Working time worries over "self-employed"

A proposed new directive on the organisation of working time for mobile road haulage workers received its second reading in the European Parliament last month. Ron Webb, the T&G general union's road transport secretary welcomed the changes being proposed by the European Parliament but wants changes in UK tax law, similar to those in operation in the building industry to stop bogus self-employment.

The Working Time Directive, implemented in the UK by the Working Time Regulations 1998, excluded certain sectors including transport (although separate European and UK legislation already limits drivers' hours). The Horizontal Amending Directive (HAD), which was adopted last year and must be implemented by 1 August 2003, will provide only limited rights to mobile workers in the excluded sectors, leaving other issues to be dealt with by the new directive.