TWU Seeks Fuel Relief for Drivers
Rank and file delegates representing thousands of drivers from across
NSW have tonight endorsed a claim for a national system of safe rates
and cost recovery for owner drivers and employees to protect them
spikes in fuel prices and increases in costs of living.
As part of the claim, the Transport Workers Union will make an
application to the NSW Industrial Relations Commission seeking the
introduction of a fuel levy that would allow drivers to recover their costs
from the powerful transport clients like the major retailers.
TWU Secretary Tony Sheldon: “It is critical that the Federal Government
introduce a national framework that gives transport workers right across
Australia the ability to obtain a safe rate of pay and seek full relief from
rising costs of living, rising costs of maintaining a safe truck and fuel
spikes.
“Drivers in NSW have the ability to make this application to receive some
form of cost recovery – a national system needs to exist to ensure every
driver across Australia can receive relief.
The transport industry is already a tough, often dangerous and hypercompetitive
sector that recorded a 5.4% (1) increase in fatalities from heavy
vehicle incidents last year. Furthermore, wages in the last year for the
transport industry for employees have been driven down by the nonunionised
sector by 5.6% (2).
The claim would ensure that transport employees receive a safe rate of
pay that is sustainable and properly enforced. Owner-drivers across
Australia would also have the ability to recover costs from the powerful
transport clients like the major retailers Coles and Woolworths.
“This system is about ensuring safety on our roads – that is the safety of
all truck drivers and the rest of the motoring community who share the
roads”, Mr Sheldon said.
Owner driver Michael Moore has spent decades in the transport industry.
Mr Moore said “The safety of drivers and other road users is being put
increasingly at risk because we are having to absorb the ever rising costs
of living, hikes in the cost of maintaining things like brakes and tyres and
spikes in fuel costs.
“This has always been a tough industry even before the recent spikes in
fuel prices. We need action on a national system to ensure that drivers
across Australia are not suffering further because they cannot recover
their costs.”
(1) ‘Fatal Heavy Vehicle Crashes Australia Quarterly Bulletin’, Department of Infrastructure,
Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, October – December 2007.
(2) Australian Bureau of Statistics
Media contact Josh McIntosh 0408 463 199.
24 July 2008
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