Latest editorial
UNIONS have condemned a relaxation of safety rules restricting lorry drivers’ working hours as both dangerous and pointless.
Transport and distribution unions Unite and Usdaw said that the government’s move, announced via Twitter, would not address a shortage of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers estimated at more than 75,000 – indeed, it could make the problem worse as exhaustion causes drivers to quit.
The decision to “allow” drivers temporarily to work shifts of 10 hours rather than nine, plus up to two 11-hour stints per week, from next Monday was described as a “sticking plaster” by the bosses’ Road Haulage Association (RHA).
Andy Burnham’s message of hope will defeat Reform if Labour delivers the New Deal for Working People in full, says JOANNE THOMAS
Forty years on, TONY DUBBINS revisits the Wapping dispute to argue that Murdoch’s real aim was union-busting – enabled by Thatcherite laws, police violence, compliant unions and a complicit media
LOUISA BULL traces how derecognition, outsourcing and digitalisation reshaped the industry, weakened collective bargaining and created today’s precarious media workforce
On the eve of the 157th Trades Union Congress, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, celebrates victory in his campaign to get dignity for drivers at work