The 2026 campaign was years in the making, with a huge string of victories at our back heading into a massively consequential year. We have already made great strides towards our future, and are joining members in standing up to anti-worker practices.
Members, it is great to write to you again as we cross the major thresholds of our 2026 campaign, so that we can reflect on our wins so far and focus steadfastly on what’s left.
The Our Roads, Our Skies, Our Future campaign has delivered transport workers across Australia perhaps the loudest megaphone of any campaign in national transport history. Many thousands of workers across road and aviation have taken action in just the last month, standing up to employers who push back on workers’ reasonable claims to job security and fair conditions.
I am happy however to share that many agreements have already been reached in-principle, including with some of the biggest companies in transport. Of course, stopping the race to the bottom means that conditions must be improved everywhere – workplaces big and small – but to see so many companies acknowledge that workers’ requests are fair and opt not to go down the path of industrial action is an achievement that members should take in their stride, and is a sign of how powerful transport workers have become.
However, there is still work to be done. Members in the bus sector are negotiating a historic multi-employer agreement (MEA), covering thousands of bus workers for the first time in decades. The TWU will continue to negotiate in good-faith to ensure the best outcome is reached.
Likewise, for members whose employers are pushing unfair deals or Union-busting tactics, like at FedEx, the Union has been by their side. FedEx workers twice rejected their employers’ unfair deal, and bravely took action.
Every week we are cataloguing negotiation progress in our weekly E-newsletter via email, or on our TWU NSW Facebook and Instagram pages (@twu.nsw).
Members, we went into 2026 with a clear mission statement, borne out of years and decades of careful preparation:
“Transport Workers have aligned over 200 Enterprise Agreements to expire in 2026, so we can take action across road transport and aviation, fighting to lift everyone’s pay and conditions and set better sector standards.”
Our goals this year have been to:
1. Make Clients Pay
2. Set Better Sector Standards
3. Become More Member-Led
Last month, we reflected on our years of historic wins and the journey to get here at the 2026 NSW Delegates Conference, one of our largest and most successful ever. See inside this journal for coverage of what was discussed and achieved.
At Conference, members rallied around this year’s theme: Our Time is Now.
Our time is now because after decades of fragmentation, and a race to the bottom across every sector in our industry, this year is the turning point that, through the relentless effort of transport workers, will see us in prime position for 2029, 2032, and beyond – which is why it is critical that we continue to stand together as Winter progresses.
Our time is now because the groundwork that has been laid over years and decades is taking centre stage. Our Roads, Our Skies, and Our Future have all been in the spotlight this year.
We have earnt that respect over years of fighting together, making the right calls, and standing up for what’s right. And in 2026, we’re doing it again.
Our time is now.
Our time is now.
Richard Olsen TWU Secretary