TWU NSW President Tony Matthews supported drivers at the protest said Aramex couriers were forced to take action after months of attempting to get management back to the table to negotiate fairer rates. “Aramex’s model is nothing short of modern slavery on wheels. How can this company defend a model that results in couriers working 50 or more hours a week for just a few hundred dollars after costs?”
This is the Amazon effect at work – use unregulated platforms like Amazon Flex to smash pay and conditions across the industry, and then sign contracts with the very companies they’ve been undercutting to deliver Amazon’s packages for them.
Aramex’s global revenue in 2020 was more than $2 billion AUD, with a gross profit of almost $600 million AUD. It’s not their inability but their unwillingness that’s stopping them to fairly share the profits with the drivers who literally drive their business forward.
For years, TWU has been fighting to raise the minimum rate to $40 per hour for drivers in the Fight for 40 campaign. The recent massive victory in the Industrial Relation Commission means courier drivers, can finally get access to fair remuneration, which they deserve.