The Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) NSW branch is calling on the state government to widen the definition of essential workers to include employees in critical transport sectors such as road freight.
A TWU submission to a parliamentary inquiry on Options for Essential Worker Housing in NSW has urged the NSW government to review how it defines essential work to include members of the road freight, bus and waste management industries.
Currently, the NSW government defines essential workers as those in the health, education, police, fire and rescue and justice sectors.
The TWU says that transport workers in the road freight industry are essential due to the role the sector plays in keeping the economy functioning each day.
With the state government’s recent budget including a $1000 cost of living payment to essential workers that left out transport employees, TWU NSW state secretary Richard Olsen says the lack of consideration for the sector is “disappointing”.
“Without trucks, supermarkets would struggle to replenish their stocks, without garbage workers, the streets of Sydney would pile high with waste and, without bus drivers, whole communities would be stranded without crucial public transport connections,” he says.
“Decisions made by the previous NSW government have left these crucial industries in a ruined state where conditions have gone backwards, pay has stagnated and workers have been left to pick up the pieces.
“We applaud the NSW government’s effort in supporting essential workers following the pandemic, and call on them to broaden this out to transport workers across the state.”
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