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Issue No. 211 | 05 March 2004 |
Be Afraid
Interview: Baby Bust Safety: Dust To Dust Bad Boss: Shaming in Print National Focus: Work's Cripplin' Us International: Bulk Bullies History: The Battle for Kelly's Bush Economics: Aid, Trade And Oil Review: The Art Of Work Poetry: Sew His Lips Together
Taskforce "Disgraced" in Court Jockeys Down by Width of Strait Bracks Spin Machine Towels Nurses Good Will Still Hunting on Rail Developer "Monsters" Safety Cop
The Soapbox Sport Politics Postcard
Crucifying Refugees Saving The Planet
Labor Council of NSW |
News Truckers Lose Way With GPS
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) has slammed Australian Trucking Association proposals for greater flexibility and the right to carry heavier loads, in return for the voluntary installation of GPS tracking devices. "If the ATA's proposals are implemented things will only get worse," says Tony Sheldon NSW Transport Worker's Union secretary. "The only winners will be industry clients, while drivers and their families will come under even more pressure."
Sheldon said truck drivers were currently forced to adopt unsafe and unsustainable work practices as a result of unrealistic deadlines and unsustainable rates. "Drivers will be forced to even greater extremes and, without a substantial increase in rates, few would be in a position to put GPS devices in their vehicles," he said. "The only way to really reduce the number of people killed on our roads is to shift the focus of the enforcement regime away from drivers and towards the clients of the industry who really control things" Two drivers died on the Great Western Highway in one 24-hour period, last week; one in a horrific chemical accident that closed the main road through the Blue Mountains. The TWU is calling on both State and Federal Governments to immediately implement the proposals of the NSW Government's Quinlan Report into long haul trucking, including an enforceable chain of responsibility, compulsory safety code of conduct and sustainable minimum rates for drivers. "Consecutive Government reports and enquiries have recognized this, and still the ATA is content to tinker around the edges," says Sheldon. "Tinkering in transport costs lives."
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