News

Vosa's chief executive Stephen Tetlow is on a collision course with the Prospect trade union after members passed a unanimous vote of no confidence in his regime. The resolution was passed by the Vehicle Inspectorate (VI) chapter of Prospect at its annual delegates' meeting that was held in London last week. The motion referred to various management strategies but was also inspired by Vosa staff's growing belief that Tetlow is trying to privatise all 'customer service' activities, such as testing,  training and enforcement, "by stealth".

The vote follows a damning employee survey that revealed morale among Vosa staff to be at rock bottom and their belief in management to be extremely low. Union officials say recent presentations by Tetlow and outsourcing consultant Steve Tonks suggested the remit for privatisation has expanded dramatically. "Initially it was vehicle testing and training," says Prospect's VI section secretary Kevin Warden. "But now it appears they are considering all service delivery activities for privatisation, including roadside enforcement.

"The only areas not being considered are the shared services." Shared services are the Department for Transport's (DfT) human resources and finance departments in Swansea which support all of its agencies. The Prospect meeting was attended by representatives from Amicus and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS). They expressed concern that privatisation could have a detrimental effect on road safety.  Also in attendance was Gwynneth Dunwoody, chair of the Transport Select Committee (TSC). She told delegates the TSC has been highly critical of management flaws with relation to Vosa and other DfT agencies and will continue to push for their resolution.

Dunwoody went on to highlight the lack of modern and workable IT and communications systems throughout the agencies.

Prospect, which represents technical staff, has 569 members within the VI - approximately two thirds of those eligible to join.

A Vosa spokeswoman declined to comment on the vote, saying that it was not policy to comment on union activity.

Emergency Motion 01/06

This conference is dismayed at the style and techniques being employed by Vosa's chief executive and the Vosa board of directors in managing the agency. Recent events, such as their decision not to allow Prospect members their right to be balloted on the 2006 pay offer, indicate the arrogance and total lack of respect that the chief executive and his board has for members. This conference therefore states, by virtue of this motion, that the Prospect VI section has no confidence in the chief executive and his directing board and instructs the section committee to raise and engage in a campaign, either singularly or with colleague unions within Vosa, to highlight this point.