Tony Sheldon says demands for flexibility will translate into less pay and more pressure on road transport drivers
The Productivity Commission’s draft report into Australia’s workplace relations framework has earned the ire of the Transport Workers Union (TWU).
It says the commission’s recommendations would force many transport employees, truck drivers in particular, into poverty.
TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon says the plan to reduce penalty rates for weekend and late night work will ultimately reduce the total wages of road transport workers.
Another recommendation for “enterprise contracts” to replace existing transport awards will further dilute job security and employee wellbeing, Sheldon says.
“If we want a strong economy then we need quality, full-time, permanent jobs to fuel it. This report will instead give us an Australia divided between the wealthy elites squeezing from the top and employees struggling at the bottom.
“This kind of inequality will serve no one in the long run.”
Sheldon says insecure work will have an impact on safety.
“In road transport this will inevitably result in drivers being sweated to work longer hours on lower pay, with inevitable tragic results in death toll on our roads,” he says.