Newsflow drivers threaten action by Rob Willock • Newsflow drivers
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in Coventry are threatening to bring Mirror newspaper deliveries to a standstill during the World Cup in order to secure fair treatment after the Exel division lost the Mirror contract.
One source has told Commercial Motor that drivers are still being "kept in the dark" with just four weeks of the contract left to run.
It is rumoured there will not be any redundancies when the work switches to TNT and Eddie Stobart on 30 June (CM 30 Apr-6 May). Instead drivers will be offered jobs with the incoming contractors under the TUPE regulations.
But, for some Coventry drivers, a transfer to Stobart's Crick depot will mean a 60-mile daily round trip. "They'll say we've been offered another job—take it or leave it," says the source. "But we'd rather have redundancy and take our chances elsewhere. I don't want to work for Stobart—I left the army 20 years ago and I'm not going back. It's a shoddy way for Exel to treat loyal staff and we'll fight it. We'll try to bring in some of the guys from Bristol too. There's a World Cup coming up and the Mirror's in a circulation war, so we're in a damn good bargaining position."
He claims angry Newsflow workers in Watford have been offered work within Tradeteam, and adds: "Making a fuss is the only way to get what you want."
A spokesman for Exel says: "Discussions are continuing. Of course, the future of our employees is uppermost in our minds."