OPINION: Road transport industry reform does not include handing out nit-picking fines for drivers.
Acouple of months ago I wrote about one of the many challenges that truck drivers face: minor infringements with no bearing on safety, when we’re doing the right thing. These are an added distraction we really don’t need on top of all the other stress points in the sector. Since then I’ve decided to contest the fine I got for not providing the address of my duplicate records of my work diary. Of course, there are the obvious financial reasons as to why I would contest this, however to me, this is also a matter of principle: truck drivers are good people doing a tough, tiring job.
We need to be treated reasonably, in a common sense manner that improves safety rather than adding to the many levels of red tape we have to endure which won’t actually make a difference to the industry.
Policing our roads is always as important as ever and there are other issues that police should be concerned with on our roads, not trivialities that can cause little harm to anyone.
When I tried to protest my fine to the police officer, it was clear I was getting nowhere. He’d clearly made up his mind and was determined to tick this one of his list. I’ve tried to appeal the fine to Service NSW, but I feel there is little interest from them as well as they seek to uphold the fine. Now I have to take time off to go to the courts, in addition to all the time dealing with the fine paperwork itself. All of this hassle, all because of a clerical oversight that I didn’t provide the address of where duplicate copies are kept, even though he has the original in his hands.
While drivers are being fined left, right and centre for frankly ludicrous things like misspelling place names, what we really need to get on with is getting to the root of the issue. This year we’ve got a huge chance to get laws through that actually make a difference to us rather than adding to the hoops we have to jump through.
Unrealistic deadlines
During a recent national council meeting for the Transport Workers Union (TWU) I was part of a discussion panel on transport reform. Reforms are needed in order to ensure people at the top of supply chains are held to account for what happens down their supply chains, whether it be for remuneration or conditions that affect our safety and the safety of people around us.
At the moment we have a transport industry where operators and drivers are subject to unrealistic delivery deadlines and pay systems. Companies don’t want drivers to break the law but also want them there to arrive as early as possible. By changing the overall industry mindset from keeping rates as low as possible in a race to the bottom, we would be all better served if we focus on the quality of the service and a safer industry for everyone, with truck drivers being able to reach their destinations, well rested and well paid.
It was great to hear from other drivers and transport workers – not just in trucking but in the gig economy as well, where standards are so rock bottom it’s putting pressure on the good companies to go down to their level. If that happens all of the rights we’ve built up will be on the line.
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We had employers and industry associations at TWU’s national council saying the exact same thing: we need reform, and we need it now. It’s powerful to have people from every corner of the industry saying we need change. That’s why this will be our best chance yet to get it over the line.
But changes don’t happen in this industry without some form of industrial pressure on the powers that be. There are multiple ways to put pressure on the Government to make legislative changes to the transport industry happen, whether it’s to down tools and hold protests, or by lobbying your local member.
In my time as an owner-driver, I’ve taken part in convoys, spoken on behalf of owner-drivers to the press and participated in Senator Glenn Sterle’s inquiry into trucking that gave recommendations which would make our industry fairer and safer. It’s not heavy-handed fines that will change things: it’s things like a seat at the table, fair pay and cost recovery and protection against unfair contract terminations.
The important thing is we all get involved in whatever capacity we can and do whatever it takes to get the message across to Government. Thankfully we do have a Labor Government in power and they do seem to be listening, with Federal Government representatives like Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke, Senator Glenn Sterle, Senator Tony Sheldon and Tanya Plibersek MP recently re-committing to reform in transport that we desperately need.
Still, it’s important to not be complacent and assume these things will work themselves out – we still have to get it over the line with the rest of Federal Parliament. No matter who is in power, it’s important to make our voices heard in the push to make the industry safer and fairer and in transport, the most dangerous profession going around, there’s clearly still a ways to go.
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Frank Black has been a long distance owner-driver for more than 30 years. He is a former long-term owner-driver representative on the ATA Council.