In September, Tony Burke, the Minister for Workplace Relations, introduced the “Closing the Loopholes Bill” to Parliament, which will introduce minimum standards in road transport as well as impacting other transport workers right across the industry.
This is a huge win and has come from decades of workers fighting for change. Crucially, the rest of the industry—including transport operators, major retailers and gig economy companies—are on the same page in our fight.
Transport reform is the most powerful tool in our plan to lift standards across the industry, stop the rampant undercutting and the gig tsunami that is pulling the rug out from underneath the transport industry.
This lifesaving legislation would mean:
What happens now?
On 6 December the Senate passed the Same Job Same Pay legislation to stop underpaid labour hire workers being used to undercut good, secure jobs and conditions.
In a major union victory the first part of the Closing Loopholes Bill has been passed, with the second part – including lifesaving transport reform – to be voted on when the Senate returns in the new year.
The wealthy clients at the top of the supply chain, the Aldis and Amazons of the transport industry, will fight this legislation with everything they’ve got.
In 2024 we will have to push harder than ever to get this across the line. If we remain united, we will have lifesaving transport reform passed into law early next year. Stay tuned for how you can contribute to the campaign as we move into the final stages.