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Highlights
- Union members of five major delivery partners said that thousands of workers will go on industry-wide strikes impacting parcel delivery across the country.
- Union has given one week time to the employers.
- Union has not announced the date of a strike if the demand remains unmet.
Union members of five major delivery partners said that thousands of workers will go on industry-wide strikes impacting parcel delivery across the country. The work stoppages will be endorsed as “national day of strike action” by the major transport operators if their demands are not met within a week time.
What are the demands of major parcel delivery partners?
BevChain, Linfox, Till, FedEx and StarTrack are the five major operators that have threatened the employers to go on an industry-wide strike in case the employers do not agree to their demands. Union members have not announced the strike date yet.
The transport companies would announce industry-wide strikes because they are struggling to manage the record deliveries during the lockdown in Victoria and NSW. In addition to this, the delivery partners are not able to manage the delivery as hundreds of workers have been isolated because of COVID-19.
FedEx was forced to shut down its Tullamarine warehouse this week as a rise in COVID-19 cases across Melbourne forced workers to be in isolation leading to delay in the parcel delivery.
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Michael Kaine, national secretary of Transport Workers Union (TWU) stated that no action by the government has forced the transport companies to go on strike in order to protect their jobs.
The demands of TWU are not limited as they are also demanding the same conditions and pay along with a cap on contracting out.
The union said that further negotiations would be conducted in the coming days, however, the meeting was resisted by FedEx until late last night.
The bargain has been going on for more than five years and the union want to give an end to the negotiation as Christmas is approaching.
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Bottom Line
The parcel delivery service will be affected significantly during the peak time of Christmas in case the transport workers go on industry-wide strike across the country. They have demanded equal pay and conditions as they want job security during COVID-19.
Moreover, companies are not able to manage the work due to lockdown in Victoria and NSW along with the isolation of hundreds of workers. The strike will be announced shortly if the employers do not take any significant action soon.