O’Grady, Deputy General Secretary of the TUC and Bob Monks, United Road Transport Union General Secretary, led the delegation, which outlined to the Secretary of State the industry wide abuses of ‘POA’ in order to maximise working hours and the lack of effective enforcement to eradicate what has colloquially been referred to as the ‘Charter for Long Hours’.
The meeting has provided some hope that the Regulations will become an effective piece of Health and Safety legislation, with an undertaking given by the Government to revisit the subject at a meeting during the spring of 2009, with a view to reviewing the use of ‘POA’ to circumvent the Regulations.
Commenting on the outcome of the meeting, Bob Monks stated;
‘I think the Secretary of State fully appreciated the dangers associated with professional LGV drivers working long hours over lengthy periods and recognised the shortcomings in the current legislation, which allow professional drivers to be encouraged to class all non-driving duties as POAs. This is just a crude attempt to maximise the length of the working week. A review of the legislation, during the spring of 2009, will give the opportunity for tightening of the Regulations to eradicate systematic abuses of POAs.”
