The TWU knows that workers want to get on with their jobs, be paid fairly, be kept safe while they drive and need the federal government to set up a national plan that does not keep them guessing as to which border closes next, where they can get tested or where they can go if they choose to be vaccinated.
As this pandemic rolls on and as the top of the supply chain increases its profit from the increased freight load, we need to ask the question, why is the truck driver still copping a lack of respect from those at the top?
There is currently no stronger example of the disrespect for owner-drivers in the transport industry than the discovery by the TWU that Toll failed to pay invoices on time, despite an agreement in place over payments, on 5187 occasions.
Profit before safety, profit before people is not the road for a company to take when it comes to ensuring respect for drivers in 2021. We are in the grip of a pandemic and you are in the thick of it, a worker doing a critical job ensuring the wheels keep turning.
I wrote earlier this year of TWU plans for 2021 and now bargaining rolling in the transport industry, starting from the top down. The TWU is working to secure a strong future for all transport workers.
Every day, transport workers tell us that it gets harder to do the job. Now the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, the organisation responsible for setting the rules, is promoting the idea that you can drive up to 16 hours a day, under Advanced Fatigue Management (AFM).
In the past couple of weeks, executives from the company Amazon appeared before the Federal Senate Select Committee on Job Security. The inquiry is looking into the substandard treatment of workers by Amazon.
Here’s a story for you to consider, the union working with drivers and winning a first time Enterprise Agreement.
If you are telling me that you are serious about the safety of drivers, safe rates of pay and a safer, fairer industry, then you should be involved in fixing the industry you are involved with.
On Workers’ Memorial Day, at around 8am on a cold, Canberra morning, the TWU were at Parliament House, laying down 58 crosses on the lawn, one for each life lost by a truck driver whilst at work.