Fight is on to keep owner driver truckies on the road

APRIL 1, 2016: A DECISION today by the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) will see scores of truck drivers across the region lose their livelihoods and small trucking businesses close down and I will seek legislation to abolish the RSRT.The RSRT have announced today that they will ignore the calls from owner driver truckies all over the country and push ahead with their totally unfair minimum payment rate which will take effect from Monday.What this means is that the Labor-established and Labor-stacked tribunal has set a minimum payment rate for owner drivers which will effectively price them out of business.They are being told they must charge a rate for their services which is above that of drivers who are employees signed up to unions.I’ve met with dozens of owner driver truckies since this information of payment rates hit them out of the blue and knocked them for six.The Liberal National Government had sought to defer the introduction of this unfair measure to allow for consultations with the industry but this request has been ignored.Peoples’ livelihoods are being threatened, and I am going to have discussions with the Employment Minsiter Michaelia Cash to remedy the situation through legislation.Because the RSRT was established as an independent body, the Liberal National Government cannot overturn the decision.The most we can do is legislate to abolish the tribunal but we will need the support of Labor and the Greens in the Senate to do that, and Labor have already indicated they won’t support such legislation.In the meantime I urge all owner drivers to write to the Employment Minister’s office to let her know that you want reform of the system by emailing rsrreview@employment.gov.auDrivers can also visit the following website for more information.https://www.employment.gov.au/review-road-safety-remuneration-system