Archive, Industry News

StarTrack TWU staff vote for day strike

Enterprise bargaining campaign continues, while FedEx responds

 

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) has approval from members at StarTrack for a strike next Thursday, the union reports.

Last week, a ballot closed with a 90% endorsement of strikes, giving around 2,000 StarTrack union members – roughly 70% of the workforce – protection to go on strike, the TWU stated.

The report was accompanied by commentary similar to that attending other major transport and logistics firms up for new enterprise agreements, with same pay and conditions for labour hire workers as employees, caps on the use of outside hire and commitments to offer all available hours to employees before contracting out to the fore.

The union complained that, yesterday, “StarTrack called NSW police to block a union official with a legal right of entry permit from entering a site before being instructed by Comcare to allow access under health and safety laws.

“The official was then shut in a room for five hours before being able to inspect the site.”

A FedEx protected action ballot will close at 5pm today with more than 70% of members said to be already confirmed to have voted, while ballots at Bevchain and Linfox close on Monday and Tuesday respectively.

Following union comments regarding FedEx this week, the company has responded.


Read how the TWU highlighted Comcare’s FedEx report, here


“The health and safety of our FedEx team members, customers, and communities in which we operate is our top priority,” FedEx said.

“We have robust safety measures in place, and we comply with all required Covid-19 regulations, including crew member testing upon arrival.

“Following a team member testing positive to Covid-19 at our Matraville location on August 16, 2021, we can confirm that we complied with all NSW Health requirements including contact tracing.

“We also completed a deep clean of the facility and equipment.

“We are taking all necessary precautions and following guidance from government authorities related to the reporting and containment of Covid-19.

“Whilst Comcare inspected the case at Matraville, the report indicated that FedEx has robust processes in place to ensure that risk of Covid-19 infection at the workplace is minimised and team members are consulted.

“The inspection was completed with no further action for FedEx.

“Health and Safety are paramount to us at FedEx. Our Health and Safety policies are of the highest standard.

“We are constantly reviewing our protocols and we make necessary adjustments where needed in order to protect our team members, our customers and our communities.”

 

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