Standing with the TWU to Fight for Road Safety Watchdog
I stand with the Transport Workers’ Union in demanding the government abandon its plan to get rid of a vital road safety watchdog.
Every year on our roads truck drivers and other road users are killed in horrific crashes – 48 people have died so far this year in truck-related crashes. Truck driving is Australia’s deadliest profession with drivers 15 times more likely to die at work than any other profession.
But the government wants to get rid of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal – which investigates the economic pressure on truck drivers to drive faster, for longer with over-loaded vehicles in a stressed and tired state.
The TWU visited Canberra recently because it is one year since the government completed a review on scrapping this vital body. Sue Lines has again stood with the TWU in opposing this.
TWU National Secretary Tony Sheldon said: “Tony Abbott and Eric Abetz, the minister in charge, need to call off this attack on the road safety tribunal. Our members and their families know what pressure on truck drivers can result in and it is ugly, horrific and sad. It is families left without loved ones and it is entire communities torn apart by horror crashes.”
Major retailers such as Coles - a $2.1 million donor to the Liberals – oppose the tribunal as it could mean having to pay drivers a decent wage and pay them for all the work they do. At present drivers can wait up to six hours to unload their trucks – all unpaid waiting time.
Facts & Figures:
Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal:
- The RSRT has the power to inquire into issues and practices in the road transport industry, including holding major clients like Coles to account for how their business practices affect safety throughout the supply chain
- It began operating in July 2012
- The RSRT is able to make orders on:
- o Minimum remuneration for employee drivers and owner-drivers
- o Industry practices for loading and unloading vehicles, waiting times, working hours, load limits, payment methods and payment periods
- o Ways of reducing or removing remuneration-related incentives, pressures and practices that contribute to unsafe work practices.
- So far it has begun inquiries into five sectors: retail and long distance; oil, fuel and gas; cash-in-transit; waste; and port and wharf sector.
- It has made an important order requiring truck drivers to be paid within 30 days
TWU survey of truck drivers found:
- 46% of drivers in the Coles supply chain feel pressure to skip breaks,
- 28% feel pressured to speed
- 26% feel pressured to carry overweight loads
- Many of these transport companies also operate on small margins and sacrifice or delay essential maintenance to meet the economic squeeze placed on them by Coles
The National Transport Commission’s report on Remuneration and Safety in the Australian Heavy Vehicle Industry (2008) said practices by the retail industry affecting road transport “can play a direct and significant role in causing hazardous practices”. It adds: “There is solid survey evidence linking payment levels and systems to crashes, speeding, driving while fatigued and drug use”.