Hundreds of transport workers will protest nationally at Aldi stores as the TWU highlights dangerous practices in the supermarket's transport supply chain, from lack of maintenance on vehicles to underpayments and worker injuries.
TWU investigations at Gold Tiger, a company within Aldi's transport supply chain which has since closed its doors, have uncovered:
– Vehicles that were not properly maintained, in some cases leading to workers being permanently injured
– Truck rollovers
– Potential underpayments, including workers employed full-time but only paid if there was enough work
The TWU pursuing an underpayment case at the company, which has also previously been taken to court by the Fair Work Ombudsman over failure to pay unfair dismissal compensation.
Other incidents uncovered by TWU at Aldi stores and through its supply chain:
– Workers crushed and trapped in a scissor lift in Aldi's Balgowlah store on three separate occasions
– At other companies in its supply chain, TWU has uncovered trucks being held together by tape, workers hit by forklifts, and vehicle collisions in Aldi DCs
While Woolworths and Coles have both signed charters with the TWU on supply chain safety, Aldi has failed to follow suit.
The national Aldi protests come as hundreds of Enterprise Agreements begin to expire across road transport in the TWU's largest co-ordinated industrial campaign, triggering a window for potential protected action.
TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said:
"Throughout Aldi's transport supply chain there are shocking tales of injuries, dangerous vehicle standards, underpayments and pressure to rush. Aldi has still failed to commit to a charter to address these issues riddled throughout the transport companies it uses to move its goods.
"There are now almost 40,000 transport workers who have the potential right to take industrial action to lift standards in Australia's deadliest industry.
"With 23 truck drivers killed on our roads this year, workers have made it clear: it's time for clients like Aldi to come to the table on decent jobs that don't pile deadly pressure on an industry already at breaking point.
"Inaction from transport workers means more deaths on our roads and decent transport companies pushed out from the constant race to the bottom."
NOTES:
TWU members have called Aldi to the table for years. After two failed court attempts to silence truckies, Aldi agreed to meet but was not prepared to participate in genuine consultation on a safety charter. The talks broke down as a result.
Aldi says it doesn't need to talk to workers about a supply chain charter because it has one of its own. Self-regulation doesn't work in transport - Australia's deadliest industry. Coles and Woolworths have developed safety charters in partnership with workers, but Aldi refuses to do the same.
