The Federal Government has announced the formation of a new Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal that will have authority to set pay or pay related conditions to ensure safer driving practices.

 

The Federal Government will introduce the legislation later this week that will establish a national Road Safety Remuneration System comprising a Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal and a separate education and compliance framework.

 

If passed, the legislation will see the tribunal commence its work on 1 July, 2012 and will include members from Fair Work Australia as well as independent work, health and safety experts.

 

Where the tribunal determines that a sector of the industry has poor safety outcomes as a result of low remuneration, the tribunal will be able to make a Road Safety Remuneration Order to improve the on-road safety outcomes for drivers operating in that sector.

 

The formation of the tribunal comes after the Transport Workers Union (TWU)  conducted its Safe Rates 2011 Survey, which found the following:

 

  • 48% of drivers report almost a day a week in unpaid waiting time. For delivery drivers it is more than 10 hours a week. This represents 300 - 500 hours a year working without pay
  • 56% of owner drivers have had to forego vehicle maintenance because of economic pressure, the need to keep working or the high cost of repairs.
  • 27% felt they had to drive too fast, and nearly 40% feel pressured to drive longer than legally allowed; many say the pressure comes directly or indirectly from the client

 

The full TWU survey can be found here