Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] There are 15,000 hardworking owner-driver and employee truck drivers across the country at Toll, Linfox, StarTrack and FedEx preparing to take industrial action over the coming weeks. This is one of Australia's most deadly industries. Truck drivers have worked around the clock through COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns to keep Australia moving. Retailers, like Amazon and Aldi, have seen their profits boom during the pandemic. Amazon's profits increased by 224 per cent to $11 billion in just the last quarter—yet they have turned around and are now trying to squeeze the rates of the very workers delivering their products. When those at the top of the supply chain, like Amazon, squeeze rates, transport companies like Toll try to recover that money by cutting the pay and conditions of their drivers and general workers. More than 15,000 truck drivers in the Transport Workers Union have said, 'Enough is enough.' They have said, 'Enough,' to companies like Amazon and Aldi squeezing the transport sector and destroying middle-class jobs. They've said, 'Enough,' to those at the top of the chain—the big retailers, manufacturers and oil companies—knocking the floor out of the industry.

The transport companies continue to put profits over safety even as we face down the worst health crisis in generations. A worker on the morning shift at one of the Sydney depots tested positive for COVID-19 last week. FedEx allowed the shift changeover to take place as normal one-hour later without having appropriate cleaning and the workers not being put in danger. One worker said, 'They just want to keep going at all costs.' The attack on the rights and pay of the Australian middle-class is being felt across the economy.