BY CHRIS SLEE
MELBOURNE — Five hundred owner-drivers rallied on the steps of Parliament House on November 13. They parked their trucks in the street and blocked traffic for an hour. They were demanding that the Victorian Labor government's Fair Employment Bill be passed.
The bill will establish a Fair Employment Tribunal with the power to set minimum wages and conditions for employees, review unfair contracts, such as those enforced on owner-drivers by the big trucking companies, and set minimum cartage rates to be paid to owner-drivers by the companies. The aim of the rally was to put pressure on the Liberal and National parties, which hold a majority in the upper house, to pass the bill.
Recently, owner-drivers in the quarrying and excavation industries were on strike for a month, demanding higher cartage rates to make up for increased petrol and other costs. Drivers in the excavation industry, who take material away from building sites, won an agreement with plant hire companies for better rates after being on strike for about two weeks, but remained on strike for another three weeks until quarry drivers also got an agreement for higher rates.
Jane Calvert, state secretary of the forestry division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, described the problems of logging truck owner drivers. They have to pay more than $300,000 for a truck that needs to be replaced every three or four years. After covering their costs, they get only about $25,000 for working between 60 and 70 hours a week. They work up to 20 hours a day, jeopardising their safety and that of other road users. This is a result of "market force", she said.
Bill Shorten of the Australian Workers Union also addressed the rally. He spoke of the plight of rural workers on $11 per hour and no job security.