FWC says distinct challenges means no separate award wage is justified for vehicle relocation workers
A vehicle relocation company has failed in a bid to help create a separate minimum hourly wage for drivers working in that field under the Road Transport and Distribution Award, following a decision by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) last week.
The FWC decided last year that it would allow drivers involved in vehicle relocation work to be covered under the Award, and held meetings with interested parties to ask if the Award needed to be changed to accommodate them.
Companies including Truck Moves Australia, which runs what it says is Australia’s largest drive away service, field a draft determination with the commission which proposed that full time adult workers driving unladen vehicles in the vehicle relocation industry should be paid a minimum wage of $18.83 per hour.
Further witness statements were provided by Truck Moves owner and director Matthew Whitnall in support of the argument, saying that the company only engages drivers as casual workers – who are paid a casual loading, rounding the pay rate up to $22.90 per hour.
The FWC decided against making that wage part of the award, noting that the existing award currently allowed a wage of $19.37 per hour to a grade 1 transport worker, such as a furniture removers’ assistant, vehicle washer or bicycle courier.
“In particular, it is clear that the proposed single hourly rate of pay of $18.83 for workers in the vehicle relocation industry bears no meaningful relationship to the existing classification structure in the Road Transport Award,” the decision states.
“Mr Whitnall’s evidence was that the rate proposed was ‘made up’, with little or no consideration of its relationship with existing award rates and to secure the lowest payment possible.”
While acknowledging that people who drive trucks loaded with freight often performed work that vehicle relocation drivers did not, the FWC says that the requirement of vehicle relocation drivers to drive many different types of vehicles posed its own challenges.
The FWC decision, written by senior deputy president Jonathan Hamberger, deputy president Peter Sams and commissioner Tim Lee, says that there is not a sufficiently large difference between the work performed by vehicle relocators and others in the industry to justify introducing a separate minimum wage.
“We do not consider that Truck Moves and others have established a sufficiently strong case to depart from the general principle underlying the classification structure and associated wage rates in the Road Transport Award, namely, that rates of pay are set by reference to the type and size of vehicle operated by the driver,” the decision said.
Nonetheless, the FWC did agree with Truck Moves request for a period of extra time to transition to the new wages – the company having argued that it would have a serious financial impact on the company.
The FWC has allowed it a two year timeframe to transition to the new payment scheme, with full rates to apply from July 1 2020.
In its announcement following the decision, Transport Workers Union national secretary Tony Sheldon said Truck Movers had been pursuing “a disgraceful rip-off of hard-working drivers,” which would “have obvious implications for standards and safety in trucking and created an imbalance for decent employers”.
The Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation (ARTIO) welcomes the decision of the Fair Work Commission into this matter.
“Representing the Employer companies, ARTIO has been able to defend the erosion of rates and conditions in the industry, to uphold accepted standards and defend the rights of transport operators,” ARTIO national sectetary Peter Anderson says.
“What we don’t want to see is the creation of an underclass of transport workers exposed to sub-standard rates and conditions and the FWC decision is consistent with that.
“The Road Transport Award is the minimum standard of rates for all operators and the ARTIO has ensured that the transport industry continues to honour the Award standards.”