7,000 truckies to go on strike?

[bob10]

The TWU has written to the Fair Work Commission for permission to vote on strike action. Surely not during this covid crisis?



What happens when 7000 truckies go on strike? We're about to find out (inqld.com.au) (https://inqld.com.au/business/2021/07/15/what-happens-when-7000-truckies-go-on-strike-were-about-to-find-out/)

[Eevo]

Surely not during this covid crisis?

) (https://inqld.com.au/business/2021/07/15/what-happens-when-7000-truckies-go-on-strike-were-about-to-find-out/)
best time to hold people to ransom

[V8Ian]

Toll are trying to move these truck drivers to a shop assistant award, rather than a drivers' award.
There was a case (in WA??) where a young fellow was hit by a car, whilst taking groceries from the rear of the small truck. The young fellow sustained serious, permanent, life changing injuries.
In court it was argued that he was on the first rung of a truck driving career. The counter argument was that he was a shop assistant, ergo the payment should be significantly less than what was claimed.
Toll is a transport company and should be paying transport rates, not boosting their shareholders' returns by underpaying low paid workers.
Wages and conditions are being eroded constantly. I know a nation wide company that is casualising its workforce. They are paying overtime rates after 38½ hrs, so employees are being worked 12+ hrs a shift, but only allowed three shifts in a pay period.

[Bulletman]

Toll are trying to move these truck drivers to a shop assistant award, rather than a drivers' award.
There was a case (in WA??) where a young fellow was hit by a car, whilst taking groceries from the rear of the small truck. The young fellow sustained serious, permanent, life changing injuries.
In court it was argued that he was on the first rung of a truck driving career. The counter argument was that he was a shop assistant, ergo the payment should be significantly less than what was claimed.
Toll is a transport company and should be paying transport rates, not boosting their shareholders' returns by underpaying low paid workers.
Wages and conditions are being eroded constantly. I know a nation wide company that is casualising its workforce. They are paying overtime rates after 38½ hrs, so employees are being worked 12+ hrs a shift, but only allowed three shifts in a pay period.
C'mon Ian ,
Where else is the new boss of Toll going to get the $$ to buy some more Cartier watches.😀😀
Bulletman

[Eevo]

not boosting their shareholders' returns
you know they have a legal obligation to do so right?

[jonesfam]

you know they have a legal obligation to do so right?

At what cost?
Three is also a legal duty of care.
Jonesfam

[Eevo]

At what cost?
Three is also a legal duty of care.
Jonesfam
at the cost of the CEO's bonus. and the CEO will look after his bonus more than the duty of care of people at the bottom. i dont understand why people are shocked over this. its how the system works.

[scarry]

:rulez:
C'mon Ian ,
Where else is the new boss of Toll going to get the $$ to buy some more Cartier watches.😀😀
Bulletman

We do a heap of work for a reasonably large trucking company,they have around 350 on the road,many B doubles.

The Boss,Barry,has a different vehicle for each day.Its a joke with the boys,i wonder what vehicle will be in his car park today?

Not long ago he bought a FFRR,it was so good he ordered one for his wife.[bighmmm]

He also has a couple of very nice Holden GTS's,in his collection.
He told me how much they use in fuel a year,but the amount has dissapeared from my grey matter,but he did say every week or so he puts well over $1Mill into the fuel account.:eek2:

[Homestar]

You only have to look at this page fir it to tell you all you need to know about Toll - Michael Byrne to step down - Thomas Knudsen appointed as Managing Director of Toll Group | Toll Group (https://www.tollgroup.com/news-and-media/media-releases/Thomas-Knudsen-appointed-as-Managing-Director-of-Toll-Group)

There’s a bit on the previous GM - Michael ‘Monty’ Burns. He didn’t earn that nickname for being a nice bloke I can tell you. Although he’s moved on he was very much the person behind the current culture at Toll.

Won’t say any more about that though lest I land myself in trouble.

[Gav 110]

I’m sure if the TWU calls a strike, there are plenty of subbies (usually from the sub continent (from what I’ve seen)) who are more than willing to take over from the regular “hard working” steering wheel attendants and at a discounted rate no doubt

And with the COVID crisis we’ve all been living under for the past year and a bit, everybody should be well stocked with toilet paper and the likes, so if there’s a few days between strike action and the Toll executives getting in touch with the subbies we will all have a clean back end[emoji12][emoji12]

[Bulletman]

A fair slice of Toll is about to be sold off, Japan post obviously has had enough. It’s likely to be taken over by Global express, and the new CEO of Global express is the former Australia Post CEO who was a good customer of Cartier

Bulletman

[SpudHeadTed]

Shop assistants should go on strike too.

[Geedublya]

I've rescued two drivers from the sub continent in my street. One turned into a driveway to late and ended up against the gate wall. Couldn't reverse as the truck had too little weight over the traction wheels and it just spun on the steepish road, he was blocking our cul-de-sac and couldn't get assistance for a couple of hours. I pulled him up the hill with the RRS. The other one tried to reverse up our driveway and couldn't get over the gutter due to wheelspin. I tried to coach him into coming forward up against the parked car and getting more momentum to clear the gutter but he wouldn't listen and kept trying the same thing over and over without success. I eventually found the owner of the parked car and got it moved enough so he could turn.

[trout1105]

Maybe we should all boycot Toll and use other transport companies instead until they come to their senses and look after their drivers properly.[thumbsupbig]
There are plenty of other trucking companies that can take up the slack if Toll goes bust and it will send a strong message to any other company that wants to try this penny pinching driver bashing bull****.

[Tote]

A fair slice of Toll is about to be sold off, Japan post obviously has had enough. It’s likely to be taken over by Global express, and the new CEO of Global express is the former Australia Post CEO who was a good customer of Cartier

Bulletman

I'm sorry, global express is just a little bit too close, and this delivery vehicle is already Toll green as well. Planet Express Ship | Futurama Wiki | Fandom (https://futurama.fandom.com/wiki/Planet_Express_Ship)


Regards,
Tote

[Homestar]

Maybe we should all boycot Toll and use other transport companies instead until they come to their senses and look after their drivers properly.[thumbsupbig]
There are plenty of other trucking companies that can take up the slack if Toll goes bust and it will send a strong message to any other company that wants to try this penny pinching driver bashing bull****.

How would we do that? It's not like you or I use them directly and most people - including me, wouldn't have a clue on what contracts they have so I could avoid buying certain products, going to certain stores or even what sort of products they move.

[trout1105]

How would we do that? It's not like you or I use them directly and most people - including me, wouldn't have a clue on what contracts they have so I could avoid buying certain products, going to certain stores or even what sort of products they move.

I wouldn't have any idea of how to do this but people smarter than us would[thumbsupbig]

IF it gets to the stage where driving a truck for a living becomes an unattractive occupation then there will be a shortage of truckkies and IF this happens we will all suffer because let's face it pretty much everything we use has spent some time in the back of a truck at one time or another.

[disco gazza]

Having been a Toll employee, I DID enjoy working for them.
But as the years rolled on they progressively got worse and worse as they all wanted there bonuses etc,but we kept our working conditions with very few
modifications.
I,ve heard that they have just recently signed a new contract with WOW for Sydney and Central Coast.
Thankfully I retired couple of years ago, so I dont have to put up with all the crap that the goes with delivering to
woolies stores up there(woolies are just as bad as toll are,especially there warehouses,no wonder they want to go robotic,when they build there new warehouses).

As for the sub-continent drivers,they are paid the same as the permanents or near enough as they are on a kilometre rate(subbies rates) unless that has changed since I last
worked there.

cheers
DG

[SpudHeadTed]

I wouldn't have any idea of how to do this but people smarter than us would[thumbsupbig]

IF it gets to the stage where driving a truck for a living becomes an unattractive occupation then there will be a shortage of truckkies and IF this happens we will all suffer because let's face it pretty much everything we use has spent some time in the back of a truck at one time or another.

Kinda like for teachers, nurses, aged care workers, shop assistants, cleaners, removalists, gig economy workers, etc? Half the country should go on strike given the cost of living and the mugs we’re all being taken for by the other half.

[Bulletman]

I’m pretty sure it’s not just Toll, I worked for them doing coles and I reckon they would match woolies in the crap department, especially during last years craziness. We were collecting containers direct from the rail which was staying open later than their usual 11pm , and we would take it direct to the stores sometimes arriving at 1am , only to be met with either some sort abuse from the manager because you ring to say you are on the dock or to be met by 1 single staff member usually from somewhere other than the dock and asked to unload the container because they can’t or don’t know how , Usually it was both of these together.

Toll to their credit did pay well for us to do it, but unloading a 48ft double stacked container with some proxy electric pallet jack / reach stacker that was set at snail pace because some coles muppet had run over their foot so OHS set them at slower than walking pace , so it usually took 4+ hours to unload a single container. You might say well that’s not the drivers job, but if you didn’t then there was nothing on the shelves for the punters the next morning, so it was just easier to do it than cop the abuse from joe public when they seen a truck on the dock with a Toll driver sitting in the cab doing nothing.

I could say plenty more , but that would have cost Toll many $$ and coles didn’t seem to care as they couldn’t even supply workers to do what is their job as part of their business, yet they would ring and complain if the truck wasn’t there on time because the train was late or you were waiting for some other poor driver who was on the dock waiting to be unloaded.

Bulletman

[350RRC]

The guys stacking the bread shelves in W at 7 in the morning are the delivery drivers from the bread companies, or delivery 'apprentices'.

Bread companies pay for 'positioning' on the shelves.

Pretty neat arrangement, not.

DL

[SpudHeadTed]

I’m pretty sure it’s not just Toll, I worked for them doing coles and I reckon they would match woolies in the crap department, especially during last years craziness. We were collecting containers direct from the rail which was staying open later than their usual 11pm , and we would take it direct to the stores sometimes arriving at 1am , only to be met with either some sort abuse from the manager because you ring to say you are on the dock or to be met by 1 single staff member usually from somewhere other than the dock and asked to unload the container because they can’t or don’t know how , Usually it was both of these together.

Toll to their credit did pay well for us to do it, but unloading a 48ft double stacked container with some proxy electric pallet jack / reach stacker that was set at snail pace because some coles muppet had run over their foot so OHS set them at slower than walking pace , so it usually took 4+ hours to unload a single container. You might say well that’s not the drivers job, but if you didn’t then there was nothing on the shelves for the punters the next morning, so it was just easier to do it than cop the abuse from joe public when they seen a truck on the dock with a Toll driver sitting in the cab doing nothing.

I could say plenty more , but that would have cost Toll many $$ and coles didn’t seem to care as they couldn’t even supply workers to do what is their job as part of their business, yet they would ring and complain if the truck wasn’t there on time because the train was late or you were waiting for some other poor driver who was on the dock waiting to be unloaded.

Bulletman

Definitely under paid. …similar stories for all other professions too.

[SpudHeadTed]

The guys stacking the bread shelves in W at 7 in the morning are the delivery drivers from the bread companies, or delivery 'apprentices'.

Bread companies pay for 'positioning' on the shelves.

Pretty neat arrangement, not.

DL

If they didn’t the loaves would be crooked! OMG!

[disco gazza]

When I left Tolls, my hourly rate was just over $30/hr and that was without a pay rise the previous year. (2018)
Not sure what the :normal: rate was but it wasnt $30/hr.
Tolls (wow) and linfox (coles) were usually paid well above the average hourly rate, then you add in time n 1/2,double time etc.
Some of the guys regularly exceeded $120000 a year if they put the hours in (12-14hrs p/day,that includes w/end work).
So we were well paid to do sweat bugger all except drive the truck to the shop,get unloaded(wow did that then,not sure now),drive back to the yard and dump the trailer
where ever the yardman wanted it and go get a new job,unless it was morning/afternoon tea time, lunch break,dinner break, bludge break, cuppa break.

DG

[SpudHeadTed]

3096642 (tel:3096642)[/URL]]When I left Tolls, my hourly rate was just over $30/hr and that was without a pay rise the previous year. (2018)
Not sure what the :normal: rate was but it wasnt $30/hr.
Tolls (wow) and linfox (coles) were usually paid well above the average hourly rate, then you add in time n 1/2,double time etc.
Some of the guys regularly exceeded $120000 a year if they put the hours in (12-14hrs p/day,that includes w/end work).
So we were well paid to do sweat bugger all except drive the truck to the shop,get unloaded(wow did that then,not sure now),drive back to the yard and dump the trailer
where ever the yardman wanted it and go get a new job,unless it was morning/afternoon tea time, lunch break,dinner break, bludge break, cuppa break.

DG

Well it’s definitely the teachers, nurses, aged care workers, shop assistants, cleaners, removalists, gig economy workers, etc, who should go on strike! Most of whom are paid less by the hour, especially when all the unpaid overtime of most of those gigs is factored in!

[Tote]

Well it’s definitely the teachers, nurses, aged care workers, shop assistants, cleaners, removalists, gig economy workers, etc, who should go on strike! Most of whom are paid less by the hour, especially when all the unpaid overtime of most of those gigs is factored in!

SWMBO is paid around over $100K as a teacher https://www.education.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/307596/Teaching-Staff-Enterprise-Agreement-2014-2018.pdf she puts in fairly long hours but that is balanced out by 12 weeks of effective leave. (not all time in all holidays is leave, she is excpected to do some work on holiday stand down)

Regards,
Tote

[SpudHeadTed]

SWMBO is paid around over $100K as a teacher https://www.education.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/307596/Teaching-Staff-Enterprise-Agreement-2014-2018.pdf she puts in fairly long hours but that is balanced out by 12 weeks of effective leave. (not all time in all holidays is leave, she is excpected to do some work on holiday stand down)

Regards,
Tote

...so you're effectively saying truck drivers are paid enough then?

Teachers are under extreme pressure...
One in three teachers plan to quit, says National Education Union survey | Teaching | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/08/one-in-three-uk-teachers-plan-to-quit-says-national-education-union-survey)

[Tote]

...so you're effectively saying truck drivers are paid enough then?

Teachers are under extreme pressure...
One in three teachers plan to quit, says National Education Union survey | Teaching | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/08/one-in-three-uk-teachers-plan-to-quit-says-national-education-union-survey)

Nope, just pointing out what teachers earn, what would you consider a good income ?

Regards,
Tote

[RANDLOVER]

SWMBO is paid around over $100K as a teacher https://www.education.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/307596/Teaching-Staff-Enterprise-Agreement-2014-2018.pdf she puts in fairly long hours but that is balanced out by 12 weeks of effective leave. (not all time in all holidays is leave, she is excpected to do some work on holiday stand down)

Regards,
Tote


When I left Tolls, my hourly rate was just over $30/hr and that was without a pay rise the previous year. (2018)
Not sure what the :normal: rate was but it wasnt $30/hr.
Tolls (wow) and linfox (coles) were usually paid well above the average hourly rate, then you add in time n 1/2,double time etc.
Some of the guys regularly exceeded $120000 a year if they put the hours in (12-14hrs p/day,that includes w/end work).
So we were well paid to do sweat bugger all except drive the truck to the shop,get unloaded(wow did that then,not sure now),drive back to the yard and dump the trailer
where ever the yardman wanted it and go get a new job,unless it was morning/afternoon tea time, lunch break,dinner break, bludge break, cuppa break.

DG

I can see how truckies can earn more than a uni qualified teacher, as they do have a lot of BSc experience........... Behind Steering Column. [biggrin]

[Homestar]

Well it’s definitely the teachers, nurses, aged care workers, shop assistants, cleaners, removalists, gig economy workers, etc, who should go on strike! Most of whom are paid less by the hour, especially when all the unpaid overtime of most of those gigs is factored in!

Nurses earn a reasonable amount after they get some experience. $65K as they finish Nursing School and well over $100K after a few years working up to say a Clinical Nurse. Nurse unit manager over $110K.

I wouldn’t put Teachers and Nurses in that group myself.

Yes Teachers are stressed but as they say - if you can’t stand the heat…

[trout1105]

I can see how truckies can earn more than a uni qualified teacher, as they do have a lot of BSc experience........... Behind Steering Column. [biggrin]

Truckkies can earn more because unlike teachers they work in a high risk industry, they do 12+ hrs a day and they work more than 9 months a year[bigwhistle]

[SpudHeadTed]

So everyone’s happy then? Why are the truckers going on strike again?

[V8Ian]

For every truckie earning $100,000, there are ten living from week to week.
A significant percentage of employers, not only in the transport industry, adopt the attitude of "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen".
How many employees or owner drivers are trapped in underpaid jobs, that they can't afford to leave.
It's all well and good having principles, but principles don't pay bills or feed kids.

[3toes]

Unless you work in an industry with a standardized national wage structure it is difficult to compare wages

In the UK they will tell you a large burger chains pays 17k and a HGV driver 24k. Yet I have friends who do both these jobs and the burger chain pays better and does not require nights away sleeping in a truck. Am sure you could find other groups who would tell you the opposite. For comparison the average wage in England if you subtract London is 21k