* Western Australia - Independent contractors will do have their prices fixed by the government
... The modern danger to workers in Australia is the increasing pattern of collusion between big business and big unions, which sell out workers' interests so as to boost union membership. The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption revealed, this is the preferred business model of Australia's alternative prime minister, Bill Shorten... As head of the Australian Workers Union (AWU), Shorten signed off on a deal which bargained away wages and conditions of employees at a company called Cleanevent. The deal undercut the award rates of pay by $10 per hour per person, costing an estimated 5000 employees a total of about $400 million in lost wages. In return it represented a significant saving for the management of Cleanevent... The creation of the RSRT in 2012 – under Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten – was an amplification and codification of this approach... Under the terms of the Road Safety Remuneration Act 2012, the RSRT has the power to set the prices which long-haul and interstate owner-driver truckies must charge. After almost four years the RSRT has just issued its first determination in relation to payments for owner-drivers. Its decision will massively increase 'safe rates' that must be paid to owner-drivers to such an extent it threatens the viability of up to 80 per cent of the nation's estimated 35,000 owner-drivers... The real kicker is that the increased rates apply only to owner-drivers. Curiously, large trucking companies with employee drivers are not required to pay the massively inflated 'safe rates'... Put simply, those who own and operate their trucking businesses as independent contractors are having their prices fixed by the government... In a staggering coincidence, the workforce of large trucking companies is where much of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) membership can be found. Unless the RSRT is abolished, those wishing to work as truckies will be forced to do so as employees of the big trucking companies, and probably also as members of the TWU. Of course, this was Bill Shorten's desire – a ménage a trois of big business, big unions and big government... The impact of Bill Shorten's TWU membership drive extends beyond Australia's owner-drivers to the kitchen table of every Australian by forcing up the prices of household goods and groceries...
(Photo by Arsineh Houspian - Truck drivers will be forced into union membership by RSRT pay decision) -- Perth, W.A., Australia - Financial Review, by Dean Smith - Apr 18 2016Labels: debates, minimum freight rates, rules and regulations, truckers' complain, truckers' protests, trucking industry news Australia
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