Transport workers will rally on Sunday the 19th of June in protest of the Government’s attack on Safe Rates. Transport workers are twelve times more likely to die at work than the average Australian worker, often pressured into dangerous work in order to make ends meet.
There is a concrete link between rates of pay and safety, said TWU QLD Secretary Peter Biagini.
“All we are seeing is carnage, the roads are the most dangerous place to work in Australia” said Biagini.
“Drivers need to be fairly paid for the work they do. Malcolm Turnbull is more interested in listening to his mates at the big end of town than working Australians, and scrapped the only body tasked with safely remunerating drivers, taking advantage of a ridiculous scare campaign”
“The pressures faced by transport workers are much larger than your average worker, and the consequence of that pressure is far too often deaths on our roads”
“Why should a truck driver have to work for 70 hours a week and in the end get paid just enough to make ends meet?”
“Transport workers are dying because they are under pressure with incredibly tight deadlines and low rates of pay, and it will only get worse if the big end of town keeps on pushing transport workers into a race to the bottom for pay and conditions”
The rally will be held at 11:30 on Sunday the 19th of June, at QCWA Clontarf branch, 16 Victoria Avenue, Woody Point. Speakers will include Stirling Hinchliffe, Queensland Transport Minister and Member for Sandgate, Wayne Swan, Member for Lilley, and Jacqui Pedersen, Labor Candidate for Petrie.
ENDS
Media contact: Tom Millroy
Media opportunities: Officials available for comment
Notes
Evidence of pressure
Safe Work Australia found in 2015 that 31% of employers say workers ignore safety rules to get the job done, 20% accept dangerous behaviour, compared to less than 2% in other industries and 20% of transport industry employers break safety rules to meet deadlines – this compares with just 6% of employers in other industries. (2015 Survey)
Evidence that remuneration affects safety
PriceWaterhouseCoopers “Review of the Road Safety Remuneration System Final Report January 2016” (PWC Review 2016 – published by the Commonwealth Department of Employment on 1 April, 2016)
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