Driving Instructors Branch of Unite the Union November 2013 | Page 14

Why the Driving Instructors Branch of Unite the Union?

The branch’s main aim is to protect the interests of its members. This is both their livelihood and their business. For us members come first.

The whole ethos of Dib-Unite is to protect and promote its members interests. Where as other associations may see instructors as a source of income. We don’t sell courses that you don’t need, we don’t accept advertising revenue and we don’t promote products or services. We dedicate are time voluntarily to our members interests.

We gather information from many sources and present it to members for them to make their minds up.

Many members have in the past been members of other national associations and have been disillusioned with most national associations.

We feel that in some instances ADI’s are kept in the dark about possible changes to our working lives. These changes also affect our businesses too.

We only have to look at some of the responses to the recent consultation on Modernising Driver Training to see what we mean.

What sane ADI would vote to give the registrar the power to issue civil sanctions (fines)? We at Dib-Unite understand the need for the driving training profession to be modernised in certain areas, but the issuing of financial penalties was not an area we foreseen or had any knowledge of before the consultation.

You may have read in an early edition that one of the national associations also would like to see the introduction of short term suspension. How would your pupils or your business survive if you were suspended? Be advised this is not being an alarmist it’s nearer than you think.

It’s been reported that only about 1/3 of ADI’s belong to a national association with some ADI’s belonging to more than one. Those that don’t belong to any association must be completely out of touch with what’s happening and proposals for further change.