Kerry Smith
Couriers, transport workers and heavy vehicle drivers converged on Canberra's Parliament House on August 16. The turnout was so big that many trucks had to be parked on the Lake Burley Griffin foreshore, two kilometres away.
The Transport Workers Union members were protesting against the federal government's planned industrial relations changes, which will make working in the transport industry a safety nightmare.
NSW TWU state secretary Tony Sheldon said in a media statement: "Owner drivers [independent contractors] are routinely working on average 70 hours per week. For many drivers, the introduction of the proposed Independent Contractors Act will mean an increase in driving hours with a race to the bottom in a bid for trucking contracts ... to win the contract you will have to be the fastest driver. This will increase the carnage on our roads."
For drivers, the Howard government's proposed changes will mean no access to the Industrial Relations Commission to settle disputes, no contract determinations to set collective rates and conditions, and no right to union representation in negotiations with principal contractors.
TWU activist Raul Bassi told Green Left Weekly: "This campaign by drivers needs to be part and parcel of the fight against Howard's whole package of attacks on workers and trade unions. We won't be able to stop the assault on drivers' conditions in isolation from the broader union and community campaign."
"In fact", he said, "one of the main targets of the new Independent Contractors Act is subcontractors in the construction industry, because they are highly unionised and deal with employers only through the CFMEU".
The Canberra rally was addressed by TWU officials, as well as ACTU president Greg Combet and ALP leader Kim Beazley. Many drivers who were not able to join the convoy to Canberra instead held stop-work actions at their yards.
From Green Left Weekly, August 24, 2005.
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