Parcels,alcohol to be hit with transport strike on Thursday

Alcohol and parcel deliveries will be strained on Thursday when workers at three of the country’s largest logistics companies walk off the job in a coordinated strike designed by their union to put pressure on the companies to agree to their pay and job security demands.

Staff at international parcel giant FedEx,Australia Post subsidiary StarTrack and alcohol transport company BevChain have given notice of a 24-hour strike and say they will only back down if their demands for stricter limits on outsourcing work are met.

StarTrack workers have given notice of a 24-hour strike on Thursday.

StarTrack workers have given notice of a 24-hour strike on Thursday.

Other major transport firms that had been targeted by the Transport Workers Union including Global Express – which had been part of Toll – and Linfox have reached deals with the union,which it says include stronger guarantees that only a set percentage of work can be outsourced.

The strikes come against a backdrop of problems with international supply chains and sharply increased demand for deliveries caused by lockdown-driven online shopping so severe it has forced Australia Post to twice pause parcel pickups.

Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine lashed the holdout companies.

“Based on performance,these companies should have been the first to provide job security guarantees and fair pay and conditions to reflect workers’ sacrifices and efforts during the pandemic,” Mr Kaine said in a statement. “Instead,they have pushed workers to the brink with no choice but to pursue legal industrial action to break the impasse before the Christmas surge in demand.”

StarTrack sees things differently. It has offered workers a 3 per cent annual pay rise for the next three years,off current typical wages of about $60,000 to $70,000 a year including average overtime,with no reductions in conditions.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the transport workers union at StarTrack should accept a deal that was good enough for thousands of their colleagues.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the transport workers union at StarTrack should accept a deal that was good enough for thousands of their colleagues.Alex Ellinghausen

“StarTrack strongly rejects that job security is under threat,” a spokesman said,adding the company had made concessions on the TWU’s demands. That includes commitments to pay outside staff the same as its own employees,and requirements for the company to use its own staff before using labour hire.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher,who oversees Australia Post,pointed out that thousands of other Australia Post workers represented primarily by the CEPU,the communications union,had approved a similar enterprise agreement earlier this year.

“To threaten a second strike action in the middle of a pandemic,when millions of Australians are doing their shopping online and relying on companies like StarTrack to deliver vital supplies to their home,is unconscionable,” Mr Fletcher said.

He did not take up a meeting offered by the union last week,saying the dispute was about ensuring thousands of parcel deliveries were not missed and a good deal was accepted rather than a “pointless meeting”.

“If the Communications Minister had accepted workers’ invitation to meet,he would understand that this battle has never been a wages grab,” Mr Kaine said. “He would have heard about the attacks on jobs,intimidation and delay tactics workers have faced while making sacrifices to support their employer.”

FedEx,which could not be reached for comment,has previously said it was expecting some disruption to its business but had contingency plans to minimise the impact of any strike.

“We have tabled an offer which improves current employee entitlements and includes a fair wage and superannuation increase,” the spokeswoman said. She said the company had also committed to reducing outside hire where possible.

“However,in the course of doing our business,we do face situations such as annual leave and peak periods where it is necessary to engage outside hire to meet our delivery commitments and provide industry-leading service to customers.”

BevChain and Linfox did not respond to a request for comment.

Nick Bonyhady is a technology writer for the Australian Financial Review,based in Sydney. He is a former technology editor,industrial relations and politics reporter at the Sydney Morning Herald and Age.

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