Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) members at Toll's truck maintenance facility in Adelaide have voted unanimously to take protected industrial action in a ballot that closed on Friday.
The Toll Enterprise Agreement (EA) expired in 2007, and workers' wages have been frozen for the last four years. After months of refusing to come to the negotiating table, Toll is now trying to force their workers onto an unsafe, family unfriendly, twenty-one day rotating roster. Workers would have to work fourteen days straight of twelve hour shifts.
"The new rostering arrangement Toll has proposed is unnecessary and unsafe, and by voting yes to protected industrial action, our members have shown that they aren't willing to accept it," said AMWU South Australia Vehicle Division Regional Secretary Scott Batchelor.
"These workers maintain the trucks that deliver freight all over the country. Working fourteen twelve-hour days back-to-back dramatically increases the risk of worker fatigue and human error. A maintenance mistake on trucks like these can have tragic consequences. Toll is putting the lives of road users at risk by proposing this unsafe rostering arrangement," Mr Batchelor said.
"Working fourteen days straight also means that workers miss out on their weekends. That's important time spent with friends and family. There is no business imperative for this rostering change. AMWU members will be fighting against this every step of the way," he said.
"We hope that Toll sees reason, scraps this proposal, and comes back to the negotiating table so we can get an Agreement that will work for the business, our members, and won't put South Australian road users' lives at risk."
