Plans announced by the Coalition to review the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal in the event of winning September’s Federal election ignore all of the evidence collected over twenty years showing a direct relationship between pay and conditions for truck drivers and road safety, said Tony Sheldon, national secretary of the Transport Workers’ Union.
“It is disappointing that the Coalition’s policy on Fair Work Laws has taken a deeply misguided position on the issues of safe rates of pay for truck drivers and safety on our roads. Hundreds of people are killed in truck crashes each year and thousands more are injured. More than twenty years of evidence has shown time and again the link between pay and related conditions for truck drivers and safety on our roads,” said Mr Sheldon.
A detailed report undertaken for the National Transport Commission by Hon Lance Wright QC and Professor Michael Quinlan confirmed the obvious link between working conditions and road safety in 2008. The report stated that:
“There is solid evidence linking payment levels and systems to crashes, speeding, driving while fatigued and drug use. This evidence has been accepted and indeed confirmed by government inquiries, coronial inquests, courts and industrial tribunal hearings in Australia over a number of years.”
Research by Professor Michael Belzer has shown that every 10% increase in drivers’ pay rate is associated with an 18.7% lower probability of crash.
The findings by the NSW Deputy Coroner Dorelle Pinch following the death of a number of truckies further reinforce this:
“As long as driver payments are based on a (low) rate per kilometer there will always be an incentive for drivers to maximise the hours they drive, not because they are greedy but simply to earn a decent wage.
Mr Sheldon continued: “It was because of the weight of this evidence and testimony from countless truckies about the pressures they are under, that the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal was established last year and it is desperately needed to ensure we have an efficient and safe transport system.”
“The argument that pushing truckies to the edge doesn’t place lives at risk fails the test of common sense. Truck drivers just want to do their job and get home safely, but the aggressive behaviour of major clients like Coles means that drivers are constantly under pressure to cut corners and push the envelope.
“Results from a recent national survey of more than 950 truckies show that 40% of drivers in the Coles supply chain have had to delay vehicle maintenance because of economic pressures. These corporations are misusing their corporate power, and road users are paying the price.”
Queensland owner driver and Australian Trucking Association (ATA) general council member Frank Black commented: “I’ve seen too many people killed or seriously injured in truck crashes because of the pressures placed on truckies. It doesn’t make sense – why would the Coalition want to review the best shot we have ever had to stop the carnage on our roads?
“Truck drivers share the roads with everyone else. That’s why the safety of truck drivers effects every single road user. Today’s announcement from the Coalition ignores the evidence, the facts and the families and communities devastated by truck crashes,” Mr Sheldon said.”