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ARTIO NSW marks 10 years flying the flag

McMaster underlines successes within a decade of work

 

The Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation (ARTIO) New South Wales branch is celebrating a significant milestone — its 10th year.

According to ARTIO NSW secretary/treasurer Hugh McMaster, several transport operators and ARTIO national council representatives met in Sydney and agreed to a further meeting which in turn formed ARTIO NSW to represent the industrial interests of road transport operators in NSW on May 12, 2008.

“ARTIO’s national council, comprising branch representatives from other states except South Australia, recognised the need to ensure ARTIO had a branch in NSW,” McMaster tells ATN.

“This arose after the NSW Road Transport Association, which has been affiliated with ARTIO, was wound up in 2007 and decisions taken thereafter to form another association of transport operators in NSW which in turn decided not to become part of ARTIO.

“The need for an ARTIO branch in NSW was also driven by decisions taken by the then Rudd Government to transform Australia’s award system through the creation of modern awards.

“For NSW based operators, those decisions meant, amongst other things, dispensing with NSW-based transport awards and operating under the modern awards which still apply in the industry.

“That meeting 10 years ago led to ARTIO NSW becoming a registered organisation under Federal law and operating under the common Rules applicable to all ARTIO branches.”

In 2009, ARTIO NSW obtained registration as an association of employing contractors in he state, which gives it standing before the NSW Industrial Relations Commission in relation to contract determinations which apply to principal contractor/sub-contractor relationships in some sections of the industry.

“There was opposition to ARTIO NSW’s application for registration from within employer ranks in NSW but their objections were dismissed by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission,” McMaster says.

“As a registered organisation of both employers and employing contractors operating under objects which oblige it to represent road transport operators, ARTIO NSW is best placed to serve the workplace relations needs to road transport operators in NSW.

“Since 2008, ARTIO NSW has shaped policy and legislative outcomes in areas related to workplace law in NSW, contributed to the development of policy nationally through ARTIO and advocated on behalf of principal contractors in NSW before the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.

“This was best illustrated during negotiations with the TWU from 2013 till last year where ARTIO NSW provided leadership on behalf of principal contractors to reach agreement to transform and modernise the Transport Industry – General Carriers Contract Determination.

“On behalf of the committee and Members of ARTIO NSW, I express appreciation to the ARTIO national council for its wisdom and foresight in filling an important void in the industry’s industrial ranks in NSW and in its national institutional framework.

“I also thank each member representative who has served on the ARTIO NSW committee at some time during the past 10 years, as well as those who have served as its advisors for their role in ARTIO NSW’s ongoing development and in improving and broadening the quality of service provision to ARTIO NSW’s members.

 

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