Enews: Helping The Government Fix Their Mistakes.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has meant confusion, anxiety and angst amongst our membership who are scrambling to keep up with the ambiguous, ongoing changes to border crossing rules.

The NSW Government are clearly unaware of the difficulty their lack of preparation causes for drivers just trying to do their job.

Last week it was the failure to ensure the border crossing permit system for transport workers was ready when transiting the border between NSW and Victoria was made harder to do. An error in the system, less than six hours meant that NSW based Transport Workers were unable to apply for a permit related to critical freight services.

This week it is the mixed messages between states as to what is happening regards Covid-19 testing for drivers. The NSW Government have announced that transport workers need to be tested every seven days if they are crossing over the Victorian border.

They have not consulted the Transport Workers’ Union or it appears the rest of the industry.

TWU members, Transport Workers in NSW and Victoria, need the NSW government to answer the following questions:

• Will transport workers receive prioritised testing for COVID-19 to ensure the passage of freight is not impacted?
• Will transport workers be made to self-isolate until they receive their test results once a week?
• Will Governments encourage businesses to allow for transport workers to undertake testing during work hours?

Drivers are already under pressure, with the squeeze on the transport industry as a critical service during this pandemic.

There would be less pressure if there were a properly coordinated approach to keep Australia moving.

Change to Direct Debit for your Membership Fees.

On Payroll Deduction? You can save money on your TWU membership if you change over to Direct Debit.

The TWU can direct debit weekly or fortnightly.

Change to direct debit, remain financial and the NSW TWU will provide you access to Free Emergency Ambulance Cover – 24/7 Free Emergency Ambulance, Cover for each financial member, their spouse/defacto and children up to 18 years of age attending school.

If you would like your union fees debited out of your bank account or credit card, the process is simple! You can do it through the TWU Online Members’ Portal.

Here’s how!

Step 1: Login online to the TWU Members’ Portal https://member.twunsw.org.au/ – use your email or your member number and password to log in. If you don’t know your password, tap on the words that say “Forgot password”.

Step 2: When you have logged in look  for “Payment Options” in the menu.

Step 3: Choose Direct Debit and fill in the details and “submit”.

Step 4: Tell your pay office to cease pay roll deduction and you continue your union membership.

If you need help or have a question, call our Members Service Centre on 1800 729 909

Rest Areas Survey

The TWU is fighting to ensure that there are the right number of well planned, well designed and useful areas along the major freight routes.

To do this we need your experience of rest areas through this survey.

Please take a few minutes to provide some information that the TWU can use to continue the fight for rest area improvements.