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THERE are still truck owner drivers hurting from the shadow cast over the industry by the rejected Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, says NatRoad chief executive Warren Clark.
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"We are looking for government assistance packages for some operators, similar to drought assistance offered to farmers," said the head of the industry lobby group.
Big corporate operators had stepped in when the RSRT wanted to set separate rates for owner drivers, pricing them out of the market, said Mr Clark.
In some instances corporate trucking companies had signed 12-month contracts, taking bread-and-butter work from owner drivers, he said. And now, with the Transport Workers Union seeking changes to New South Wales laws via the Industrial Relations Commission, owner truck drivers are “gun shy” in the wake of the RSRT “muddle”.
The TWU is seeking modification of the General Carriers Contract Determination and has to this point been successful in extending its reach from greater Sydney to the entire state.
It is understood more changes are proposed, but the trucking industry does not know what those changes are. TWU lawyers have suggested the law does not currently apply to livestock carriers and primary producers, but Mr Clark said that too could be modified if the Industrial Relations Commission ruled on it.
And that is why NatRoad is seeking a general exemption from the new rules for all of its members.
“This latest move to ramp up and broaden the scope of the determination in the wake of the RSRT is potentially devastating to our members, the road transport industry, and its associated industries,” said Mr Clark.
He said there were problems if particular rates applied only in NSW. “We don’t need more complications,” he said. He compared setting specific rates from owner drivers as akin to telling every cafe in NSW how much they must charge for a coffee or a milkshake.
“Are we worrying unnecessarily? Who knows? But we’re not going to sit back and leave it to the big end of town,” said Mr Clark.
“Rural Australia needs to know about his and small business needs to have its say.”
He said by covering NSW with specific laws a lot of interstate haulage operators would be affected