Transport Worker's Union members employed by bus company Transdev WA are continuing their strike actions for parity in wages and conditions with drivers in private companies.
Attempts by the TWU leadership to get the Western Australian state government, responsible for contracting the French Multinational company that employs 1100 bus drivers to force Transdev WA to negotiate have failed.
Transport Workers Union (TWU) members employed by bus company Transdev WA organised a 4-hour stoppage on February 7 as part of their campaign for parity in wages and conditions with other drivers.
The stoppage, which affected routes through Rockingham, Mandurah, Fremantle and Joondalup, was the latest action in the union鈥檚 long-running industrial campaign that began in January last year. Talks between the Western Australian TWU leadership and the French multinational transport company broke down last October.
鈥淲age theft is rife in the food delivery industry,鈥 Transport Workers Union (TWU) spokesperson Tony Sheldon told a rally of delivery riders and unionists on August 29 organised by the union and On-Demand Workers Australia.
The action demanded that the federal government puts in place a safety net to ensure riders from all companies are guaranteed minimum wage and entitlements.
More than 300 truckies, their families and supporters protested around the country on July 16 to demand an end to the pressure in the industry that is killing hundreds of people on the roads every year. In the past 12 months, 184 drivers have been killed in truck crashes.
Bus drivers employed in Victoria have been forced to take strike action 鈥 the first in 20 years 鈥 because of the bosses' ridiculously small wage offer.
As the government鈥檚 criminal case against Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) officials John Setka and Shaun Reardon ended in embarrassing collapse, unions called for the repeal of draconian secondary boycott laws.
Sympathy strikes are one of the most common forms of secondary boycott. They involve a union taking industrial action to force a company to cease trading with another company until the targeted company agrees to industrial demands. The law against secondary boycotts thus interferes with the right of workers to campaign collectively.
The Transport Workers鈥 Union joined the ACTU, Victorian Trades Hall and Unions NSW on January 31 to launch a campaign for the rights of food delivery riders.
The campaign called for urgent regulation of the industry after three quarters of food delivery riders are paid below the minimum award wage and have no sick leave.
The Transport Workers鈥 Union (TWU) has called for jail terms for employers who deliberately underpay their staff.
TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon said this was 鈥渨age theft鈥 and it was time to treat bosses with the same rules as employees.
The call follows a string of scandals at franchise operators 7-Eleven, Caltex, Domino鈥檚 Pizza and Pizza Hut, where employees have been underpaid by tens of millions of dollars. 7-Eleven has so far paid out $90 million for non-payment of wages while Caltex has set up a $20 million fund to repay their workers.
