Action Plan for Safe Rates Campaign Endorsed by 200 TWU Rank and File Delegates
The Transport Workers Union and its members are fighting for a national system of
safe rates and full cost recovery for employees and owner-drivers to ease the extreme
pressure being placed on the safety of drivers.
The TWU does not support the use of any form of violent action within the industry
by unelected and unrepresentative fringe groups as a means to ease the pressures
currently being faced by all transport workers across the country.
The TWU and its members continue to campaign for relief through its national safe
rates campaign that has already achieved wins for drivers in states across Australia.
The safe rates campaign has resulted in a win for excavation tippers in Victoria, as
well as an exemption from the Independent Contractors Act in NSW and Victoria that
has seen owner-drivers maintain the State mechanisms for receiving a safe rate.
Western Australian owner-drivers have also won protections to improve the safety
and viability of their small businesses as part of the campaign.
The TWU continues to win support from employer groups and transport companies
from within the industry right across Australia for a national system of safe rates and
cost recovery.
Representatives of thousands of owner-drivers and employees have endorsed the
campaign for national safe rates and cost recovery. As part of the campaign, 200
representatives of thousands of drivers in NSW have endorsed an application to the
NSW Industrial Relations Commission for the introduction of a fuel levy that would
allow drivers to recover their costs from the powerful transport clients like the major
retailers.
It is now time for the Federal Government to introduce a national framework that
gives transport workers right across Australia the ability to seek full relief from the
burden of the rising costs of fuel and maintaining a safe truck. Employee drivers also
need the protections provided for a national safe rate that is properly enforced.
When the costs associated with maintaining safe vehicles spike, as well as massive
fuel explosions and cost of living increases, drivers need the ability to recover their
costs from the transport clients – including the major retailers like Coles and
Woolworths.
The TWU and its members have recently staged successful ‘go slow’ and convoy
actions in Sydney to continue to inform the public of the importance of introducing of
a national system of safe rates and cost recovery.
This is about improving safety on our roads for truck drivers and the rest of the
motoring community. By working together, drivers from across Australia can
continue to achieve successes in their campaigns by ensuring that a national system of
safe rates and cost recovery is introduced
24 July 2008
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