Thousands of transport workers will strike for 24 hours today in a fight for safe, secure jobs in Australia's deadliest industry, which has been driven down by corporate greed from huge transport clients like Aldi and Amazon.
Workers are calling for:
– Pay in line with industry standards, with workers at many companies 10 to 30% below others-a deadly recipe for workers to work longer and harder just to make ends meet
– Job security, with companies like FedEx following Amazon's lead to move good, secure jobs to a gig model, where workers receive scraps of work on piece rates, and Border Express joining it by attempting to sack workers after they'd voted up industrial action, their jobs now protected under an injunction secured by the TWU in the Federal Court
– A say in the future of their industries, including consultation and retraining when new technologies are introduced, with companies trying to impose automation and AI without workers having any say
These companies cart goods for some of the biggest brands in the country, including Aldi, BHP, Metcash, Coca-Cola, and BlueScope.
The TWU has come to agreement at major transport companies like Team Global Express, Toll, Linfox and BevChain that provide fair pay, job security and future of work protections. But these companies are in danger of losing work to others where workers are 10 to 30% under industry standards with little to no job security, and significant safety issues.
The TWU is calling on industry outliers like Amazon and Aldi, whose massive profits flow offshore, to step in and fund decent standards in their supply chains to ensure the people getting critical supplies around the country have safe, fair jobs.
TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said:
"Today is the largest road transport strike in this union's history because corporate greed has driven this industry to breaking point.
"Workers don't take this action lightly, but the alternative is an even deadlier industry, with corporate behemoths like Aldi and Amazon gouging every last dollar from the Australian community and smashing jobs to smithereens.
"Workers have had enough of foreign-owned companies making billions while their jobs become more insecure, more deadly, and lower-paid.
"If they don't take this action now, their jobs will become scraps of work dictated by an algorithm-that is not a future we can accept for the workers getting critical supplies to our supermarkets, hospitals and front doors.
"These workers are simply asking for enough pay to provide for their families, a secure job, and a say in their industry's future.
"We must see these huge transport clients being a part of the solution and making their supply chains fair and safe, instead of forcing workers to pay for their mammoth profits with their lives."
