TNT one day strike

By Lia Bichel
FRUSTRATED workers at a Hallam freight company refused to work for a day as part of an ongoing campaign for a new work agreement.
On Friday, many TNT workers who are TWU members participated in national work stoppages and refused to load and unload outside hire vehicles that entered their workplaces.
The TWU has been negotiating for months with TNT, one of the world’s largest freight companies, to pay site rates to labour hire and to set up safe rates committees across its sites.
A TWU spokesperson said safe rate committees “ensure every site operates safely, every sub-contractor is treated fairly, everybody gets paid for all the work they do, and everybody gets their superannuation paid.”
The spokesperson for TMU also said road transport was Australia’s most dangerous industry, with about 330 people killed in heavy vehicle accidents each year.
TWU National Secretary, Tony Sheldon, said until there were sensible changes in the company’s practices safety would suffer.
“While the company continues to turn the thumbscrews in the name of their bottom line, the public and employees will suffer,” Mr Sheldon said.
Kevin Hoey, a TNT employee for 28 years said that besides asking for site rates, and safe rate committees, workers were also wanting the agreement to include dispute resolution clauses and delegates rights, fair wage increases and increased superannuation to 15 per cent.
A spokesperson for TNT said TNT made an offer of a wage increase.
“TNT wishes to reiterate that we have made a fair and reasonable offer of a 4% per annum wage increase (that is 12% over the three year term of the proposed EBA) with a CPI safety net,” the spokesperson said.
“The forecast increase in TNT’s annual operating costs of approximately $10m is a direct result of the additional claims being demanded by the Transport Workers Union. TNT’s current offer does not require productivity trade-offs by employees and has been made having regard to ensuring the future financial viability of our organisation.”
The TNT spokesperson said TNT is still in discussions with the TMU.