Federal Court awards half what the union seeks following win
The Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) pledges to push for all its legal costs following Aldi’s failed court case against it.
The Federal Court awarded the union half what it sought following a victory in March.
Stung by the union public criticism and picketing, Aldi argued that, along with ‘nuisance’ and ‘trespass’ the TWU had engaged in ‘injurious falsehood’, an accusation usually reserved for private companies, where one might besmirch the reputation of the other for financial gain.
The union cast the company’s action as seeking to gag it and its members.
The actions followed an Aldi move to bring control of its transport task in-house in the hope of this being done at a third of the cost – the example give in the case is $1,077 down to $350 for the Warwick store – without understanding what had been involved in the cost its previous contracting transport company, CTS, had arrived at.
Read how the Federal Court’s decision was received, here
As the case progressed only the latter issue was pursued but as it was under the Australian Consumer Law and as the union is not a trading corporation and because the statements the union made were not made in trade or commerce, the case failed.
“Aldi tried to shut down the voice of truck drivers through a costly case which rans for almost three years.
“These drivers were raising legitimate concerns about safety which Aldi refused to acknowledge. Aldi spectacularly lost this case and it should be forced to pay the full costs.
‘Drivers must be able speak out when their lives and the lives of other road users are threatened.
“It is important that wealthy retailers like Aldi are held to account when they use the system to try to tie workers up in legal battles.
“Trucking is Australia’s deadliest industry and Government reports constantly state the number of people killed in truck crashes is disproportionally high.
“Retailers, manufacturers, oil companies and other businesses which reply on trucking must ensure that their goods are being transported in the safest possible way, otherwise people die.
“Truck drivers every day are being pressured to speed, drive long hours and skip their mandatory rest breaks because of the pressure to keep transport costs down.
“Aldi must own up to its role in road safety. It should be listening to drivers raising concerns, not trying to shut them down.”