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GCCD debate hots up: ARTIO responds to NatRoad comment

ARTIO NSW asks NatRoad to bring evidence in support of claims

 

The Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation’s New South Wales branch (ARTIO NSW) has taken aim at NatRoad for its “irresponsible” remarks following opposition to its application seeking exemption for its members from the NSW General Carriers Contract Determination (GCCD).

ARTIO NSW secretary Hugh McMaster says that a counter application has been recently filed by the NSW Business Chamber on behalf of employer organisations including ARTIO NSW, seeking for the Commission to, among other things:

  • reduce existing rates in the interim transport industry General Carriers Contract Determination;
  • oppose rates in areas which had not been regulated before as it is not appropriate to regulate such areas; and
  • set up a new rate review model.

“It’s notable that NatRoad have not bothered to mention this fact in any of its press releases or sought to work with employers in any way.

“Clearly this falls into the other 90 per cent of the facts that NatRoad conveniently ignores.

“If NatRoad and its members were serious about assisting the transport industry they should participate in the proceedings and bring evidence in support of the counter application.”

ARTIO NSW has reaffirmed its opposition to the expansion of the proposed rates beyond the current scope and pressed the need to better understand the economic impact of the proposed changes.

It states that the mechanism for determining rates should be reviewed and updated given the changes in the industry since the GCCD was first introduced.

NatRoad’s exemption application                                

Representatives of ARTIO NSW, Transport Workers Union (TWU’s) NSW branch, TNT and Toll had opposed NatRoad’s application at a directions hearing at the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) last Friday.

NatRoad hit back saying its opponents were part of a “coordinated club” that used bullyboy tactics to try and change industry operations.

McMaster tells ATN that NatRoad’s application was “misguided” and bound to fail even if there was no opposition from the industry.

“Rather than seeking to have sensible discussions with other industry parties, NatRoad has filed an application, which no industrial organisation with any credibility would have made or could support, and has sought to simply attack any organisation that doesn’t agree with its misguided views,” McMaster says.

He says it was disappointing to see NatRoad make “statements that have no basis and/or are simply incorrect”.

“If NatRoad was serious about “seeking a seat at the table”, as suggested by Clarke, they would have been constructively involved over the last two years that this matter has been before the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.

“It’s not as if they didn’t know about. They did but, as usual, sought to ignore it,” McMaster says.

NatRoad CEO Warren Clark had stated that its “exemption application was an irritant to the forces behind the changes”, to which McMaster responds: “The fact is that those that understand the jurisdiction find the application laughable rather than an irritant.”

“All contract determinations in NSW operate on a common rule basis.

“No organisation in its right mind would consent to such an application.

“It’s not ‘bullyboy’ tactics it’s simply common sense.”

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