Working time rules for self-employed drivers
MEPs in the European Parliament's Employment Committee have voted to reject plans to exclude self-employed drivers from rules on working time, the Working Time Directive. The existing law on drivers' hours aimed to include self-employed truck and bus drivers from 23 March 2009, unless the Commission came up with a different idea first. It did. In October 2008 it said there was no need to include self-employed drivers. Then socialist, green and leftist groups persuaded Parliament to include those self-employed drivers and now centre-right Edit Bauer MEP says there is no precedent for regulating the working hours of self-employed people. MEPs will vote on the text in the next plenary.
IRU wants WTD to exclude self-employed drivers
The European Parliament Employment and Social Affairs Committee has rejected a draft report supporting an EC plan to exclude self-employed drivers from the Working Time Directive. The Geneva-based IRU wants MEPs to reverse this decision when they vote on it this June. The IRU says the committee's decision, using road safety as a "fallacious argument", risks creating "massive unemployment" among self-employed drivers. "The rationale of working time legislation is to ensure that salaried workers are not forced to work more than they wish to," said Alexander Sakkers, president of the IRU's EU Goods Transport Liaison Committee.
Electric vehicle training guide
The SMMT is developing an industry-wide electric vehicle technical training programme. The aim is to deliver a best practice guide for the sector. Its priority will be the emergency and breakdown services and it will involve all interested parties, including manufacturers, dealers and technicians. The training programme will set consistent technical standards to help the industry and its technology grow safely.
Minimum wages
The National Minimum Wage will increase on October 1 as follows:
· £3.64 per hour for 16-17 year olds ( a 2% increase on the current rate)
· £4.92 per hour for 18-20 year olds (a 1.9% increase on the current rate)
· £5.93 per hour for low-paid workers aged 21 and over (a 2.2% increase on the current rate)
The Government has introduced an apprentice minimum wage of £2.50 per hour. The new rate will apply to those apprentices who are under 19 or those who are aged 19 and over but in the first year of their apprenticeship.
