OPINION: By working together we can build the Aussie high road and avoid the United States low road.
The year 2023 is here, and while many around the country are slowly returning to work, drivers have as usual been working across the holidays to keep the show running. This year will be the year to fight for an industry that means, whether working through bushfires, floods, pandemics or whatever else is thrown their way, drivers can be safe at work and make a fair living.
The need for a top class Aussie system has never been more urgent. We must avoid the US low road.
At the beginning of this year, there was startling news out of the US as Amazon announced that it would be cutting 18,000 jobs, its biggest round of job cuts ever.
It might seem like these job cuts have no tangible link to Australia. But what we’ve seen over the last few years is an accelerating trend towards companies importing their US-style tactics that undercut competition, smash workers’ rights, and kill small business – and it spells a clear and present crisis for the freight industry.
That’s because by bringing in Amazon Flex, which pays basement rates to its drivers on a “take it or leave it” basis, the whole industry is undercut. For owner-drivers and operators already struggling to keep up with rampant inflation and exorbitant fuel costs, this race to the bottom could spell the end of business for many.
This attack is not confined to parcel freight. Amazon in the US has already taken things one step further by infiltrating traditional freight. In 2017, it quietly launched Relay, an app designed for truck freight, branching out of its model that had previously only been used for couriers in vans or cars.
Now several years later, Amazon is firmly entrenched in the traditional freight landscape. That spells enormous trouble for drivers and small businesses across the US. More importantly, it foreshadows what would happen if the same were to happen in Australia.
A report last year, for example, found that Amazon’s contracting practices are deadly. In fact, since 2015 trucking companies that Amazon contracts to in the US have been involved in crashes killing more than 75 people.
Kansas tragedy
We know all too well in Australia that significant financial strain from the tops of supply chains pressures drivers and operators to cut corners on safety, speed and drive fatigued. Amazon’s focus is on grabbing market share through rock-bottom prices – in fact it washes its hands of its safety responsibilities entirely, saying it has “little role” in its contractors’ safety.
Consequently, the track record of freight contractors for Amazon in the US is shocking. One driver in Kansas lost control while braking and was involved in a fatal accident. It happened two months after the driver’s employer failed to act on a police order to fix the truck’s brakes.
This is the same company that told a driver in Illinois in 2021 that she would be sacked if she stopped delivering, despite tornado alarms going off in the area. Another delivery driver, and five other workers, were devastatingly killed when the tornado tore through the Amazon distribution centre where they were working. The parents of the delivery driver have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Amazon.
These are just a few of the examples of the lack of regard Amazon has for its workers, but it’s not just Amazon importing its disgraceful and deadly tactics to our shores.
In the US, FedEx spent $837,000 on a union-busting campaign when workers fought for pay parity with UPS workers. Here in Australia, FedEx fought back against employee drivers’ call for job security in 2021. Now it’s threatening owner-drivers’ pay and conditions as well, by bringing in an Amazon Flex-style model for couriers, who would be stripped of rights like sick leave and superannuation, and imposing gig-style piece rates at just $2.50 a drop.
Seeking stability
Trucking is already the deadliest industry in Australia. During 2022, 174 people were killed in road crashes in Australia, 43 of them truck drivers. If we see the likes of Amazon and FedEx continue to creep in with insidious methods of stripping back rights and protections that support sustainable operations, owner-drivers and operators will be under even more financial pressure.
It is essential we rein in the Amazon effect before it obliterates the industry as we know it.
Luckily, companies like Amazon and FedEx are still the outliers in Australia. For many others, even gig companies like Uber and DoorDash who have joined calls for reform, fair competition is the crucial part in stabilising road transport.
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That’s why 2023 is such a pivotal year in our fight for a safer, fairer and more sustainable industry. With Labor’s commitments to empower the Fair Work Commission to set minimum standards across all of road transport, we’ll be able to halt the Amazon effect that’s devastated trucking in the US.
Importantly, it would also mean drivers and operators are given a seat at the table – to be part of the decision-making process, and be able to provide advice and recommendations instead of the “take it or leave it” basis that has crept in from the likes of Amazon.
Around 18,000 job losses in Amazon in the US is a warning to us that this is a company that thinks it can do what it likes and so far has been able to exploit workers unchecked. Our laws have not kept up with the rampant pace of the gig tsunami, and unless we update them urgently, owner-drivers, operators and everyone else in the industry will see their pay and conditions go even further backwards.
With Labor’s commitments, 2023 is our year to make sure once and for all that we have a fair, sustainable and safe road transport system. Let’s ensure that together we build the Aussie high road.
Michael Kaine is the national secretary of the Transport Workers Union of Australia. Contact Michael at: NSW Transport Workers Union, Transport House, 188-390 Sussex Street, Sydney, NSW 2000. twu@twu.com.au