DHL Exel has an agreement to make no use of periods of availability, it emerged this week. The PoA agreement with the Transport and General Workers' Union came to light after management altered the working time records of eight drivers without telling them. The action was at the Redditch depot on a contract with Halfords. TGWU regional organiser Bob Shaw tells Motor Transport: "We have sufficient evidence to say it was a management practice [at the depot]".
A driver saw his timesheet had been altered to show a PoA after he was told to work extra hours to meet his contract. DHL Exel said it was a one-off management error at a subsequent grievance procedure but more "errors" were later discovered by the union. Shaw says the union had to threaten the Redditch depot with Freedom of Information disclosure, and DHL Exel responded by charging the drivers £10 each for their sheets. When it was clear that the drivers were willing to pay, the sheets were handed over voluntarily. Union representatives all over the country are now on alert over PoAs, Shaw says. Meanwhile, senior managers at DHL Exel have now contacted him. "I'm sure we'll be meeting management," he says. The Redditch practices will be used by the TGWU as evidence in the government's review of the working time regulations, due to start shortly.
Many in the industry are likely to be astonished that the country's largest distribution contractor has an agreement to forego the operating efficiencies available through the UK's interpretation of PoAs. Ironically the Halfords contract was won only 15 months ago. It had been a flagship contract of TDG, but moved to Exel after a management change at Halfords. DHL Exel says the alterations to the timesheets were "administrative errors".
"We have since improved the system in place, with the approval of the union, to ensure that all driver hours are properly accounted for," it says. It declined to respond to questions about its policy on PoAs or agreement with the union.
