Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] Back in July, a local worker named Chris Smith came to my mobile office at Banyo and asked me to sign a pledge of support for local Toll Group workers, who are heading to Fair Work to protect their job security, work conditions and industry standards. Last Thursday night, two hours after my home quarantine finished at midnight, I stuck by my word to Chris and proudly stood, shoulder to shoulder, with Toll workers and Transport Workers Union delegates at the Brisbane Airport as they walked off the job site at midnight to begin a 24-hour strike.

During the pandemic, our delivery drivers and truckies have put their lives on the line to keep our country moving and to deliver food, PPE and vaccines. They have kept our country and our economy in motion when our brick-and-mortar shops have closed in lockdown. Instead of rewarding their workers with job security and safe working conditions, Toll is planning to sell them out in a bid to compete in a race to the bottom with exploitative models like Amazon Flex. Toll is trying to do what Qantas tried and failed to do to my aviation workers: scrap their working entitlements and engage outside workers on minimal pay and with fewer rights.

On behalf of my transport workers, aviation workers and all north-side workers, we know that only a Labor government would implement the same job, same pay policy that will actually improve job security for hardworking north-siders; that's what they deserve. (Time expired)

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